Actor: Churchill ‘was a superman’
WASHINGTON — During a press-tour stop in D.C. last month, actor Gary Oldman — who has been known to have somewhat, shall we say, interesting views on political correctness — actually shied away from any overt mention of politics on the red carpet for the movie “The Darkest Hour.”
Oldman, a 59-yearold London native, stars as Winston Churchill in the biopic (opening Dec. 22 in theaters) about the then-newly minted British prime minister in the early days of World War II.
And even though Oldman had a lot to say about the knowledge gap, the actor, considered a shoo-in for an Oscar nomination, didn’t talk about “history repeating” itself.
Q: What do you want audiences to take away from the film?
A: It highlights the fortitude and resilience and the humanity of its leader, Winston Churchill. We screened the movie, and I could forgive the Americans for not knowing the history, but I was amazed that Britons didn’t really know it, either.
Q: What don’t they know?
A: They didn’t realize how close we came to some living arrangement with Hitler.
Q: Especially since you consider yourself a bit of a history buff, right?
A: My mum, God bless her, is 98 and lived through “The Blitz,” and my dad fought on warships in Okinawa. So I feel somewhat of a connection there. And growing up in the ‘60s, we were taught that Churchill was the man who saved the world.
Q: What did you learn about Churchill while shooting the film?
A: He was incomparable. I don’t know if you could equate him or contrast him with other leaders. I think, perhaps, he’s up there with Washington and Lincoln. He ... was in politics for over 50 years and wrote 50 books, all of them readable. You’re looking at a man who painted 540 paintings, 16 exhibitions at the Royal Academy, won the Nobel Prize in literature.
Q: So you were surprised by ... ?
A: He was a superman. An indispensable figure.