Gary Oldman is grateful that Harry Potter and Dark Knight gave him a lot of money for little work
Freshly divorced and with custody of his sons, Gary Oldman says his franchise movies saved him
Aux News Gary Oldman
We tend to think of Gary Oldman as a serious actor, one who brings a bit of prestige to all of his roles and who loves to put on a bunch of prosthetics or just gain weight if a part demands it (in order to make it visually obvious how serious he is), but also if you ask the average person to name a Gary Oldman movie, they’ll almost certainly say one of the Harry Potter movies or one of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight movies—or, if they’re a real maniac, they’ll say The Fifth Element. And Oldman has no issues with that… in fact, he seems enormously grateful for what the Harry Potter and Batman movies did for both his career and his personal life.
Oldman appeared on The Drew Barrymore Show recently and talked about how he “woke up divorced” at 42 and with sole custody of his sons (Oldman had been accused of abuse by ex-wife Donya Fiorentino 20 years ago, but he was cleared of all charges and grated sole custody of the couple’s children after an investigation), right at a time when a lot of movies were being filmed in various disparate locations around the world. Oldman says he had to turn down a lot of roles simply because he couldn’t travel that much. But “thank god for Harry Potter,” he says, because that franchise and Nolan’s Batman movies allowed him to “do the least amount of work for the most of money” and then still have time to be with his kids.
Ah, doing the least work for the most money. That’s the dream! And that’s without considering the fact that he was in those big franchises and still comes across like a serious actor who does serious things. He can show up for five minutes in Oppenheimer and nobody’s like “wait, why is Sirius Black here?” because we think of him as “Gary Oldman, real actor” and not “the guy from those franchise movies.”
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that franchise and Nolan’s Batman movies allowed him to “do the least amount of work for the most of money” and then still have time to be with his kids.
Clearly Gary’s mustache was doing all the work in those movies! But did the mustache get time off for his kids? NO!
His first mustache was killed during filming. It delayed the whole Dark Knight Rises production by nearly three months, and the mustache didn’t even get a memoriam in the movie. Fucking Nolan.
Is he now cosplaying as Jeff Bridges in that header pic?
That’s just, like, you opinion, man.
Genuinely thought it was Bridges until I read the headline.
Same!
Jack Nicholson for me.
Definitely thought it was Jack Nicholson
I’m still not 100% sure its not
Truly, he is the most chameleonic of thespians.
Would I watch a remake of The Parent Trap with Jeff Bridges and Gary Oldman as the twins? Well, yeah, obviously.
In the meantime he is fantastic in Slow Horses.
I suppose others may disagree, but Gary Oldman has been a treasure, at least on-screen.
I admire you hanging yourself out there like this.
I indeed had to gather my courage before stepping forward.
“if you ask the average person to name a Gary Oldman movie, they’ll almost certainly say….”
thats what I always think of
whoa
If McConaughey ever becomes a politician the way he keeps threatening to, this will be the movie comedians will bring up over and over again, the way they used to bring up Bedtime for Bonzo when they were mocking Reagan.
What movie of his did people bring up positively the most? I’m guessing Knute Rockne, All American because of the “win just one for the Gipper” speech.
He himself made Gipper references just like Arnold made Terminator ones!
Speaking of celebrities turned presidents, I notice the 20th anniversary of The Apprentice is 3 weeks from tomorrow and if The A.V. Club doesn’t have an article about it then (finger point) they’re fired. (Sighs ruefully remembering when that was just a harmless catchphrase.)
And that worked like a CHARM.
“…if they’re a real maniac, they’ll say The Fifth Element.”I’m a maniac, MAAAAANIAC!
Also this
The Professional, Dracula, Tinker Tailor – those are Gary Oldman movies. He’s 100% great in both of his big series but movies like these are more his.
I immediately think of Sid and Nancy.
It IS ‘a role of a lifetime. . .’
Can’t say I’ve heard of it.I feel like most would start with Dracula. I myself would say Immortal Beloved or maybe Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, but I know those wouldn’t be popular picks. There’s also The Professional and True Romance.
This is exactly what I thought of
Dark Knight Rises must have been a fun job, most of the film he was lying in bed
And he got to ride a waterslide before that!
“and talked about how he “woke up divorced” at 42″I don’t even know how that works. Maybe my wife and I are very good at communication but I know the moment things are not right with us. We are, thankfully, not near divorce or anything but I know the few times in our relationship that we got close and was very aware of why they were happening and what my part in it was.
Chemicals my friend
I don’t think anybody took “woke up divorced” as an accurate reflection of a wronged party except for other divorced dads who “woke up divorced.”
Given that there was a full fledged criminal investigation involved on top of the (very, very public) civil divorce proceedings, I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that it was a figure of speech and that he was extremely aware of the process as it was going on.
I woke up divorced once, which really confused the hell out of me considering I have never been married.
“I don’t even know how that works.”
They’re called “sayings”. They’re not to be taken literally, dipshit.
Prick Up Your Ears.It’s a shame actors can’t be remembered just for one great performance.
um…ok…
He is not going to retire until they greenlight his Henny Youngman biopic
Does “little work” mean that they were supporting roles that paid well rather than him having to be on set for months on end as a lead, or that they didn’t demand much of him and he could pretty much work on auto pilot?
Meanwhile, everyone I know is George Costanza:“It’s a lot more hard work. A lot more responsibility. Long, long hours. Not much more money. But you’ll finally get the recognition you deserve.”