Interview of the week: Mel Gibson

NEW YORK, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- If it's Friday, then there must be a new war movie opening.

This week, it's box office giant Mel Gibson in "We Were Soldiers," a Vietnam flick based on the real-life experiences of Gen. Harold G. Moore and former United Press International correspondent Joe Galloway.

Following in the wake of box office smashes like "Pearl Harbor," "Black Hawk Down" and "Hart's War" and the success of HBO's award-winning mini-series "Band of Brothers," "We Were Soldiers" co-stars Sam Elliott, Chris Klein, Madeleine Stowe and Barry Pepper as Galloway, and opens March 1.

Asked what separates this film from the others of its genre, Gibson leveled with reporters, "I haven't seen the others, so I can't really tell you."

The star of "Braveheart" and "The Patriot" could say, however, that he thinks "Soldiers," which is based on Moore and Galloway's book "We Were Soldiers Once ... And Young," is much different than any Vietnam movie ever made.

"It's less cynical," he said. "It was true to the experience of those guys over there."

The 46-year-old actor said he thinks it is important to show these soldiers as heroes, selfless men, many of whom gave their lives for their country.

"There is a great desire by the writers of the book, General Moore and Joe Galloway, who were there, to bring closure and to tell that story, particularly on film, that they were not all a bunch of drug-taking, baby-killing, lieutenant fraggers," Gibson explained.

"They were ordinary people who had families and they were doing their duty. There were penalties for not doing their duty. Where are we, if we don't have those people in our society? If we don't have people that are willing to give up everything so our society can flourish, willing to be on the battlefield, where would we be now? Or would we be bowing to a golden calf somewhere? They deserve more than that. And that's an attempt of the writers of the book, by Randall Wallace (the director) to sort of twist that, so we don't have quite such a cynical look at it."

In speaking with reporters about the movie, Gibson also cleared up a story that has circulated about him for years. Born in Peekskill, N.Y., Gibson's dad moved the family to Australia when Gibson was 12, reportedly because he wanted to avoid the possibility of his five boys being drafted to fight in the Vietnam Conflict. But, after all these years, Gibson now admitted the story isn't true.

"That's not true," he revealed. "That was one of the things I keep reading. I must have said it one time when I was like 25, or something, yeah, hammered. It sounded flashy, so I said it. In fact, it wouldn't have helped us avoid any draft. You can be drafted by the United States anyplace, if you were a citizen. And because Australia was an ally at the time, if you didn't go they could get you in Australia. Fortunately, I think that conflict was over and done by the time I was 16."

Although Gibson admitted he has strong negative feelings about the war itself, he was adamant about how the Americans who fought it should have been treated when they returned home.

"I think (the war) was a pile of s--t, but it doesn't change the fact that ordinary men and women had to go do it and the ones who least deserve the blame are the ones that got it," Gibson said.

"It was a big, old political game. People were duped and I think they were pawns and they suffered and they sacrificed. They gave themselves and when they came back, they were given the cold shoulder and never acknowledged for their sacrifice and there were thousands of men and women killed, and many more who were left scarred. If they're not suffering some physical infirmity, well, then they're never going to forget it. There's no closure. They felt they got kicked in the teeth. I think what this film is attempting to do is to heal, to heal that festering thing."

Noting that this is his third war film in recent years, Gibson said that's because he is drawn to stories that show how people act when they are backed up against a wall.

"It requires more than flesh and blood, as it certainly did with these guys, to persevere. To come out of it, or not come out of it," he explained. "I just find them interesting."

To prepare for the role Gibson went through boot camp, read everything he could get his hands on and spent hours talking to the real General Moore.

"It's great (playing a character based on a real person, but) it's tricky because the guy is there," Gibson admitted. "It's also easier because the guy is there. You can ask him any question because he's really frank and honest about what he sees, but don't cross him.

"You approach with some trepidation. He's still wandering around, living, breathing, so it's like as much trepidation as you go into it, he dispels that. He's very generous. He throws the door wide open and says: 'Come on in. Let's talk.'"

Gibson went on to say that it is important to Moore that the story gets told, "so he gets closure, the boys get their due."

"And he's not selfish about that," Gibson added. "He wants these boys, the dead ones which he still talks to, and the live ones, to get some peace, because he's their dad. They still call him up all hours of the night with their problems. It's an amazing, amazing relationship he has with this bunch of individuals."

"He's the perfect warrior because he's a man of great spirit," Gibson continued. "He realizes it's something more than flesh and blood that's got to get you through, after whatever you have to go through. If you get shot up, no food, no sleep, outnumbered, half dead, where do you go from there? Your body ain't going to take you there. You have to rely on your soul. And he understands that, and he's extraordinarily compassionate. The guys love him because he loves everyone of his kids like they were his kids."

Although the actor said he enjoyed the excitement and trials of boot camp, he admitted he would probably make a pretty sorry soldier in real life.

"(I would probably be) the one you see running away," he joked. "I don't want to find out. I think what happens with anyone that has a skill is that if you learn and drill and you know the basics, things become automatic."

So, how will the fact that the United States is again at war affect people's reception of "We Were Soldiers?"

"We finished principal photography in July before all that nuisance right down the road here, but I think the same aim that we had then is the one we stuck with and that's really just to make a movie monument to those guys. You have your stone monuments, but this one is more communicable."

Gibson can next be seen in M. Night Shymalan's ("The Sixth Sense") supernatural thriller, "Signs," due out later this year.