Recently guest on the show hosted by actress Drew Barrymore, Gary Oldman spoke about a difficult period in his life and career, where he was forced to refuse many roles…
An immense actor whose reputation has long been established, an absolute model for a whole generation of actors (notably for Tom Hardy), Gary Oldman has played many memorable roles, from Dracula to True Romance via JFK, The Mole , Léon, Hannibal, The Dark Hours and his extraordinary composition in the guise of Churchill, or even Commissioner Gordon in Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy… To name only a very small handful.
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Recently guest on the show hosted by actress Drew Barrymore, The Drew Barrymore Showthe actor indulged in some surprising confidences, explaining that his roles as Sirius Black in the Harry Potter saga and Commissioner Gordon in Nolan’s Batman saga had “saved his career“.
He was then going through a difficult time on a personal level, with an acrimonious divorce (his wife accused him of domestic violence) and two dependent children. “At 42, I woke up divorced and had custody of my two boys. It was a difficult time personally and professionally, because there was a change in the industry at the time.
Many productions were now filmed in Hungary, Budapest or Prague or even in Australia. I couldn’t go and so I refused a lot of roles…”
He adds : “Thank God there was Harry Potter! Thank you Harry Potter! I tell you! Harry Potter and Batman! Truly, they saved my life and my career, because it allowed me to work less, while still earning more money and at the same time I could go home to be with my children.”
During the filming of Batman Begins in 2005, he made numerous trips between Los Angeles and the filming of the film in London, to continue raising his children.
“When we made the first Batman, we were filming in London which was the setting for Gotham. I flew 27 round trips from Los Angeles… I was flying for a day. I was doing a day of filming.
To Chris Nolan’s credit, I thank him for sticking to the schedule carefully. Then I would go home for three days. And I was leaving for two days. And then I would go home for a weekend etc. Without that, I just had the impression that my children were being raised by a nanny.”