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 OLDMANThe 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 OLDMANWell, I needed the work – that’s the honest answer. I haven’t worked for a while, a couple of years. So I thought it would be nice to get back to work and earn some money.
GARY OLDMANThe 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 OLDMANI’m rarely asked to play the smartest man in the room.
GARY OLDMANI got obsessed with classical music, I got obsessed with Chopin, with playing the piano.
GARY OLDMANChange 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 OLDMANI like a cheese and pickle. Nice cheese and pickle on a real old-fashioned bread. Ploughman’s lunch.
GARY OLDMANYou 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 OLDMANI’m almost incapable of lying. I’d be a terrible spy.
GARY OLDMANI’m still a member of the Empire! Although I sometimes feel like an American with a British accent – you get contaminated after so long.
GARY OLDMANGrowing up in a particular neighborhood, growing up in a working-class family, not having much money, all of those things fire you and can give you an edge, can give you an anger.
GARY OLDMANAs an actor, you people-watch, you observe. And the more famous you become, the sad thing is you lose the ability to do that. Instead of people-watching, you become the focus of attention.
GARY OLDMANBut you see, I have played more good guys than I have played villains.
GARY OLDMANInteresting 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 OLDMANPolitical correctness has become a straightjacket.
GARY OLDMANGetting sober was one of the three pivotal events in my life, along with becoming an actor and having a child. Of the three, finding my sobriety was the hardest thing.
GARY OLDMAN