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Wywiad na żywo z Dennisem Millerem

Dennis Miller (DM):

My guest tonight played one of the most intolerant characters I've ever seen in recent film history with the stunning portrayal of the witch-hunting congressman in "The Contender". He can currently be seen in the film Hannibal, which opened today. I-, I don't exactly know what he plays in the movie, but I think it might be an entrée. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome a truly brilliant actor, Gary Oldman.

It's very disconcerting to see you come out in such a hip outfit after just watching you in "The Contender" where you were the quintessential backbench weasel.

Gary Oldman (GO):

Yea. I am in those very stiff collars and three-piece suits.

DM:

Let me-, let me use your character in that film. Uh, I don't know; if you haven't seen "The Contender," you must go rent it this weekend because it's truly a stunning film. Mr. Oldman's portrayal in it is amazing to me. As a matter of fact, my wife is a huge fan of yours, it was around 20 minutes-in before she realized it was you; you had so emerged yourself in the uh, the character. I was wondering, as I watched that man, was he an intolerant man when you went to put him together, or was he just uh, brilliant as far as in a Machiavellian sense, as far as tactics went, and do you think people in high politics who pretend to be so intolerant (i.e., Bob Barr), these people we see who seem so strident, is it just the position they've taken?

GO:

Yea. I think that um, uh; I would certainly like to see um, uh, more honesty. I think that uh, the most, sort of, valued human commodity is truth and uh, without it you, you can't have um, real love; you can't have respect and you can't have real caring and understanding and um- DM:

Can a man in a position of power, even vaguely, afford to be honest uh, do you think?

GO:

Well, he's being-, there's the push and pull; he's being tugged from, I guess, from so many sides and there's the-, the-, the you know-; and there's the sort of, the public persona. Um, I-, it-, it-, uh, you're contaminated. It's very easy to be, I think, corrupted. I mean the guy-; I think the guy in the contender, Shelly Runyun, um, I-, I thought that he was a-, a real patriot. That's how I played him. I-, I-, I think that he, uh; unfortunately, his Achilles' heel was the thing that-; he got the sex scandal, the alleged sex scandal, and he went for the cheap shot, and who wouldn't, if that came across your desk. I mean with-, with you know; we see it all the time but um, I really do believe that he-, he felt that, that woman, Lane Hanson, was not up for the job, and it wasn't about her being a woman or anything like that. He thought that she wasn't good for the country.

DM:

And this was the cudgel he used to uh, eliminate her from the scenario; attempt to eliminate her.

GO:

And she led him to believe that it was true, so she never denied it.

DM:

Well we don't want to tip-; I mean it's really a brilliant movie. You've got to go see it. There's a lot of twists and turns. It's directed by a guy, who for years I used to read his dir-, his crit-, criticism in LA magazine and think, "God this guy is such a mean guy to actors I can't believe it." When I saw his name on that, I'll be quite frank, I-, I was stunned that Rod Lurie was cap-, capable to direct like that because he always seems so ma-, malicious to me.

GO:

Yea. I was stunned when I read his name on the script. Um-

DM:

What's your take on Bush at this point? Now, early on in this thing, do you sense any honesty from him? In a weird way, I sense that he's, kind of, shooting straight.

GO:

Yea. I do. I do. I think, thus far, I think he's done a pretty good job. I think he's doing a-, he's doing a-; he's doing what he was elected to do you know, and um; I mean the spin is always; you know, they talk about conservatives and it's neo conservative or it's the hard right or the extreme right um, and uh, he's just a conservative, you know. It's all coming from the other side, I think. It's the intolerance rule.

DM:

Well, yea. It seems like the only reason for the loyal opposition anymore is to literally beat the shit out of the other guy. I just think you have to give him a chance for a while. I-, I; listen, I don't look at Bush and I'm not summoned to the parapets; I-, I don't think he's the mahatma but, for God sakes at this point I at least look at him and say, "You know what? He seems less full of shit than some of these guys I see." He at least seems to be-; you know, when you have Ted Kennedy over to a cash bar to watch a movie at the White House; well, that's a big step.

GO:

Well you gotta-, well you gotta think that Ted Kennedy has not only found a new friend, he's found a sponsor. That's how I saw it. I thought, "This could only be good."

DM:

When you say sponsor, are there any events in your life that have, uh, increa-; you seem like a tolerant person; you seem like, "live and let live." What-, what has lead you to that point in your life? Were you always like that or were you-

GO:

No. No. I think that alcoholism really brought me to my knees, and I mean, literally crawling across the floor and um, and I needed something that uh-; I put many things in-, in; I put the drink in front of everything else, and I just completely, emotionally and spiritually uh, lost my way, and I found um, you know a God; a God of my understanding. I had to put something before me. You know, it was-; I was the piece of shit that the world revolved around, and uh, its-, it-, and-, and I was, you know-; I'd-, I'd find, you know, a hate Gary club and I would join it and I'd be, "Yea-"

DM:

Oh, you must have been insidious on yourself because, when I watch your work, I always think, "Boy this guy must have a stranglehold on the human condition to convey these emotions so accurately." When you turned against yourself (GO: Yea.) that must have been (GO: Yea.) an unholy war, my friend.

GO:

Yes. Yes, it was. And they say, you know; I would never do to another human being what I would do to myself. I would never treat anyone like that, um, so I had to kind of really learn some humility and I went; I did the thing; I went through rehab. I washed up and waited tables and my counselor would come by and he would go, "How's it feel movie star?" And uh...

DM:

That's what you need, somebody supportive in your corner.

GO:

And uh, you know, and I learned, I think, just to be uh, more tolerant, and you know uh; bad-, bad driving that's my pet peeve but I'm not-; I want to get out the car and just strangle people. It's something about the car, and it's here in-

DM:

Well stay in the car because if you get out of the car they, they might shoot you.

GO:

But-, but uh, I've driven all over the world. In LA, it's like, no one signals, they just stop, chat with their friends, and then-.

DM:

And that, that's the one area you're intolerant, correct. (GO: Yea, I've just become-) You've tidied up the rest of it. You've been clean, since Tuesday (GO: Yea.) of last week. No. No. Now, now what traits do you find that intolerant people have in common? What do you think the root cause of it is?

GO:

Well, it would appear at the moment, most of them are democrats. Uh-

DM:

Listen, you watch now. This will be an abject lesson, and I'm not saying I'm a democrat; I'm not saying I'm republican but, if you fuck up as a democrat they'll beat the shit out of you, you know Gore's never gonna get back in. Man he, he might you know, he might juggle at one of their parties somewhere along the line (GO: No.) trust me he's not getting in the game again.

GO:

Yea. No he won't.

DM:

It gets pretty mean.

GO:

Yea. Yea, uh-

DM:

Do you think pol-, do you think politicians are more intolerable of one another or religious people are more intolerant of one another.

GO:

We're in such a ridiculous age it's, it's, it's; political correctitude has taken over. It's has taken the place of common sense and that's uh, you know that's why I think it's uh; we're so fractionalized and, and uh-

DM:

When you say "we," do you talk about the community of man, or are you, do live in Brit-, England now or do you live here?

GO:

I live in Los Angeles. I mean, I, I-; where are we going as a culture?

DM:

Splitsville. Were gonna like (GO: Yea.) have 200 million (GO: Yea.) separate states. You're in Dennisville now.

GO:

But, but I read somewhere that uh, someone saying something about, should there be a gay history class; should that be taught in schools. And so that's another little group that kind of like, breaks off. Well, what about a tolerance class. Wouldn't then that just-; that would pretty much cover it, I would think

DM:

Yea, but I find a lot of these fractionalized groups now draw their strength and indeed draw their forward impedes from and it's like sports teams now, don't you notice that every sports team you see talks about us versus them I mean it almost seems like nobody can dwell on their on legitimacy (GO: Yea.) nobody can instill their own sense self esteem and just move forward and shirk off all the fucking idiots and the nay Sayers. Everybody has to sort of cocoon and say these guys are all out to get me (GO: Yea.) and that's what I'm gonna use to fuel my own engine. That's, it seems like bad motivation to me.

GO:

Yea. Well I think, I think that a, I mean now of course time will tell, but I mean in uh, Bush's speech, uh inauguration speech he, he talked about we must become um, uh citizens, we must become resp-, citizens not spectators and I take that as um, we gotta take a bit more responsibility.

DM:

Well, for anybody who can knock off, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" in a speech, uh, (GO: Yea.) done by a famous democrat; I mean, in essence Bush is saying the same thing there. (GO: Yea.) shows that I think he's going to at least try some hands across the water

GO:

Yea. He really is.

DM:

Now let me tell you this in closing. I have to say this, and I'm not saying this to be deliberately naive; I've never seen you interviewed. I've always found you a bit enigmatic. It's part of your charm, to me. You want to know how brilliant an actor you; I never knew you were British. I'm serious. I'm thinking, "What's with the fuckin' accent? What is that? Huh?"

GO:

Well uh, of course Rob Lurie would call that the Stockholm syndrome. That's what I'm suffering from.

DM:

You're a great artist. I admire your work a lot.