C: Our first guest is known for her roles in "Eyes Wide Shut" and the CBS miniseries "Joan Of Arc". She plays an alluring young artist in her latest project, the feature film "Max" which opens in New York and L.A. tomorrow.

[Clip from "Max" is shown]

C: Please welcome the lovely Leelee Sobieski.

[Music and applause as Leelee enters from stage left, waves to the audience and she and Craig kiss each other on their opposing cheeks. The two then head for their respective seats. She waves once again before sitting down.]

C: Alright. Nice to meet you young lady.

L: You too.

C: So you- you ah- you're a college student right?

L: Yes.

C: You- you're- you go to one of the Ivy League schools.

L: I go to brown.

C: Wow, that's good. I couldn't get in there. [Audience laughter]

L: I ah, I probably couldn't either unless I was an actress.

C: Ah, is that it?

L: Ah, no. I hope not.

C: I hope not either. But- but- you're- you're take- you take time off?... from ah...

L: I'm taking actually, I'm taking time off right now to... kind of find myself.

C: Ah huh.

L: I think that most people kinda go to college and they think well I'm gonna go to figure out what profession I wanna have, what I wanna do, and, I kinda have that figured out.

C: You've chosen a profession.

L: I have.

C: But you want to then find- can I help? I can help go you find-. I love helping young people find themselves. [Audience Laughter]

L: See...

C: Have you travelled in Europe? You like going to Europe?

L: My Dad's French...

C: Oh.

L: So I've done that. The problem is I've spent the last six months and I've discovered nothing.

C: Ah huh. You're going to- have you ever gone to a Lakers game? [Audience laughter]

L: I've never been to a Lakers game.

C: Well, there you go. That's a start. You may find something...

L: I'll find myself there.

C: Ya.

L: Ya

C: Ya. In the front row, until you get hit by one of the players. [Audience laughter] But, um, but you're taking time off from school, and there's a big moment in your life, in all people's lives, you've have passed your driver's test.

L: Yes.

C: Well congratulations I think! [Audience applause and cheers]

C: Ah, the- is it, the written test is the hard one, the actual driving is- is fairly easy.

L: Well, I went in to take my permit, and then I finished taking my permit and I got all the questions right except for one, and then I kind of said "Well, why don't I try to take the driving test in the same day, just so that I know what its like..."

C: Ah huh.

L: ...You know as an experience,...

C: Ya

L: ...so that I'm a lot more confident (you know) the second time around. And then I passed it.

C: Aren't you great. That's...

L: Ya, well... [Audience laughter]

C: Were there any problems?

L: No, there were no problems. We spoke about, ah you know my, the driving teacher, you know, observer man in the car with me, we talked about his mom's Mexican food, and...

C: OK

L: ...had a great time.

C: So he probably... ya, he thought you were fetching and he says "that's great". Now why didn't, [muffled audience laughter] I think what... when I was in high school, I think I got my driver's license... early, like...

L: OK

C: ...when I was sixteen.

L: As opposed to like nineteen.

C: Is that when you got it?

L: Which is- I just got it, ya.

C: Ah, you're nineteen.

L: Uh huh.

C: Why didn't you do it when you were sixteen, what were you doing, were you busy acting, or...?

L: I was busy working, and I was scared, and I get, you know, distracted, and I always thought that, you know I would think "Oh, you know, there's a really hansom man" [motioning towards stage left and snapping her right hand fingers] and my attention would, you know, go off and I would hit into somebody, or... [Mild audience laughter]

C: Why did you have to look over there for that?

L: Well-

C: I'm just kidding...[Stronger audience laughter] Why wouldn't you look over here?

L: Oh, there's a really hansom man, [motioning to Craig, then snapping right hand fingers] and then my attention would just go off.

C: Right, but you couldn't- so how'd you get around if you didn't drive?

L: I ah, had, I, I didn't really get around, I was a hermit, so...

C: Come on [Mild audience laughter]

L: I'm serious

C: Really?

L: Yes.

C: Not in L.A.?

L: No- yes.

C: You have to have a car in L.A.

L: I know, but I didn't. I didn't just until now. [Mild audience laughter]

C: Really?

L: Yes.

C: What, 'd you walk to the Beverly Center?

L: No [leaning forward in her seat and laughs a bit][Audience laughter] I'm not- [laughs again] I'm not a mall person.

C: OK. I know. I'm glad.

L: So I walked around in West Hollywood a little bit, for a while.

C: Never done that. Proud to say I've never done that. [Raising right hand slightly and turning to the audience][Audience laughter] Um...

L: [Leelee laughs] I actually saw you there once.

C: OH Stop that!

L: Actually [turns and points right left hand finger at Craig] there's only one time that I went to a club that had some sort of a strip theme to it...

C: Ah huh?

L: ...and I saw you there. [Howling, cheers, strong laughter, and applause from audience][Leelee briefly rests her left hand on Craig's knee]

C: [Partially muffled by audience] That's now true

L: And I'm serious.

C: You, you're, there's a guy...

L: [Sitting up briefly]And you were hiding up the a corner watching from a distance. [Audience laughter]

C: OK... run this by me again. So, where was this?

L: This was...

C: In L.A.?

L: Yes, maybe a year ago.

C: A strip what?

L: There was a club... [Audience giggles]

C: Ah huh...

L: That they ended up saying "well, lets have an amateur strip contest"

C: Oh, OK. You're absolutely right...[Points left hand finger at Leelee]

L: Yes

C: It's on San Amonoca (sp?) Boulevard.

L: I don't know what it was famous for...

C: I thought it was just a club...

L: So did I. [Audience laughter]

C: So, so, OK. And then they had the dancers and I...

L: Right

C: ...quickly got out of there.[Motions right arm and thumb behind him] [Audience laughter]

L: Sure.

C: Right?

L: I did, but you were still there when I left.

C: Right. I remem- [Audience giggles]

L: Exactly

C: That was- [Turns to audience] aren't they cute at that age? [Audience laughter] Anyway, um. [Turns to his left briefly] "Sobieski"...

L: Yes.

C: ...is the last name...

L: Yes.

C: ...and it's, it's Polish...

L: Yes.

C: ...and, and isn't it..

L: And the first three initials are "S" "O" "B" as well.

C: [Looking puzzled, Craig looks down at the cards on his desk] Oh. [Leelee motions her right hand two fingers left to right][Audience giggles quietly] Ya. Is that- you want me to read anything into that? [Audience giggles a bit louder]

L: No...

C: OK

L: ...It's just, if I have a production company, that's- it'll be...

C: That's what it's gonna be?

L: "Son Of a Bitch Productions"

C: There it is, OK. [Audience giggles][Craig looks down at his notes] Have you been to Warsaw?

L: [Takes a breath] I have never been to Poland.

C: Ya. [Speaks a word in polish, sounds like "Varsava"]...

L: Yes. [Audience giggles]

C: ...I think you say eh?

L: Sure.

C: Ya. But isn't it royalty, the name?

L: It- but- well- my- supposedly... OK, this is the story, here we go... um, there was this baby that was delivered to this lovely, you know, good little family's house...

C: Ah huh.

L: ...The baby arrived in a bassinette covered in jewels, um, you know, wrapped in beautiful cloths, with little description, that said you know, "I am Jan (etc.) Sobieski, I am the descendant of, Jan Sobieski who was the King of Poland actually...

C: Wow.

L: ...So this baby is my ancestor. [Portrait of King Sobieski is displayed]

C: There's the King.

L: ...so...

C: That's the King right?

L: That's- yes...

C: OK.

L: ...That's the King...

C: Ya.

L: ...Exactly...[Image returns to the studio]...

C: Ya.

L: ...That's, that's great.[Smiling]

C: So that's- you're related to, that, ya [Points right hand to Leelee]...

L: I'm related to that fellow there.[Points with both hands clasped together, at the screen below the camera angle]

C: So you're royalty.

L: I don't think so, but, I- I mean- there's a lot of people in that line before me, like, I'd have to kill off few other people in my family first. [Audience laughter]

C: Ya, but if you're royalty, what the hell are you doing in a strip club, man?[Audience laughter] Have you-

L: Well, you don't know what the royals really do, when...

C: Exactly, they- they live-, do you know?...

L: Pure love, incestuous, and...

C: Right.[Reaches to his left and takes out a bottle of Vodka]

L: Its probably good for them to go out to the strip clubs. And- and Sobieski, yes...

C: Look at that.[Sets the bottle at the front corner of his desk]

L: ...They make all the good Sobieski stuff in Poland, there's...

C: Look at that.

L: ...Sobieski Vodka, Sobieski Cigarettes...

C: Have you ever tried this?

L: I- you know I have a bottle in my room and I've never opened it...

C: Well.[Reaches towards the far end of his desk and grabs a shot glass, then sets it down behind the bottle]

L: ...but this one's been opened, Craig what have you been doing? [Audience laughter]

C: We just opened it right now [unscrewing the cap] so I didn't- so I didn't have to do it on the air.[Sets the cap at the right end of the frame]

L: Sure.

C: Ya. So we can't actually show ourselves drinking, [brings in a second shot glass from the end of his desk while lifting up the bottle and preparing to pour it into the first glass]but we can do an old camera trick...[pours into the first glass][Audience laughs quietly]

L: You can cut to the Christmas tree.[quickly looks back and forth]

C: [Pours into second glass]We can cut to- just stay on here, stay on the tight shot, and even when they lose frame [puts the bottle at the far end of his desk out of frame]. Are you gonna try, [cuts to close-up of glasses as Craig repositions them] or you want me to do it?

L: I'll try,...[Returns to wide shot]

C: OK

L: ...I- I'm not gonna finish.

C: Don't finish just take that one [Leelee reaches for one of the shot glasses], stay on the tight- wa- wait, stay on the tight. [Positions the glasses as it cuts to the closeup] go ahead and take that.

L: Alright. [Leelee once again reaches for and lightly grasps her glass]

C: [Craig picks up his glass which he was already holding and lifts it out of frame] Let it be empty on the- go ahead, [Leelee picks up her glass and takes it out the left side of the frame] take it.[A faint whistle from an audience member] Mmm, Mmm.

[Quiet laughter, applause, and whistling from the audience]

[They bring down their two glasses back into frame and clink them together on touchdown]

[Applause and hooting from audience]

C: [Craig licks his lips, then looks down at her empty glass and then his] You finished! [Partially muffled by audience]

L: I did, almost.[Quick close-up of the classes]

C: Good job.

L: Thank you.

C: That's pretty good.

L: That is quite good actually, ya.

C: Ya, you like that?

L: I'm not twenty-one yet. [Audience "Ohh"'s and laughs]

C: Really, I'm sorry. [Moves the bottle cap out of frame] Th- thank the lord we put that- put water in there.[Audience laughter]

L: I know.

C: Did we?

L: True.

C: [Brings the bottle back and sets it just into the frame at the left] A little water. We'll be right back with five questions with Leelee Sobieski [Last few words muffled as audience begins applause, hooting and hollering.] [Music begins][Camera backs off, then switches to a shot looking from the front left corner of Craig's desk, as he leans over and says something in Leelee's ear].

>Commercial Break<

[Music fades away, as does audience noise]

C: [Taps pencil on desk twice] Bottle's have empty. That was fun. Anyway, we're back with Leelee Sobieski, and lets talk about "Max", is that is?

L: Yes.

C: "Max", you're-

L: "Max" is a film with John Cussak,...

C: Ya.

L: ...and Noah Taylor, um, and I play is mistress, [quickly correcting herself] ah John Cussak's mistress.

C: And you had a problem playing a mistress, didn't you, initially?

L: Well, I think playing a mistress you kind of, have to, justify your mistress role, you kind of have to be OK with it.

C: Uh hum.

L: The fact that you're playing a mistress, and there's a wonderful young actress named Molly Parker, who is playing John's wife, and at first I had one image if what this mistress should be like, kind of a, you know, temptress, and then his wife was also really sexy, so oh, the wife is sexy too, and that was a big problem for me. [Craig laughs quietly] So, I had to kind of-[Laughs][Audience lightly laughs]

C: Couldn't we cast somebody else?

L: Ya, couldn't they cast a not-sexy wife,...

C: Ya.

L: ...so I could be the sexy mistress?

C: Right.

L: So I had to make myself a sexy and vulnerable mistress to justify.

C: That's a lot of work.

L: Yes. [Audience laughter]

C: Isn't it?

L: Ya.

C: But it turned out OK?

L: Being the mistress is always tough. It did.

C: [Craig laughs] Being a mistress is always tough. OK. [Grabs some cards from his desk and sits up] So listen, ah, good luck with that, and John's a great actor, he must be fun to work with.

L: He is a wonderful actor.

C: Ya.

L: Ya. He is incredible in this film.

C: Ya.

L: Actually, we've never seen him like this,...

C: Ya.

L: ...it's a great film.

C: Well, I'll have to go so it.

L: You should

C: I might as well. [Raises hand and waves cards]You guys ready for "Five Questions" with Leelee Sobieski? [Applause, hooting, and hollering from audience]["Five Questions" music and video sequence]

C: We start with-

L: Wait, I'm very scared of this, I'm always terrible at this sort of thing...

C: You're an Ivy Leaguer.

L: I'm terrible at this sort of thing.

C: OK.

L: I've a good imagination but no concrete knowledge.

C: Oh, well lets change the questions. [Few laughs from the audience] Geography, ah, Leelee, what state has four "E"'s? See, Leelee has four "E"'s, what state has four "E"'s?[Leelee takes a breath] No help from the audience.

L: Do I have time?

C: Ya, I'll give you a little bit... five seconds please.[One or two audience members laugh]

L: Umm [Couple more laughs]

C: United States, what state has four "E"'s in its name, OK we'll-

L: Tennessee![Cheers from the audience]

C: OK, that is correct.[Bell chimes][Shakes his head, points at the audience, and said something to her that I can't make out] OK, without looking up or down, or using your hands, [Single audience member laughs] spell your last name backwards.[A couple more laughs]

L: I-K-...

C: Ah huh.

L: ...S, ah E-I-...

C: Ah huh.

L: ...ah, B-O-S.

C: That is correct. [Shows the card to the camera... close-up] I don't know if she looked, [Bell chimes][Audience cheers] that's very good. Remember the old show match game? You might be too young to remember, you remember match game?

L: Alright.

C: OK, blank "toast", blank "toast"

L: French toast?

C: Why would you say that, [moves rear card into the foreground that says "FRENCH"] ladies and gentlemen, right there. [Bell chimes][Audience cheers and applauds]

L: Now, French toast does not exist in France.

C: That's correct. English muffins don't-

L: Nor do French Fries, I mean, they do now but, I mean, they're not French.

C: We should write a book.

L: We should. [Few laughs from the audience]

C: [Looks down at his card] You just got your driver's license, this is a real question from a California license test. [Leelee turns away from Craig and brushes her hair back while smiling] A white painted curb, a white painted curb means a) loading zone for freight or passengers, b) loading zone for passengers or mail only, c) loading zone for freight only.

L: Aaahhh freight only.

C: No. Ah, ah, ah, passengers or mail only, b).

L: Oh.

C: [Buzzer sounds]We can't accept that. Which was the one you got wrong. And, finally...

L: That was- You know, they passed me on the drivers test a little bit too fast, so...

C: I guess so. [Quiet laughter from the audience] OK, you're doing well. She'd got three out of four right? OK. [Some cheers and applause from the audience] Finally, you're a youngster, name a band I've never heard of.

L: Umm, "Nightmares On Wax".

C: [Quickly turns forward and points so someone out of camera frame] Have we heard- weren't they opening- no, no that is correct. [Turns and points to Leelee][Bell chimes][Audience members laugh] That is very good. Very good. [Audience members cheer and applaud] What was it, "Nightmare On Wax"?

L: "Nightmares On Wax"

C: Alright. Ah, "Max" opens, ah, tomorrow December 27th right? Does that sound right?

L: Yes.

C: Big hand for Leelee Sobieski[Audience applauds]

[Leelee waves to audience]

[Music starts]

[Leelee and Craig shake hands and share a couple of undistinguishable words.]