GARY OLDMAN: Jack, how are you?

JACK WHITE: I’m good. If it’s all the same to you, I’m going to be speaking as Winston Churchill for the rest of the interview.

OLDMAN: [laughs] Okay.

WHITE: [As Churchill] This is not the beginning of the interview, but it may be the end of the beginning.

OLDMAN: That’s fantastic. That isn’t in the film, but you’ve obviously done your research.

WHITE: How are you, sir? I haven’t talked to you in a minute.

OLDMAN: I’m doing well. I’m busy with things. I’m being creative, which is always good. What about you?

WHITE: I’ve been recording in New York, Los Angeles, and Nashville. I’ve never recorded in New York or L.A. before. I tried to go to some new places and meet musicians I’ve never met before, and see if I could get to a new place. I’m getting somewhere. I’ll send you something. It’s good gardening music or roofing music or, you know, back-alley stabbing music. [Oldman laughs] I’m trying to think of some good activities that people haven’t written songs for yet. What is good is this Winston Churchill performance. I had to keep staring at your eyes to see if it was really you. You’ve always been my favorite actor, and I’m not just saying that. The only date I went on in high school was to see Dracula. I used to get in big coffeehouse debates about your acting. I would say, “Every single time you see Gary Oldman, he is completely transformed into someone you can’t even recognize.”

OLDMAN: I think what it comes down to is that acting is an antidote to self-hatred. [both laugh]

WHITE: I’m going to write that down. I’m going to start acting some more now.

OLDMAN: I think it was my way out, a sort of avenue of escape. The fun of it was getting away from myself and stepping into the characteristics and the behavior of someone else. It stems from that thing of not necessarily being that comfortable in your own skin. But the challenge of playing someone like Winston Churchill is that there’s more footage of him than you might believe, and there’s certainly enough to read about. Next to Washington, I think he has the most biographies about him. And then there’s his own writing, which is something like 50 books.

WHITE: Churchill wrote 50 books?

OLDMAN: I haven’t read all of them, but I’m told every one of them is worth reading. He changed political parties twice. He fought with distinction in four wars, he served in politics, I think, for over 50 years, and he held almost every political office.

WHITE: This is Donald Trump you’re talking about? [Oldman laughs] No, it’s safe to say we don’t have leaders like that anymore.