Even after four decades in the spotlight, actor Gary Oldman is still reaching out for more.
South Londoner Gary Oldman, who lives in Los Angeles with fifth wife Gisele Schmidt, has just celebrated 40 years on screen.
Having worked for many of the world’s most renowned filmmakers – Francis Ford Coppola, Christopher Nolan, Ridley Scott, Oliver Stone, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Zemeckis to name but a few – the actor and director is most certainly Hollywood royalty. Bolstering this tag are figures from The Hollywood Reporter that place him top of the list of the highest grossing actors of all time with films he has either acted in or directed generating over $4bn in the United States and $10bn worldwide. And yet, through it all, he is someone who carries with himself a level of humility that almost seems excessive in its sincerity.
He is a man wrapped in the comfort and contentment of the entertainment industry, sure; yet he’s just as happy having a pint in a spit ‘n’ sawdust pub as he is hobnobbing with the elite in LA.
“I think, in a strange way, what’s made me this way has been success,” he begins. “Many of us dream of a life that’s away from everything we’ve known; and for a while, that’s a nice little piece of escapism we can grab hold of and take with us.
“Yet very quickly when I saw this other world opening up in front of me, my overriding thought was that, while I wanted a bit of it, I didn’t want to lose the people and places I grew up in and around.
“It’s like anything you’re threatened with losing – it just makes you grab hold of it a little tighter.”
As for the wealth and the success, Oldman has very clear thoughts about that too. “My films have garnered a lot of money, sure. I wish I had a cut,” he laughs.
“It’s by accident, but I have this little race with Samuel L Jackson for whose movies have earned most. It doesn’t matter to me and it’s just a bit of fun. He overtook me for a while, and there are people coming along ready to challenge – mainly those working in the franchise section. Good luck to them!”
Most recently excelling in the Hitman’s Bodyguard project, and smart drama such as The Woman in the Window and Crisis, Oldman is still mixing up genres and characters, as he looks for a way to preserve creativity, albeit at an age where many of his peers take the easy option.
“I can’t see myself ever doing that easy option,” he says. “That’s just not me – I think I’d rather retire completely than do something my heart and mind weren’t totally committed to.”
Oldman has always been this way, going right back to the start. Gary Oldman studied with the Young People’s Theatre in Greenwich and the Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama in Sidcup, Kent, obtaining a BA in Acting in 1979. He was the first in his class to receive professional work as an actor and has also gone on to clinch five BAFTAs, the most recent as Best Actor in Darkest Hour.
“I’m getting back directing with Flying Horse, a project I wrote. It’s not easy though. You have so much finance and backing, then you need to make a film. Studios now, they have a model, and their model is a certain amount of money, and then you can’t shoot anything here in the UK, because it’s too expensive. So you have to travel… South Africa, Canada, perhaps New Orleans… and they want a little tax subsidy from here and they get a kickback from there, and they want to ensure they’ve made a profit before even the movie is shot. That’s how they are making movies.
“Flying Horse is a 19th century true story about Edward Mybridge. I’ve had Ralph Fiennes, Amanda Seyfried, Benedict Cumberbatch, and me, and it’s all about fitting the model.
“It’s difficult,” he says, before pausing… “but it’s my career, my life, my world, and I’d be lost without all this!”
