The edge of darkness

MEL GIBSON is fiddling with an electronic cigarette and looking far from at ease.

In one of his first, non-court related public appearances since the leaking last summer of the score of threatening phone calls he made to his then girlfriend Oksana Griegorieva, he is sitting down with the Irish Examiner in Beverly Hills, ostensibly to talk about his new movie The Beaver. The small matter of the large elephant in the room makes this a tense interview before it’s even begun and it’s not clear how far it will be safe to go, lest he storm out of the room.

When I last met Gibson in January of last year, he was also pretty agitated and confessed that it had been five days since he’d last smoked a cigarette and by his own admission, he was “just past the axe murderer phase”. He was tense and irritable throughout that one hour encounter and as I later learned, this was also the night he would make the series of enraged and terrifying phone calls to his then girlfriend and mother of his baby daughter.

He looks gaunt, very thin and tired today and it’s clear he’s still struggling to conquer his addiction to the dreaded weed, among other things. His outbursts of titanic rage have seen his career and status tank since 2006. His 27-year marriage to Robyn Gibson, the mother of his seven children, is over, his reputation in the industry that made him a star is in tatters and with the exception of Jodie Foster, he appears to be largely friendless and unemployable in Hollywood.

The legendary actor and director, who has both charmed and terrified cinema audiences for over three decades, has been through the mill of public humiliation in recent years, largely by his own hand. A virtual pariah in Hollywood since his arrest in 2006 when he let rip in an anti-semitic tirade, after being detained by police in Malibu for driving while drunk, matters got worse last summer when he left his wife of 27 years for the Russian musician who did the score for his last movie “Edge of Darkness”.

Today, while Gibson seems visibly bruised and bloodied by what he’s been through privately, it’s also clear he’s not about to make any major public announcements of contrition. He’s starring in the new Jodie Foster-directed movie The Beaver which was made over two years ago, but until now, has languished with Summit Entertainment, who were nervous of releasing a movie starring an actor who is loathed by many sectors in society for his many racist, sexist and anti-Semitic comments. Foster and Gibson have been friends for many years, since starring in Maverick together and she is one of very few high profile Hollywood figures who has remained publicly loyal to him.

“I trust and love Jodie and I’ve wanted to work with her again forever. She’s a lot smarter than I am, so there was no messing around and she’s really pragmatic in her vision and approach,” he says matter-of-fact, pulling hard on his electronic cigarette.

It’s a somewhat risky role Gibson plays in The Beaver, given what is so publicly known about his private life. His on-screen character is an alcoholic with a volatile temper whose sanity and marriage have broken down. The only thing that saves him and allows him to communicate with others is when he finds a ratty, old hand puppet shaped like a beaver through which his character speaks in a cockney accent. Given what is known of his demons, was Gibson in any way concerned that critics and audiences might be unable to distinguish the dancer from the dance?

“Look, my character in this movie was a severe depressive and I don’t think I am. We all have ups and downs. We’re all going to be afflicted by some of the stresses the people and the planet have to offer,” he says, his eyes bulging, his mood apparently far from tranquil or reflective. “You can relate to the guy on a smaller scale and just magnify it. I’ve known people who can’t get out of bed and you can empathise with that kind of lethargy and hopelessness.

“Many people suffer from being down and blue and mood swings. It’s worthwhile to investigate to try and find a solution on film, because there are solutions.”

Gibson and his father are devout, conservative Catholics with, to put it mildly, rather bizarre opinions on the Holocaust, among other things. Given that the topic of mood swings and depression is now in the room, I wonder how big a part his faith paid in helping him cope with his recent trials. The question seems to annoy him at first, then he tries to bat it off with jokes.

“I pray — everyone knows that. Listen, there are no atheists in fox holes. When people go through tough stuff, they get spiritual. I also like hot baths, lots of hot baths. And I shave. And foot baths and acupuncture. I’m not big on medications and stuff like that. They fall short and the answer is always a spiritual solution.”

With the probable exception of Charlie Sheen, very few Hollywood stars have endured such public embarrassment and isolation, particularly at their own hands. Apart from Jodie Foster, have many of his friends stood by him, I wonder? And what has he learned from all that has befallen him? He gives me that bulging eyed glare for a few more seconds before offering me this:

“Many of my friends are the same as before, yeah. But you know, pain is a pre-requisite for growth — that’s all there is to it. Look at any film you watch: somebody’s going through some turmoil, if it’s a good film. There’s conflict or else there’s no story. It’s not just me.

“I mean, ok, maybe I’ll highlight it in a different way when I’m working on something or directing something. But if you want my advice about how to stay out of trouble? Have your larynx removed! Count to 10. Or 20. Or 100 if you need to!”

He’s laughing now and it rings bitterly of gallows humour. I risk slipping in a question about regret.

“Everybody has regrets. Don’t you? I mean you hear about people losing things in fires and the thing they regret the most is losing family albums, photos and stuff. That happened to us once in an airport. Someone lifted a video and we lost all the kid videos from when they were little. It was just tragic. It was the biggest loss of all. You wished they’d just taken your wallet.”

So what about that E cigarette? Is it helping him any? This question seems to relax him.

“It’s not bad. It’s mostly water vapour, which is kind of like drowning, isn’t it? Maybe a few years down the track, they might find they’re really bad for you,” he says eyeing it now as he begins fiddling with it again. “But for the moment, it’s a good stepping stone to sort of weaning off, because you get lesser degrees of it and there’s no tar or toxic metals or crap like in a cigarette. And you’re not bothering anyone else’s air — particularly if you don’t even use it!”

* The Beaver opens nationwide on June 17