CAMERON PARK, CA - Actor Gary Busey was known for being a challenging interview. But as he neared the end of a nine day movie shoot in El Dorado County, Busey took time out to talk, about everything from his love of baseball, he played a high school coach, to his near death experience on a motorcycle that changed his life forever.
But he began by talking about a past life he said he has lived.
" I fought for Texas sovereignty," Busey said, when his interviewer mention to the Texas-born actor that he'd lived in San Antonio, once.
"I had a past life at the Alamo where I fought and was killed with a shot above my heart," Busey recalled of the past life he remembers. "And I had a gun and a bottle of whiskey and I screamed, 'Come and get it,' and, bam, it hit me right there and I was out."
In this life, at this moment, Busey, who's been acting for 45 years, is in El Dorado County to make a movie called, "Mamaboy." The film is about a teen boy who somehow ends up pregnant.
"This one is so special because I'm working with kids and I'm a baseball coach," Busey explains, adding, to no one's surprise, that it's an intense role where he mentors players and students. "And [I] let them know, through my love for them, their potential and the fact that they have great power."
Busey spoke from experience. He has grown children and a five year old with his third wife, Steffanie Sampson Busey.
"Whooo, he is already a chick magnet. He is. He's got a shirt that says 'chick magnet.' Chick magnet," he repeats, as he looks upward and grins broadly.
Busey's first love is football - he played for years, at center, guard and linebacker, into college - but he loves his role in this film.
"Baseball is beautiful. Baseball is beautiful," he repeats reverentially.
Busey can be a restless interview.
"I'm so sick of talking about myself," he says abruptly, going in a completely different direction. "It's important to know what you want to do. It's important to know what you desire."
Each person, he said, has a champion inside them.
"This is not about me, this is about you. This is about helping you," he intones, then suddenly adds, "What was that? What was that? That sounded like a mechanical cow!, when the interviewer's phone chimes.
"Put the phone away, put the phone away," he the reporter tries to put it on mute. Then he turns into the camera and winks and speaks to California's fourth year of extreme drought.
"The water's down? Well, it'll come back up. Always be positive," he said.
He is asked about the knack for creating memorable roles, including his turn as Buddy Holley, that won him an Oscar.
"Wow, it is a gift. My forte is improv and spontaneity, and having the freedom of giving myself with all of myself to all of the roles that come to me," he said, adding that he wraps himself deeply in his characters to create sinister roles like Mr. Joshua in the film "Lethal Weapon."
"He will walk through his grandmother's blood to get a postage stamp and never look at her. That was Mr. Joshua. Ooooh," he exclaims.
In the next breath he spoke briefly about his return to his Christian roots.
"Well, I was raised in a Christian church. My mother and father took me to a Christian church when I was a little boy," he recalls, adding that he stayed active in Christian organizations as a high school and college athlete.
After his near fatal motorcycle accident in 1988, that he seldom talks about in interviews, he says he had an out of body experience that took him to the 'other side' where angels spoke to him.
"It was time for me to look for help in the spiritual realm. And the light said, 'You may come with us or return to your body to continue your destiny," he said, spreading his hands wide. 'It's your choice.' And I immediately came back and started over. Had to learn to walk, talk, eat, dress myself again. And be a human being."
That led him back to his faith, and to a new awareness.
"In order to be one with him, you gotta be one with yourself and when you're one with yourself, you are your best friend for the first time," Busey said.
"It's like a pie contest at a carnival. You don't want to eat every piece of pie. But you want to take one slice out of the good ones. And leave it at that," he concludes.
He insists he was never really a Hollywood guy, that he just went to some of the parties.
"Call me, we'll have lunch. And trust me, I know you," he mocks. "Pffft, it doesn't mean a thing. It just means you're getting on board."
Busey says he loves his new life at his place in Malibu, 'far away,' he says, from Hollywood. He credits his wife, his "soulmate" he calls her, with helping change everything about his life. And he ends with a last brief bit of advice.
"Thank you guys. Pay attention to yourself. You're the one that counts for you," he says, turning his trademark grin towards the camera.
