What's going on?
Well, what's going on is you're brilliant in this movie--
Thank you--
And--
--thanks very much.
--as you are at all--
it's-- I mean, it's really--
it's incredible that you--
Thank you.
--become George W. Bush.
I mean, did you do impressions of him before?
No, I didn't.
I feel like I've done versions of him in movies before,
but this is the first time I had to really, you know,
get in there, and it's pretty daunting.
You did, you did it.
All right, we'll talk about that in a minute, but first all,
have we met before?
I'm so bad about this.
I don't know if we have or if we've bumped paths,
but I just remember your bathroom routine is what comes
to mind every time I think-- it ends up with the doorknob,
the irony that you're like--
Yeah.
--flushing the toilet with your foot--
Yeah.
--that whole bit, I just remember that bit,
I love that bit.
Well, thank you, thank you.
It's my bathroom bit.
So you have a shaved head which is--
Yes.
Is that a movie?
Yes.
It's for-- I'm playing Bob Fossey,
who is a famous choreographer and dancer--
Yes.
--and filmmaker and sort of wild man, and so we
have these Friar Tuck wiglets and, you
know, things we're doing for different versions of him.
So, and I understand you are a dancer,
because you were a dancer.
Sort of a bad dancer, bad breakdancer kinda guy.
Oh, you were a breakdancer.
Just sort of fooling around, Michael Jackson, kinda
wannabe Footloose stuff.
Uh-huh.
And you danced with some pretty famous people, I understand.
Yeah, yes, I have danced with a lot of people
in films and stuff, and I've also
done a little dancing and karaoke
with some friends of mine.
My friend Jeremy Renner and a big crew of these guys,
we go to this place, Gower Gulch, and Jeremy would--
I would get on stage and pretend to sing karaoke
to a James Brown song, and Renner
would be sort of hiding in the audience with a microphone
like this actually singing because he has a better
voice than I do, and I would dance and sort of lip sync.
How long ago was this?
This is like 15 years ago, I think,
and it was like Chris Messina and Justin Long
and this guy Victor Rasuk and Jonah Hill
when he was a little kid.
Wow.
Yeah.
That's an impressive crowd.
It was quite a crow, yeah.
Did the audience know who y'all were?
No, we were nobody--
this is pre Hurt Locker, and, you know, I mean,
Renner I met on Jesse James, you know.
That's amazing.
Yeah.
That's amazing.
We were pretty drunk.
It was--
[LAUGHTER]
Well.
Yeah.
That goes without saying.
It's a karaoke bar, everyone is drunk in a karaoke bar.
OK, so let's talk-- first of all, Vice is a true story,
which is frightening in itself--
Yes.
--as we saw in that scene, and it's crazy.
It is crazy, yeah.
I haven't seen the movie.
Oh, you haven't?
But I obviously read the script.
Yeah, obviously.
[LAUGHTER]
I mean, I hope.
Or just your part, so you're one of those actors
that goes to your part.
Yeah.
But yeah, it's not necessarily a biopic,
it's kind of like, somewhere between The Big Short
and Citizen Kane, you know, it's like a big American epic farce.
It's gonna do very well.
It did-- it's good.
And how did you prepare to become George W. Bush?
I just kinda did what Christian did,
I just obsessed and listened to him
and watched him on talk shows.
I think the Kimmel interview was very useful.
Lots of interviews, just like, listening to him over and over
again for months.
Do you do impressions in general?
Can you-- are you pretty good at that?
Not really, not really, I-- but I always think that, you know,
I hope that the acting is gonna penetrate through
the impression, that that'll--
that the impression takes the backseat to the reality,
you know.
Yeah.
Yeah, no, it-- because it could really be distracting,
but no, it's not.
Yeah.
You really do believe you're watching--
I mean, and you know, he disappears into--
Christian Bale disappears into Cheney
that you can't even believe it's not--
that it's Christian Bale.
Just--
It's pretty amazing.
Yeah.
Yeah, he was going into hair and makeup at like 2:00 AM.
It's pretty amazing.
Yeah.
It's crazy.
OK, so and from a young, you know,
he goes from a young man--
Yeah.
--to that, all throughout.
So a lot of people-- when you're sitting around the set
and you're waiting to do a scene,
some people do crossword puzzles, some people knit--
Yes, yes.
--and you lasso.
Yes.
[LAUGHTER]
I lasso very badly, yes, I lasso,
I had to do it for a play and I lasso as a hobby.
Some people do guitar, knitting.
Well, there's a lasso right here so I wanna see you do it.
Oh yeah, yeah.
I'd like to see what you're gonna lasso.
Oh my god.
Yeah.
[CHEERING]
That stool [INAUDIBLE].
Do you wanna--
That stool--
Sam, do you want a glove?
--that stool right there might be good.
Sam, do you want a glove?
Oh sure--
Do you need this?
Yeah, a glove, yeah, don't want to tear up these pretty hands,
yeah.
All right.
I got a premiere tonight.
Yeah.
Let's see.
This is a kind of a--
Are you gonna get that stool?
I'm hoping to get it, but this is a stiff rope.
I'm probably gonna--
Or that man in the front row, whichever.
[INAUDIBLE] extremely stiff.
Yeah, this'll be great.
40 times later.
Such a good idea.
[CHEERING]
Yes!
There you go.
You did it!
Vice is in theaters everywhere on Christmas Day.
We'll be right back.
Sam Rockwell, everybody.