Gary Oldman turned an interview about Dawn of the Planet of the Apes into a discussion about political correctness, liberal Hollywood and defending Mel Gibson and Alec Baldwin for their behavior.

Oldman chatted with Playboy to promote the new Fox film, but when the magazine asked about his vision of the future, he really didn’t have a positive outlook. He blasted political correctness and the “helicopter parents” who hover over the children’s every move.

“I think we’re up s**t creek without a paddle or a compass,” Oldman told the magazine. When asked to explain, he continued, “Culturally, politically, everywhere you look. I look at the world, I look at our leadership and I look at every aspect of our culture and wonder what will make it better. I have no idea.

“Any night of the week you only need to turn on one of these news channels and watch for half an hour,” he said. “Read the newspaper. Go online. Our world has gone to hell.”

Later, the discussion of financing movies came up, with Oldman saying that he understands why Gibson would raise money himself to make his own money. At that point, Gibson and political correctness comes up. Gibson went on a now-infamous anti-Semitic tirade when he was arrested for a DUI several years ago.

“I just think political correctness is crap. That’s what I think about it. I think it’s like, take a f***ing joke. Get over it,” he said.

“I don’t know about Mel,” he continued later. “He got drunk and said a few things, but we’ve all said those things. We’re all f***ing hypocrites. That’s what I think about it. The policeman who arrested him has never used the word n***er or that f***ing Jew? I’m being brutally honest here. It’s the hypocrisy of it that drives me crazy. Or maybe I should strike that and say ‘the N word’ and ‘the F word,’ though there are two F words now.”

The other f word Oldman is referring to is the gay slur, which Baldwin once used. “Alec calling someone an F-A-G in the street while he’s pissed off coming out of his building because they won’t leave him alone. I don’t blame him,” Oldman said.

Oldman said that hypocrisy runs rampant in the business, as does political correctness. “At the Oscars, if you didn’t vote for 12 Years a Slave you were a racist,” he told the magazine. “You have to be very careful about what you say.”

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes opens on July 11.

image courtesy of INFphoto.com