14 DAY TRIAL // In his most recent interview with Playboy magazine, Gary Oldman reopened a can of worms when, speaking freely on the topic of political correctness, he defended Mel Gibson for his anti-Semitic remarks and Alec Baldwin for using a gay slur when lashing out at a paparazzo who was intruding on him.
He’s apologized profusely since and did his best to make it clear that he had worded his argument in the most unfortunate fashion, and the media seems to have forgotten about the whole thing already.
However, it did bring up the old Mel Gibson scandal once more, so, when The Hollywood Reporter crossed paths with the actor / director at a recent event, they asked him about it.
Gibson was in Karlovy Vary to pick up the Crystal Globe for lifetime achievement, and THR did not miss the chance of asking him how he felt about having Oldman speak up for him, even after all these years.
If you’re new to the story, we should probably mention that, in 2006, Gibson was arrested for a DUI and, in between resisting the officer and trying to pull the old “don’t you know who I am?” move, he also launched on an anti-Semitic and misogynistic rant that made headlines all around the world and nearly cost him his career.
Gibson too apologized countless times and sought rehab for his alcohol problem but, then, just as things seemed to quiet down, his divorce from Oksana Grigorieva brought up a new side of him, when she leaked voice messages he had left on her phone. Let’s just say that Gibson has an anger issue and that it’s so serious he would not back out of threatening someone to have them killed and buried in the backyard.
Specifically on the topic of the anti-Semitic rant, the actor says he’s done apologizing. As he sees it, because that scandal is old news, he shouldn’t have to address it in public anymore.
“It’s behind me; it’s an 8-year-old story. It keeps coming up like a rerun, but I’ve dealt with it and I’ve dealt with it responsibly and I’ve worked on myself for anything I am culpable for. All the necessary mea culpas have been made copious times, so for this question to keep coming up, it’s kind of like… I’m sorry they feel that way, but I’ve done what I need to do,” he tells THR.
And that’s all that he’s saying on this topic.
Gibson also shows himself just as ungenerous when talking about his new projects: he explains for the trade publication that he’s done financing his own films because he’s sick and tired of being taken “for a fool” and insists he’s not about to give details on his upcoming projects because he’s surrounded by thieves that would lift his idea in an instant – and then “do it badly for TV.”
He does say though that he just finished shooting for the action film “Blood Father,” and says that he never had a “master plan” as regards his career, because he takes into consideration every offer that comes his way but does only what truly appeals to him.