BRITISH actor Gary Oldman is at great pains to put the record straight: "My father never beat up my mother."
Confusion has arisen because of the actor's directorial debut Nil By Mouth, a bleak film set on council estate riddled with alcoholism and drug abuse.
But despite south London-born Oldman's own alcohol problems and that of his father, he points out: "The film is primarily a work of fiction. It is only semi-autobiographical."
'Men in suits'
Oldman took the biggest gamble of his life to get Nil By Mouth off the ground by investing $2 million of his own money.
He refused to cave in to America's 'men in suits' and the result is a film uncompromising in its raw, relentless bleakness, far removed from Hollywood's happy-ever-after la-la land offerings.
His directorial debut goes on general release this weekend, having already won great critical acclaim.
Despite the financial gamble that looks set to pay off, it's not something Oldman recommends.
Investment
He says: "It nearly bankrupted me. I'm in a somewhat privileged position but am not a multi-millionaire." But his "popcorn action thrillers" like Air Force One or the forthcoming Lost In Space have helped.
He admits: "Air Force One is not my cup of tea. But if I can be in movies like that which allow me to make movies like Nil By Mouth then I'm happy to do it."
Oldman was so passionate about wanting to make Nil By Mouth without compromise that he was totally prepared to lose his $2 million investment.
He told Teletext on the Web: "I was making this for friends and thinking... 'If it doesn't get a release then I'm happy to take it off the shelf, dust it, and show it to them once a year'.
"You just can't make movies or art by committee - and directing is one of the most benign dictatorships."
Oldman admits there's a part of him in all the characters in his film.
But he refused to star in it himself, casting Ray Winstone and Kathy Burke as the leads. He says: "It would've been easier to fund if I'd been in it as they're relative unknowns in America.
"But I would have come with my own baggage which would have gotten in the way. I didn't want the veneer, I wanted nothing in the way between me and it."
(Copyright of Teletext)