Jerry Bruckheimer Talks Being Conservative in Hollywood

HANNITY: You are an incredible, incredible at what you do. Some of the best movies, some of the best shows, "Amazing Race," "CSI," I'm not sure about "Flash Dance", but --

JERRY BRUCKHEIMER: That's one of ours.

HANNITY: "Days of Thunder," "Top Gun," "Crimson Tide," which I love.

BRUCKHEIMER: "Pearl Harbor." "Armageddon."

HANNITY: I've loved all of them and the thing that amazes me about you and I want you to talk about this. You were the son of German-Jewish immigrants. You were born in 1945, you grew up really poor in Detroit.

BRUCKHEIMER: Detroit, right.

HANNITY: And you had a love of films. Tell us about that story.

BRUCKHEIMER: Well, you know what, ever since I could remember my mom would drop me off at the theater on Saturdays to watch the matinees. I fell in love with movies. I wanted to be part of that magic. I knew I wasn't going to be on the screen because that wasn't my thing.

HANNITY: Why not?

BRUCKHEIMER: But I knew I could do something behind the screen. Ever since I was little, what I would do is I organized a hockey team. I organize a baseball team when I was 9, 10 years old. I got a sponsor and got kids together.

So I knew I could get behind the scenes and make things happen and that's what we do in - we make things happen.

HANNITY: You know, because that's amazing to me. My father would tell me and he grew up really poor too in Bedstien in Brooklyn. We used to be able to see a double feature for a nickel.

BRUCKHEIMER: That's right.

HANNITY: He got that love. He never got into film. How you did you transition because I think this is the quintessential American success story. How did you make that transition and then become in great success that you are?

BRUCKHEIMER: You know what, I worked ever since I was a kid, 10 years old, I was a stock boy. I didn't, you know, think through my dad, whatever jobs I could get. I saved my money so I could go to college.

That was the thing my parents also drummed in my head. You got to go to college. You got to get an education. It's so important because they didn't have an education. They barely got through high school.

Once I got into college, I went to the University of Arizona, graduated there. I wasn't a great student, but I have emotional intelligence. I have a drive and ambition. I and started a mail room in Detroit for an advertising agency. I didn't know anybody.

I worked my way into the television department because I worked really hard, helped the people in the television department, doing stuff they didn't want to do. So it was weekends, Sundays, late at night, pick-up at midnight at the airport, I would be the guy to do it.

So that's how you do it. You got to work hard, good things happen.

HANNITY: You know, it's funny because I was washing pots, pans and dishes every Friday, Saturday and Sunday at a restaurant when I was 12. I was delivering papers when I was eight. It seems we kind of lost that work ethic and then one door opens after another. Here you are one of the biggest producers of all time.

BRUCKHEIMER: The harder you work, the luckier you get.

HANNITY: Yes, it's true. First of all you got a new movie, another pirates coming out. And your lead actor is nuts.

BRUCKHEIMER: Well, he's a good nuts.

HANNITY: No, he's talented. Of all the people you worked with who do you think are some of the most talented people you've ever --

BRUCKHEIMER: Johnny Depp is by far the most - he is an amazing actor, he really is. He's an artist. He's sensitive. Smart, came to Hollywood as a musician. He was sleeping on Nick Cage's couch.

Nick said you should see my agent. You know, you are a good looking guy. First job, he went up for he got and he rose from there. He's a sweetheart. He's got two beautiful kids and he loves them.

HANNITY: Yes, I also know that you work with Gary Sinise who is a friend of mine and who I like a lot. You have not been shy about some of your political views. You've supported some Republicans.

I talk to a lot of actors over the years and they often tell the story that does not help them in their pursuit of their profession. It obviously hasn't hurt you.

BRUCKHEIMER: No, I think Hollywood is pretty fair about that. I mean, I really do. It is always about the work and if you do good work, people will honor you and work with you again. It is never about your politics.

HANNITY: You also did another film I love, "Blackhawk Down." We recently had the capture and killing of Bin Laden. I was preparing for this interview, I'm thinking what would you do with that story?

BRUCKHEIMER: Well, what you do is you try to hire a terrific author to really research and talk to the men. "Blackhawk Down," Mark Bowden interviewed 100 men that went over there. Got their stories, talk to them and he's an honest men, they opened their hearts to him and tell him actually what happened there.

Another book called "Horse Soldiers" the same Doug Statin went out and interviewed a lot of the men who were - the first into Afghanistan right after 9/11 and they were there to protect their families that's why they went over there and that's what it is all about.

HANNITY: How did you get this love for the military? By the way, that "Blackhawk Down" movie it breaks your heart. You know, anybody that loves the military and appreciates their freedom, I mean, what they had to endure and what they went through was unbelievable.

BRUCKHEIMER: They protect our freedom. They protect our shores and you got to tip your hat to them. They put their lives at risk all the time. When you talk to them they say it is about country and family. That's what they are about. They are about their country.