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I took a bit of a back seat, I had kids and I wanted to focus on them. There’s that period in the late ’90s, the early 2000s, where I didn’t do a great deal.

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

Drama Essential Intuition School Sharp Yourself
Well, 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 OLDMAN

Couple Honesty Money Myself Need Work
To be honest, Im a little tired of playing bad guys. I long to do a comedy. But it was fun knocking Indiana Jones around.
GARY OLDMAN

Bad Honesty Man Myself Play
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

Bad Family Goodness Justice Movie Myself Theme Value Wrong
I think filmmaking should be a wonderfully free collaborative process, and it so very rarely is. I often see directors as jailers of my talent.
GARY OLDMAN

Director Freedom Myself Rare Talent Wonderful
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

Best Director Example Power Talk Work Young
I’m rarely asked to play the smartest man in the room.
GARY OLDMAN

Man Myself Play Rare Room Smart
How many movies do you see when you can say this director really knew what film he wanted to make? I can count them on the fingers of one hand.
GARY OLDMAN

Director Fingers Hand Movie Myself
I’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 OLDMAN

British Contamination Feeling Myself Time
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

Crazy Man Myself Perception Play Weird
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

Actor Behavior Change Human Play Truth Vehicle
I enjoy playing characters where the silence is loud.
GARY OLDMAN

Character Enjoyment Loud Play Silence
My passion and energy get mistaken for anger.
GARY OLDMAN

Angry Energy Mistake Passion
If one could have a wish, or an alternative life, I would’ve liked to have been John Lennon.
GARY OLDMAN

Dreams Myself Preference Wish
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

Actor Movie People Play Yourself
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

Impossible Old Play Point Weight Younger Yourself

I took a bit of a back seat, I had kids and I wanted to focus on them. There’s that period in the late ’90s, the early 2000s, where I didn’t do a great deal.

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I took a bit of a back seat, I had kids and I wanted to focus on them. There’s that period in the late ’90s, the early 2000s, where I didn’t do a great deal.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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