Gary Oldman was Sirius-ly unimpressed with his own Harry Potter performances
"I think my work is mediocre in it," Oldman said of his turn as Sirius Black in the Potter flicks
Aux News Gary Oldman
We have to imagine it would be difficult to be judged by Gary Oldman—That voice! That glower! That endless series of accents and prosthetics! Which is why we’re glad today that we are not, in fact, Gary Oldman. Who went in for a bit of the ol’ self-judgment on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast recently, in which he asserted, with total sincerity, that he thinks his performances in the Harry Potter movies were “mediocre.”
“I think my work is mediocre in it,” Oldman bluntly says in the interview, provoking a “Gary!” from the ever-affable Horowitz. (Who was interviewing the actor in front of an audience at the 92nd Street Y in New York.) Referencing his old friend Alan Rickman (who was a tad more invested in the material, including famously being one of the only people, besides J.K. Rowling, to know a few of the franchises’ bigger secrets before the books finished publishing), Oldman asserted that, “Maybe if I had read the books, like Alan… If I had gotten ahead of the curve a bit—if I had known what’s coming—I honestly would have played it different.”
Oldman was careful to keep his focus on himself, not the material; he’s said on more than one occasion (including a recent interview with Drew Barrymore), that, from a monetary/free-time point of view, the movies were extremely good jobs. (Ditto his other big franchise role from the era, in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight movies; the big connection between the two being that they a) paid a lot and b) didn’t involve having to travel too far from his kids to make them.) He did express a bit of irritation with the production of the movies while talking to Horowitz, noting that the bit in Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, where he had to lay down motionless next to a frozen lake for an entire week, was the least pleasant thing he’d done in his entire career.
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Some of the things he’s said make me think he has kind of a joyless attitude towards acting, especially since you’d think he of all people would have a lot of fun acting.
I’d agree. I don’t really remember his performance and sometimes forget he was in them at all. Even someone with IIRC less screen time like David Thewlis left a lasting impression on me.
Remember when ‘the gang’ was living at the Black family residence in London? It was Christmas and Sirius welcomed Harry to the table with a toast. Later, as they were looking at the mural depicting the Black family tree Sirius explained the horrible family dynamics. And then there were the scenes where Harry sneaks into one of the Wizarding administration buildings and Sirius shapeshifts into a dog. Also notable were some flying scenes. Oldman is a very good ensemble player.
Thewlis was still horribly miscast tho.
He looked like a tired old plumber.
I feel bad saying this because I’m a fan but his performance in Azkaban was relly over the top, bordering on hysterical and so was Thewlis’s. And ‘Potterheads’ may correct me but, as I recall, they were written that way. High drama, so it’s interesting that Oldman says he didn’t read the material.But I think that his performances in the following installations ware first rate and he has absolutely no reason to feel regret.
I think it’s very possible that he didn’t read the material but that he came on board aiming for “genre fare/high drama” just by nature of the production itself. I absolutely adore Alan Rickman and his Snape is fantastic (one of the greatest genre performances imho) but he is hitting broader notes than he does in 90% of his career.Take Rickman’s performances in his other genre-fare with the likes of Galaxy Quest, Love Actually and Dogma. He plays far subtler and less on the nose, and the (arguably, but not really arguable) worst of all of those films, Love Actually has the best of all 4 Rickman performances.So Gary Oldman, a fellow British “thesp” gets onto set and sees Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Robbie Coltrane and even the likes of David Bradley hitting “broad” and Oldman goes “oh right, it’s *that* show!” and adds a little ham to the salad.I’d argue that Oldman is being a bit self-depreciative as many are here but it is mostly down to the fact that his “broad” performance isn’t fleshed out the way many others are. Even Helene Bonham Carter who has (I think) a similar screen time over the franchise, gets way more to sink her teeth into as Bellatrix than Oldman does as Black.
Good reply. It’s actually pretty amazing that an ensembe of that calibre was able to work so well together without over-stepping (I’m thinking The Avengers here, lol).
I wonder if these are the performances that Rowling imagined? The ‘mood’ that you describe is exactly why I enjoyed The Deathly Hallows I so much. Of all the installments it was the most raw? The realism was almost disturbing. The last film took us back to the opera, lol
I completely agree on DH1All the things that it gets criticism for, the unorthodox opening act, the slow burn forest scenes, the anti-climactic ending, all give part 2 the opportunity to BE the climax while still working as a standalone story and journey. To also call to the MCU as you do, I would say it’s the Infinity War to DH2’s Endgame, one cannot exist without the other but they can certainly be enjoyed separately.On the cast, obviously excepting the Rowling-politics of it all, going back to the late 90’s when she was receiving greater and greater offers for the rights, she was very vocal about needing exactly her vision on the screen so I do believe she got as near to her perfect cast as possible and arguably the first two films suffer from being too married to the books because of her vision and lack of knowledge on “what to sacrifice” on an adaptation but you cannot dispute the cast.What’s equally impressive (as with the MCU) is the casting team managed to bring in actors such as Fiennes, Spall, Bonham-Carter, Oldman into an already stacked cast, so seamlessly. Aside from the, unfortunately enforced, re-cast of Dumbledore I can’t think of many ensemble casts with such a high hit-rate especially of that size.
That was one book-split-into-two movies that actually made sense. DH1 could have been tightened up a little but it definitely succeeded in laying bare how psychopathic the Voldemort crowd was. But even then it would have been a four-hour combined film.
Totally agree.Unfortunately for Hollywood they learned all the wrong reasons (SO UNLIKE THEM) and saw it was a get-rich quick scheme to elongate franchises.Arguably OTP and HBP fell into the trap of being too in depth for one 150 min film, but not in need of the two-movie treatment so both feel a touch slight.
To me, the extreme efforts they went to for the misdirect about Black’s nature made a lot of the film nonsensical. Why would the people that really know him not give Harry a heads up?
That was especially bothersome. When the two men meet with such animosity it’s completely believable. When they embrace as comrades (confusing the hell out of everyone) they looked like madmen and I suddenly felt like I was at the wrong movie.
It has been a lot of years since I read the books, but if I recall, no one gave Harry a heads up because everyone believed James had made Sirius the secret keeper and that Sirius had betrayed him. Even Dumbledore found it hard to believe, but that is where the evidence pointed. And Sirius went to prison believing that is WAS his fault in a sense because it was HIS idea to trust Peter (whom he believed was later killed).
I’d forgotten all of this backstory. Thanks.
I thought Thewlis did fine with the part, almost actually underplaying it when I envisioned Lupin from the books being a bit more empathetic. Oldman definitely hit the wrong notes for me in his brief scenes in Azkaban. He played it well if Sirius was meant to be a crazed escapee, but the whole twist is that he was framed. But I also wonder if the script was at fault for that- Azkaban is were the adaptations started to skim and omit more of the shading from the books (like not delving into the origins of the Marauders Map, for instance)
He was great.
He was. People talk about our ‘last great actors’. Tom Cruise couldn’t convincingly tie Oldman’s sneakers.
Who’ve you heard talk about our “last great actors”?
Wrong phrasing. Several times here. Last great Movie Stars. I’d call Oldman a movie star.
I just Googled and there’s a documentary by that name, but the discussion that I participated in here wasn’t about that. Some commenters declared that Cruise was the only one and that was that. It got a bit heated.
I would disagree. I’d imagine Oldman would, too. People still line up to see a 60 year old Tom Cruise. No one does for Gary Oldman. Tom Cruise can’t go anywhere without being noticed. Gary Oldman can likely walk through Times Square without being stopped for an autograph.That’s not a knock. It has nothing to do with acting capabilities. “Star” was never about talent.
And to the extent he was over the top, that’s not the least bit surprising a guy who had been locked up in Azkaban for 15 years would be practically feral.
I love him but I was disappointed too… though more at the film in general. The dialogue exchange in that fateful Pettigrew reveal scene was too rushed for me, no proper breathing room.
Normalize putting the timecodes of the thing you’re specifically referencing in a super long video.
They are incredibly mediocre-to-outright-awful films. Oldman should not feel bad, the only ones trying in those movies were the kids.I’ll admit that turd-brains first few books are solid, entertaining children’s fare but everything else associated with the franchise is some variety of dreck.
Hmm yeah, your analysis makes you sound so high-brow. Do tell us more. Cunt.
I remember Jack Nicholson saying something like, it doesn’t matter who you are, as an actor, 90% of what you do is garbage, and that you just have to trust in the people cutting it together that your performance in the final movie will stick as closely as possible to the 10% that’s good. I’m sure he could’ve been better prepared, but it isn’t Strindberg, and he’s Gary Oldman. You want big, he’ll do big; you want nuance, he’ll do nuance. I really don’t think he’s the weak link in the chain.
My series of accents and prosthetics is not endless, but it’s pretty comprehensive.
Having recently watch Prison of Azkaban and having a scene with Oldman, Thewlis and Timothy Spall in the finale, I was expecting so much more. Three of the great actors of our time and it just felt overacted and dull – if that’s possible.