Adam McKay on Vice: The story of Dick Cheney - BBC Newsnight

The vice presidency is a mostly symbolic job. However, if we came to a different understanding, I can handle more mundane jobs. But we're seeing bureaucracy, military, energy, and foreign policy. Yeah, right. I like that. There were people in the US who started saying, I sort of miss George W. Bush. I sort of miss those days. And we just felt like one of the things we've been losing in this 24-hour news cycle is the sense of history, the sense of how we got to where we're at. Director Adam McKay, who cut his teeth on comedy, has made a film about former vice president Dick Cheney, starring our own Christian Bale after a few square meals. Critics and audiences have found it hard to categorise, but that's fine by McKay. Is this happening? I kind of like when people say, is it a drama or a comedy? I like to say it's a tragedy. Because you can be funny in tragedy, you can be dramatic in tragedy, but by the end, I think that's really where you land. You know, I think with the world so upside down right now, structurally, we felt an obligation to play with it, that if you tried to take an unusual character like Dick Cheney, someone who's so crafty, so brilliant, but never saw the spotlight, and force him into a traditional movie, it just felt wrong to us. You're sorry. One time is I'm sorry. Two times makes me think that I've picked the wrong man. He got in some trouble, didn't do so well at Yale. You know, he had a mom and dad who loved him. He was crazy about Lynn, his future wife. Are you going to live in a trailer? We're going to have 10 kids, is that the plan? We'll discuss this later, please. No, we're going to discuss this right now while you smell like vomit and cheap booze. Does Dick want some coffee? Mom, get out! Get out! Does Dick want some coffee? Jesus Christ! He has a good sense of humor, loves his wife, loves his daughters. Gah! Gah! Gah! Please don't look! As we got closer to the 90s and the aughts, that's when you really started to see a change happen in this guy. My theory is it's power. When you have power, people will always try to take it from you, always. He eventually reached a position behind George W. Bush where he had tremendous power, and then on top of it, he got hit with 9-11. So you have kind of the PTSD of 9-11 mixed with this tremendous power, and I think that's the Dick Cheney most people know. And action. That's right, I need the Canadian prime minister. No, we've got planes in the air with nowhere to land. After 9-11, the Dick Cheney of vice is heard just about mumbling in bunkers and assuming sweeping powers. We're going to be all right on this, aren't we? We'll be able to play golf again. Yes, sir. Yes, we will. Do you think conspiracy theorists will enjoy your movie? I don't think so, because we never go into... They like that Bush did 9-11 stuff, and I pay that no heed whatsoever. It does suggest the deep state, and the deep state is Cheney and his associates working off-grid. It's not that deep, though. It's really him and the vice president's office, and everything they did has been fact-checked. They really did get BCC'd on the president's e-mails. They really did delete 23 million e-mails. I mean, those were all verified. I think when they talk about deep state, they're thinking, like, deep CIA, you know, 10 stories below. What in the hell's diversity? Well, I could be wrong, but I believe diversity is an old, old wooden ship that was used during the Civil War era. Now, you gave us Anchorman, which took a well-deserved pop at television news. Didn't go far enough, many of us might feel. Do you have any sense, without being too pompous about it, that, you know, you can't rely on news? News isn't doing its job of holding the powerful to account, and therefore it's up to, well, Hollywood. God, I hope not. We'll chip in. I think you can do certain things with movies that you can't do with other mediums. You can get into character, you can amplify, you can use impressionistic techniques, you can do portraits of individuals. But, you know, the truth is, there's still a lot of great journalists working away. In fact, all the research for this movie came from great journalists. You've seen that here it's all about Brexit. Does that excite your movie-making glands in any way? Oh, my God, I hope my... How I make movies is not through glands. And I hope they're not excited. Do you think there's a narrative that you could do or would wish to do something with there? I think it's remarkable how similar it is to what's happening in America. I think you guys are in a little better shape than we are. I hope you do a vote. You never go wrong with democracy, basically. Is that right? Are you sure about that? HE LAUGHS