Attribution: Brett Cove at https://www.flickr.com/photos/brettdcove/, GFDL, via Wikimedia Commons
By Geoff Carter
There is no more unique actor–or screen villain–than Gary Oldman. He can be the epitome of sadism, malevolence, or violence, but he can also be suave and charming—though he is never entirely trustworthy, even when portraying Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour or George Smiley in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. And he can do both simultaneously—seemingly effortlessly.
One of Oldman’s many gifts is his ability to bring a uniquely odd twist to every character. Even with a rather stock villain like Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg in The Fifth Element, Oldman provides a distinct quirk (a cello if you will) by giving his character a distinctive Southern drawl—sort of a decadent accent to his evil. Nothing could seem more out of place in a science-fiction tale, but it works.
His interpretation of Count Dracula, especially the accent, comes across not as weirdly exotic like Bela Lugosi’s, but instead reeks of old East European sophistication. His cloying attention to his guest Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves) transforms seamlessly into the cruel and brutal monster he has become—which in turn is tempered by the discovery of his long-lost love. Oldman’s performance is brilliant. He tiptoes on but never crosses the line into self-conscious parody. His Dracula is a monster—and a magnificent romantic.
As Sid Vicious in the biopic Sid and Nancy, Oldman embodies the rage and energy of the audaciously outrageous punk star, and then sympathetically portrays his downward spiral into a helplessly dependent heroin addict. His connection with his lover Nancy (Chloe Webb) is simultaneously touching and harrowing.
In Darkest Hour, the biopic of Winston Churchill during his rise to power in the early years of World War II, Oldman conveys a political shrewdness and intelligence—and the sly wit—that embodied the essence of the prime minister.
Finally, his portrayal of Jackson Lamb as the disgraced MI5 spy in Slow Horses is slyly funny. He is able to disguise his shrewdness and experience as a master spy under a façade of sloppiness, crassness, and crudeness. It is, again, a performance that could easily have gone over the top, but Oldman reins in that old slow horse just enough to make him believable and—yes, even over the farting and sloppy eating—sympathetic.
In short, Gary Oldman is a master actor. His sensibilities and taste reflect a deep understanding of his characters and a willingness to liberally season his performances with a great sense of humor.
Gary Oldman’s Ten Best Films
Sid and Nancy: In this biopic of punk rocker Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols, Oldman at first brings a fierce intensity to the Sex Pistol’s mostly unfocused rage. He is volatile and violent, yet somehow captivatingly fascinating. After he meets punk scene hanger-on Nancy Spungen (Chloe Webb) and falls into heroin addiction, he lapses into a downward spiral that ends in tragedy. Oldman finds a unique balance between the vitriolic anger and sad vulnerability of Vicious, particularly when he is manipulated by band manager Malcolm McClaren (David Hayman) and in his codependent love for Nancy. The scene where the two of them go to Nancy’s parents’ home for dinner is both hilarious in its evocation of class values and sad for Nancy’s cluelessness.
Dracula: In this Francis Ford Coppola remake—and reimagining—of the horror classic, Oldman not only plays Dracula as a brutal monster but manages to make him a tragically romantic figure. When Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves) meets him, Dracula is shriveled and old. Oldman plays him masterfully, achieving an avaricious, almost gnomelike look to the vampire. Then, after Dracula sees a portrait of Harker’s fiance Mina (Winona Ryder) and realizes she is the doppelganger of his lost love, he makes it his mission to win her. Regaining youth from his bloody diet, he is tender and loving toward her. Oldman manages to do this while never relinquishing his inner evil. He is a killer and an animal—but a lover. Also featuring fantastic supporting performances by Anthony Hopkins, Tom Waits, and Richard E. Grant.
Leon: The Professional: In this New York City crime thriller, young Mathilde’s (Natalie Portman) family is murdered by crooked DEA agent Norman Stansfield (Oldman) when she is out shopping. She walks past the murder scene and asks her neighbor Leon (Jean Reno) a hitman, for help. He reluctantly shelters her and the two form an unusual friendship. Oldman’s turn as the drug-crazed and intense Stansfield fills the screen whenever he gets near it. He is almost joyously maniacal in a supremely skillful over-the-top performance. His performance is in perfect counterpoint to Jean Reno’s understated Leon and Natalie Portman’s tough-as-nails Mathilde.
True Romance: Although he only has a few moments of screen time as Drexl Spivey, a homicidal pimp, Oldman’s turn as yet another psychotic villain dominated the screen. His portrayal of the malignant dreadlocked villain was breathtaking, overshadowing a stellar supporting cast that included Dennis Hopper, Christopher Walken, Christian Slater, Val Kilmer, and Brad Pitt. Oldman’s turn as the jive-talking hyperactive fish-eyed pimp is riveting. The scene in which he confronts Clarence (Christian Slater) and tries to intimidate him with—of all things—a hanging lamp—is both harrowing and amusing. His sinister giggle and smiles are all the more frightening when coupled with his malevolent—which nobody does like Oldman.
The Fifth Element: In this over-the-top science-fiction thriller, Oldman provides yet another outrageously excessive supporting performance. As Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg, Oldman is an industrialist who is under the thrall of a malevolent evil coming to destroy Earth. When the Mondoshawans, the alien race that has the secret to defeat the evil are ambushed by mercenaries hired by Zorg, bioengineers are able to reconstitute one of the aliens as Leeloo (Milla Jovovich) who flees and is befriended by Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis). Despite Zorg and other evil entities, Dallas and Leeloo manage to save the world. As Zorg, Oldman affects an odd sort of Southern drawl (New Orleans-influenced to my ear) that belies the futuristic setting. Zorg seems to be a decadent anachronism, exuding a sort of Strother Martin type of oily charm.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy: As the embittered and enigmatic super-spy George Smiley in this Le Carre classic, Oldman is able to convey the loneliness, paranoia, and shrewdness necessary to survive in this deeply convoluted world of love, betrayal, and survival. While Oldman is known for his intense, sometimes excessive acting style, he can also play the very introspective and cerebral types, as he does here. His Smiley is part chess master, part soldier, part bureaucrat, and part killer. His George Smiley is an unassuming man on the outside, but brilliant and ruthless on the inside. Oldman’s intensity helps surface his character’s complicated and tortured inner life in the most subtle and barely visible eye movements and expressions.
Slow Horses: In this Apple TV series about misfit British spy team MI5’s screw-ups and misfits who are exiled to Slough House, a sort of espionage purgatory, Oldman plays Jackson Lamb, the sloppy, rude, flatulent, and unkempt head of the program. When River Cartwright (Jack Lowden) an up-and-coming agent screws up a major assignment and is placed under Lamb’s supervision. Lowden rails against his exile and discovers a major terrorist threat. He is surprised when Lamb rises above his station (and his personal hygiene) to shrewdly take charge of the counter-operation against the operation. As Lamb, while Oldman is bitterly sardonic, cruel, and even pathetic, his disgusting persona is in fact a cover for a shrewd, calculating, and courageous spy. In portraying Lamb, Oldman reluctantly achieves a measure of respectability while actively fighting against it. It is a masterful performance.
Darkest Hour: As I am fond of stating, biopics are complicated pieces of cinema. As audiences enter the theater with preformed expectations, actors have to not only provide a believable likeness of a well-known persona, but also stamp the character with their own interpretation of his drives and motives. Oldman’s rendition of Winston Churchill is nothing short of masterful. Oldman received almost universal praise (along with an Academy Award) for his unique portrayal of the acerbic and outspoken prime minister. Instead of resorting to the gruff, barking caricature we have so often seen in depictions of Churchill, Oldman provides a portrait of a man struggling to maintain a principled stance against aggression and fascism he believes necessary to survive. While not as flashy as some of his more notorious roles, this is one of Oldman’s most meticulously rendered performances.
The Laundromat: This very odd comedy drama bildungsroman story starts out with two amiable real-life lawyers Jurgen Mossack (Oldman) and Ramon Fonseca (Antonia Banderas) explaining directly to the audience how credit and money work. The film then goes on to relate the details of The Panama Papers scandal and tells how three real-life vignettes about how the unethical—but legal—machinations of their company Mossack Fonseca affected the lives of three citizens. Meryl Streep plays a woman whose husband was killed in a boating accident but who cannot on an insurance policy that has been sold to a shell company. In another, an heiress is unable to collect because Mossack has emptied her trust. At the end, viewers are warned by Streep and Mossack and Fonseca that these companies do exist. As Mossack, Oldman is blithely affable and charming. Along with Banderas, he conveys an air of trustworthiness, but as always with Oldman, there is an undercurrent of ulterior motivation.
Romeo is Bleeding: In this ultra-violent noir thriller, Detective Jack Grimaldi (Oldman) is on the take, working for mob boss Don Falcone (Roy Scheider). He’s assigned to kill hitwoman Mona (Lena Olin) but instead turns her over to a safehouse. He helps Mona escape and is first seduced and then betrayed by her. Mona again—incredibly—betrays and tries to kill him again. Gaining the upper hand, framing him and turning him over to the police and then confronting him in a warehouse. Jack grabs a gun and kills her and receives a commendation for taking her out. Oldman was commended for his work; many critics thought that even though the film was poorly plotted and grossly overdone, his depiction of Grimaldi as a morally compromised character was quintessential Oldman.