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You take what you know, and you put it through your own prism. If I play characters that break down or cry, it’s Gary Oldman crying; it’s not the character crying.

Gary Oldman

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

Children Deal Focus Greatness Myself Period Time
Being a good director is knowing sometimes when not to say something.
GARY OLDMAN

Director Goodness Silence Time
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
We’re given a code to live our lives by. We don’t always follow it, but it’s still there.
GARY OLDMAN

Code Follow Live Ourselves
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
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
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’m rarely asked to play the smartest man in the room.
GARY OLDMAN

Man Myself Play Rare Room Smart
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
How do you remember all those lines? By forgetting everything else.
GARY OLDMAN

Forget Line Myself Remember Yourself
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
You always hope that the cloak of inspiration will fall, and you’ll be O.K.
GARY OLDMAN

Cloak Fall Hope Inspirational Yourself
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

Collection Guitar Imagination Instrument Musician Old
As a drama student I got into Thirties and Forties suits.
GARY OLDMAN

Drama Myself Student
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

Change Company Creation Enough Face Famous Industry Movie Myself
Wanting to be a good actor is not good enough. You must want to be a great actor. You just have to have that.
GARY OLDMAN

Actor Enough Goodness Greatness Yourself

You take what you know, and you put it through your own prism. If I play characters that break down or cry, it’s Gary Oldman crying; it’s not the character crying.

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You take what you know, and you put it through your own prism. If I play characters that break down or cry, it’s Gary Oldman crying; it’s not the character crying.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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