I like celluloid, I like film, I like the way that when a movie is projected it sort of breathes a little in the gate. That’s the magic of it to me.
GARY OLDMANWe’re given a code to live our lives by. We don’t always follow it, but it’s still there.
More Gary Oldman Quotes
-
-
I went and lived in Chicago for a year , and I studied at the police academy.
GARY OLDMAN -
If one could have a wish, or an alternative life, I would’ve liked to have been John Lennon.
GARY OLDMAN -
The industry has changed. Two years ago I could tell a company I’ve got Russell Crowe and that would get the film made. Now they’d ask ‘And who’s the girl?’ Just one famous face isn’t enough any more.
GARY OLDMAN -
Overall I enjoy a certain anonymity. I live a very normal, very ordinary life.
GARY OLDMAN -
Rather like Batman, I embody the themes of the movie which are the values of family, courage and compassion and a sense of right and wrong, good and bad and justice.
GARY OLDMAN -
Each role you play, they set a bar of challenges that you meet. And in the past, I’ve played characters that emotionally expressed themselves a bit more in a physical way. It was a joy, actually.
GARY OLDMAN -
Any actor who tells you that they have become the people they play, unless they’re clearly diagnosed as a schizophrenic, is bullshitting you.
GARY OLDMAN -
How do you remember all those lines? By forgetting everything else.
GARY OLDMAN -
I had a guitar when I was 6 or 7, a plastic guitar with the Beatles’ faces on it. It would be a collector’s item now. It would fetch a hefty sum, I imagine.
GARY OLDMAN -
The thing a drama school can’t give you is instinct. It can sharpen instinct but that can’t be taught, and you have to have intuition. It’s an essential ingredient.
GARY OLDMAN -
Interesting things come your way but as you get older, your lifestyle changes. I don’t want to travel; I don’t want to be in a hotel room away from my family.
GARY OLDMAN -
You can play older than yourself. You can play younger than yourself up to a point, and then that just becomes impossible because you carry a weight with you that you can’t shift, unless you have very boyish looks.
GARY OLDMAN -
I’m almost incapable of lying. I’d be a terrible spy.
GARY OLDMAN -
I enjoy playing characters where the silence is loud.
GARY OLDMAN -
People have an idea that one is in control of a career, a lot more than you really are. You can engineer things to an extent. But you are at the mercy of what comes in across the desk.
GARY OLDMAN -
Shakespeare doesn’t really write subtext, you play the subtext.
GARY OLDMAN -
The script is your map of the world, isn’t it? And if someone knows that if it’s well-written, you get all of the beats, it will tell you everything you need to know.
GARY OLDMAN -
I was brought up by my mother and my two sisters, although they’re older than me and fled the nest very young, so I was technically raised as an only child, but I was very much loved.
GARY OLDMAN -
I was never really that interested in the punk movement. I was a blues guy: I liked Motown, James Brown.
GARY OLDMAN -
On set I keep myself to myself; I’d rather the director speak up. I’m not gonna direct a younger actor. I think the power of example works best, actually.
GARY OLDMAN -
Speaking very generally, I find that women are spiritually, emotionally, and often physically stronger than men.
GARY OLDMAN -
I did have a knack for playing weirdos. There’s still sort of this perception of me out there as being this crazy guy.
GARY OLDMAN -
But you see, I have played more good guys than I have played villains.
GARY OLDMAN -
Reality TV to me is the museum of social decay.
GARY OLDMAN -
My passion and energy get mistaken for anger.
GARY OLDMAN -
Change is vital to any actor. If you keep playing lead after lead, you’re really gonna dry up. Because all those vehicles wean you away from the truths of human behaviour.
GARY OLDMAN