Edge of Darkness Interview
12/07/2010
MEL GIBSON (Thomas Craven), RAY WINSTONE (Darius Jedburgh),
MARTIN CAMPBELL (Director) AND GRAHAM KING (Producer)
QUESTION: Mel, you took a long break from acting prior to Edge of Darkness. Have you gotten the acting bug back?
MEL GIBSON: Well, yeah, I walked away from it after Signs because I just felt I was a bit stale and it wasn't ringing my bells. So, I focused on directing and writing and producing and all that kind of stuff. And then it was time to come back. Now, I got the acting bug back because I felt like all of a sudden, maybe, after all these years I might have something to offer again. And it coincided with a very good piece of material. Now there was a compelling story with good elements attached, and I dug it and it gave me a chance to work with Martin and Ray and Graham and Bill Monahan, good stuff. So, if it wasn't this, it would have been something else, but this was the best thing that I saw.
QUESTION: Have you talked to George Miller about making another Road Warrior movie?
MEL GIBSON: Yeah, I've talked to George. We've had a good chin-wag about it. We talk all the time anyway, George and I. So, I'm abreast of that. I know he's been trying to do this for years, the fourth installment. At one point I was involved, then it fell to bits and then this and that. So now it's probably gone through a lot of changes. And I can't wait to see it, because everything he does, I think, is magic. I think there's a touch of genius, more than a touch of genius, about George. Probably most of any good trick I've ever learned I've learned off that guy and Peter Weir.
QUESTION: What was it like getting in front of the camera again?
MEL GIBSON: I remember Martin had to tell me to tone it down a couple of times because you forget levels and stuff. It's sort of like dialing in levels. After that it was pretty natural. I mean, geez, you don't do something for 30 years and forget it. So, it felt all right. It felt better actually. A wise, old-well, not so wise, not so old-guy told me once, ‘Go away, dig a hole, do something else, come back and it magically rejuvenates your creative impulses and stuff.' He's right, I think. And I cannot qualify how, exactly, but I know that something happened. Just nothing better than a vacation sometimes, you know?
QUESTION: You have some intense fight scenes in this film. Did you do anything differently than in your earlier films?
MEL GIBSON: Well, the only thing I did with that was I just ordered a chiropractor for the day after. (Laughs) Because I knew what it was going to feel like. I knew I was going to wake up like road kill, and I did. You don't bounce back as quick as you used to. And that guy's 25, right? He's taking it easy on you, okay? And it's not a pleasant experience. You don't pop back the way you used to. But it's okay, so long as it still looks good. (Laughs)
QUESTION: Did you watch the original UK production of Edge of Darkness, because your performance reminded me in some ways of Bob Peck's?
MEL GIBSON: I watched it back in the 80s, avidly. It was some of the best TV I'd ever seen. And British television at that time was great. We've all talked about that. But I made a point to not watch it [again] because I didn't want it to be a part of that, but to just try and be truthful. But, hey, if you're saying that my performance was anything like what Bob Peck did, I'm flattered. Because I think he was amazing.
QUESTION: I really enjoyed the film in terms of the action. How did you approach executing all these great action moments? How closely did you follow the script?
MARTIN CAMPBELL: I think very closely. We tried to do the action accumulatively. There's not a great deal of action in it, but we designed the action so that rather like a car crash, most violent acts come out of nowhere. They happen in the blink of an eye, and you never quite know exactly what happened. And that was the principle of this, really.
QUESTION: Is this a political film?
MARTIN CAMPBELL: I think it's much more about loss. It's about grief and it's about retribution. It's all of those things. I think the political story is the least interesting of the elements in the film.
QUESTION: Mel, what attracted you to this kind of character and what was most challenging moment for you in this movie?
MEL GIBSON: Boy, challenging. Well, look, every time you go out there to do something, you wonder if you can do it. There's no assured success. There's no secret recipe for success. I mean, every time you go out there, you go out there with a possibility of great failure. And, so, the whole business of putting your wares on display, whether you're a chef or an opera director or a painter or an actor, a filmmaker, whatever you happen to be, you're throwing your stuff out there for other people and it's going to be judged and you're either going to be excoriated or praised or somewhere in between or both sometimes. And it's all a challenge. The whole gig is a challenge.
QUESTION: You have often played characters who lost family and are fighting for justice.
MEL GIBSON: I think that that's a very old theme in a lot of stories.
RAY WINSTONE: I think, also, you look at the script first. If you love this script and it just happens to be about a subject, the subject is not the thing you look at first, is it? It's the script, you know?
MEL GIBSON: It really is. And if you go back, I mean, Martin and I talked about this. It reminded us of a Jacobean tragedy from the 17th century in almost every way. They were all written by English guys about the Italians. (Laughs) It was really weird. In the 17th century, man, those Italians are really vengeful. But it was all the Brits doing, you know? (Laughs) They're all talking about the other guy. So, that's what it reminded me of, where everybody gets it, even the dog. (Laughs) So, I don't know, it's an old theme. And it's part of most hero myths. Something sets the spheres awry and somebody has to right it.
RAY WINSTONE: Yeah, loss.
MEL GIBSON: It's a big thing.
RAY WINSTONE: Exactly.
QUESTION: Mr. Winstone, you had a great character, to the point where I was hoping you'd be the last man standing. How much fun was it for you to do that?
RAY WINSTONE: It was fun because the parts you really want to play are the emotional parts. I do, anyway, personally. When I read the script, I didn't have a lot of time to get my act together, and to sit across the table, or sit in a garden watching someone play the emotional part and-with the help of Martin and Mel as well-decide which way you're going to take it. And to play, really, at the beginning of the film, a man with no emotion, who seemed deaf. I've kind of met people like that years ago, who-whether it's the second World War, whether it's members of the SIS-they have these eyes that kind of burn into you and look at the wall behind you, and you can't tell them lies. And it's because of the amount of emotion that Mel has to go through in this film, he's kind of making the decision. It's all about decisions, anyway, but, as an actor, to make a decision to play someone who had no emotion on the surface, that's fun because you usually play that guy. We've had plenty of it on loads of films.
Work's fun, anyway, you know, especially when you're sitting opposite someone like Mel or John Hurt or whoever it is. It's always a blessing because you're working with people who are talented and know their job and know their business.
QUESTION: Mel, in addition to a long acting career, how did you happen to learn to direct? And now how can you dial back and take direction?
MEL GIBSON: How do you learn to direct? I mean, you hang around the hub and watch what's going on and ask a bunch of questions and then you're there for the inception of an idea. You're there to see it executed. You're there to doubt it. You're there to see if they pull it off or not and you're there to sort of share the fruits of victory or failure. It's like a big science experiment for 30 years, so how can you not pick it up? And if you're working with really good people, that's just great.
Let go of it? I don't think you can ever totally let go of it. You can pull back on it and not be too forceful. I hope I wasn't too hard on Martin here. I don't think I was. But, you know, occasionally I'd say, ‘Look, dude, why don't we... ?' And I'd get an idea or something and you know what? And I've noticed this. People come to my table when I'm directing and they get good ideas and I say, ‘That's a goddamn good idea. Can I steal that?' And they go, ‘Yes, please.' And you go, ‘Okay. I'll take it.'
And Martin actually did swipe one of my ideas and that's the earmark of a good director, when he sees a good idea and he takes it.
QUESTION: Can I just ask who came up with the last segment of the film? The last scene was just beautiful. Was that Monahan or was that in the original?
MARTIN CAMPBELL: Well, oddly enough, we had a slightly different ending to the film and it just wasn't comfortable. It didn't work, and, in fact, Mel said to me, ‘This is not working. It doesn't feel right,' and so forth. And we discussed it and he said to me, ‘Well, why don't we put it in the hospital corridor?' And that's precisely what we did. So, that's where that came from.
And there was also another scene which is, I think, one of the best scenes in the movie, which is the flashback to the little girl in the shaving scene. Well, I have to say that was entirely Mel's idea. It wasn't mine. And that was a scene that Mel improvised with the little girl. We shot it in what, two or three hours, I think, we shot the scene. And it's probably my favorite scene in the movie, or certainly one of my favorite scenes in the movie.
QUESTION: Mr. Campbell, regardless of whether you put the miniseries out of your mind to make the film, were you hesitant at all to revisit a past success?
MARTIN CAMPBELL: No, it all depended on the script. I mean, as Ray said earlier, it entirely depends on the script. I think the idea of a father who has lost his only daughter and sets out on a voyage of discovery, I always thought that was a great story. And, to be honest, it was simply a matter of the script coming right. Andrew Bovell did a terrific job with the first write-up, but Bill Monahan took it to the finish line. And I could put the series out of mind. It was a very good script, and so I had no hesitation in doing it.
QUESTION: Mel, you've had such a great and accomplished career. What's left that you'd like to accomplish.
MEL GIBSON: Hey, I'm working with Graham here on the Viking movie. (Laughs) And you want to hear the very first idea I ever had about making a film? My first thought about ever being a filmmaker was when I was 16 years old and I wanted to make a Viking movie. I wanted to make it in Old Norse, which I was studying at the time. Okay? And it's odd because at that age you're like, ‘Well, that's a stupidly ridiculous idea. How will I ever be a filmmaker?' And ‘It's just some kind of romantic pipedream.' But that was the first big, epic, wacky idea I ever had.
QUESTION: Does that mean that the Viking movie will be in English or in Old Norse?
MEL GIBSON: I think it's going to be in English-the English that would have been spoken back then-and Old Norse. Now, whatever the ninth century had to offer, I'm going to give you a real man.
I want a Viking to scare you. I don't want a Viking to say, ‘I'm going to die with this sword in my hand.' I don't want to hear that. (Laughs) It pulls the rug out from under. I want to see somebody who I've never seen before speaking low, guttural German, who scares me, coming up to my house, okay? What is that like? What would that have been like?
QUESTION: Do you like history?
MEL GIBSON: Oh, I love it, yeah. And I like trying to imagine what it was like, especially when we don't have a clear picture on what it was, try to imagine what it was like. Maybe romanticize it, make it compelling for film, maybe even push it a little over the top. You know, it's just a question of choices.
QUESTION: For the filmmakers, why did you think Mel would be a good choice to do this role?
GRAHAM KING: Well, first of all, I don't think anyone plays the emotional side better than Mel. And I always remember that scene in Lethal Weapon: he's got the gun in his mouth. He's perfect to carry that part, and then to go on that journey, with that kind of script; it was an honor for us to get Mel. As far as I was concerned, I didn't know Mel before this movie and we knew he loved the miniseries. And we met with him and it was kind of like a dream to get Mel Gibson back in front of the camera for us. And then we went to see him.
I think he just really dug the material. Well, Andrew Bovell did a draft, and we met about that and he really liked it, but we needed to, like Martin said, push it to the finish line. I called Bill Monahan and sent him the miniseries and he said, ‘I'll basically have a script for you in about six weeks.' And he did. It's just amazing. And, lucky enough, you know, Mel read it and said, ‘Let's go.' So, you're kind of like, ‘Wow, this is just amazing.' To see him on-set; he comes out of his trailer and he's Craven. He's naturally gifted on the movie. It was just amazing.
QUESTION: Mel, was there a point during your time off from acting where you considered not coming back to it?
MEL GIBSON: Yeah, of course. Probably further toward the beginning, and then as time went on you think, ‘Aw, maybe I should try that again.' You just don't know. That's why I didn't make some big pronouncement of ‘I'm quitting. I'm retiring.' I didn't want to do that. But I just thought I'd back away for a while.
QUESTION: Is that because you were discouraged or just tired?
MEL GIBSON: Just tired and bored with it. I've done that a couple of times. I just walked away and spent a year not doing it or doing something else. And I think it's a natural thing, as soon as something starts getting a little tedious and you want to sort of spice it up again, you kind of have to change it somehow.
QUESTION: Mel, did you learn anything exciting while you were away from the industry, about yourself, about life in general?
MEL GIBSON: Well, I didn't really get away from the industry. I learned a lot about the industry. I learned about writing; I learned about conceiving-from conception to writing to bringing that to the screen to mounting a film to producing it to directing it to actually singlehandedly marketing and distributing and doing everything except exhibition. And I think I did it, you know? So, it's kind of almost the full thing. Now I bought a bunch of theaters in Australia called the Dendy chain, so I'm an exhibitor as well.
QUESTION: Did you also learn you wanted to act again?
MEL GIBSON: Oh, it was just time. I just felt like doing it. It was my first love, you know? I used to love doing it. And if the tarnish is on it, and the glow goes off it, you kind of walk away for a while and when it's time to come back, you come back.
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