Alec Baldwin revisits the past of the car of the future: NPR

You may know him better than the time machine in 1985 Back to the future: The DeLorean was an indisputable sports car with doors that opened like wings. Now, a new movie starring Alec Baldwin explores the past of its automaker, who designed for the future.

John DeLorean rose through the ranks at General Motors, turning Pontiac from a sleepy brand into a brand renowned for American muscle cars. He was forced to leave GM and founded the DeLorean Motor Co.

It took years for DeLorean to develop cars that did not sell. He set up his factory in Belfast in the midst of decades of civil and sectarian conflict. And when a newly elected, Margaret Thatcher, pulled her grants, DeLorean sought easy money to pay off her debts. Federal agents fired him while he agreed to fund a drug sales project. He notably beat the prosecution, claiming that he was trapped by the FBI.

Baldwin says that he sees DeLorean as a tragic figure. "He was really an extremely talented man," says Baldwin. "He had an extremely successful career at GM, he could have stayed the course and probably run the company, but John just had a tendency to back him up – and his ego too – he found it very difficult to work for him. ;other people. "

Highlights of the interview

DeLorean's vanity

I think John is someone who really believed that he was a hero. John was obsessed with his image. John wanted to stand out – and stand out – from the other Detroit executives in white shirts who were a bit muffled, a little brisk and a bit more traditional. John was wearing open-neck shirts, lifting weights, and getting his hair trimmed somehow. John was obsessed with his public relations. Obsessed. And I think until the end, I'm sure if you talked to him, he'd tell you what he thought he was doing was heroic.

On the business skills of DeLorean

He was very intelligent. He was very smart. He was very manipulative. … I talked to [his ex-wife] Cristina very briefly … she did not want to talk to people who were really involved in the movie, but she was very kind and phoned with me – and she said that John could literally get into a room and talk to anyone. .

On a conversation that he had with DeLorean

In the early 90s, DeLorean himself called me. He said, "Alec, it's John DeLorean here and I was wondering if you would consider playing me a role in a movie that they will make of my life." And the movie – there were a few at the time – they all collapsed and none of them was shot. …

If this phone call was an indication of John's functioning, then part of his success was asking people to do something for which they were predisposed. He said to me, "You want to play me in a movie, is not it?" And I'm like, "Well, yes, actually." So, John knew people very well.

Driving a DeLorean to prepare the film

It was like a weird car. Your body is almost as if you were lying on a couch or something like that: you are really inclined and your feet are in front of you. This is not my favorite position to drive … I love to drive sitting.

But listen, stylistically, the car is a nice car. It was ahead of its time. For me, the important thing is what could have been. If DMC [DeLorean Motor Co.] worked or not, I think John could have played an important role in American carmaking until all that went wrong.

This is a kind of warning to [SpaceX founder and Tesla co-founder] Elon Musk – an uplifting story in terms of: just doing one thing right, you know? Just do the car. … I'm from school where you should just try to do a good thing.

On DeLorean's impression of himself as a hero

It's like a Robin Hood complex – to the letter of the law, what I do is wrong, but, in the spirit, what I do is benevolent. I admired certain things about it, and some things about it had obviously upset me. …

[Actors are] should look at people very closely and understand why they do what they do. And sometimes, people do horrible things, or criminal acts, they hurt other people and create a lot of shipwrecks on their way. But their intention is good, at the beginning, then things become perverse. I think that's the case with John. …

He loved his wife and children, and he was really a great father. But his ambition has led to a point and he has been backed away. And then he started doing things really, really terrible and he should have stopped. But he did not do it and all the wheels fell – no pun intended.

Taylor Haney and Peter Granitz produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Beth Novey and Andee Tagle adapted it to the Web.