Gary Oldman is His Own Worst Critic, Says It’d be a “Sad Day” if He Starts Liking His Performances
Gary Oldman is one of the most renowned English actors in Hollywood of his generation. Having begun his career as a professional actor in 1979, he has appeared in some of the best movies ever. From a misunderstood wizard to a blood-sucking Dracula, there are many fictional fantasy characters he has played in his career.
Besides being a great screen actor, Gary Oldman, once a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, is also known for his stage work. Despite all the phenomenal performances that he has given throughout his career, he continues to critique himself like no one else. He has admitted as much during a recent interview.
Gary Oldman Cannot Help Criticizing His Work
Gary Oldman was the first BA Acting graduate from the 1979 batch of Rose Bruford College to have secured professional work. He attributed this achievement to his diligence rather than his talent as an actor. He worked in several plays before he made his film debut in the 1982 movie Remembrance.
Oldman’s third starring role in a film itself earned him a BAFTA Award nomination. He went on to give several other award-winning roles which earned him an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and three BAFTA Awards. He has also been part of major franchises like Harry Potter and Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy.
Gary Oldman is his own biggest critic and never the one who has positive opinions about his performances which also makes him the worst. Recently, he explained this during an interview on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast:
“I’ll tell you what it is. It’s like anything, I think if I sat and watched myself in something and said, ‘My God, I’m amazing,’ that would be a very sad day, because you want to make the next thing better.”
Oldman’s logic is absolutely understandable because he should judge his own performances in hopes of doing better instead of relying on the opinions of others about his work.
Gary Oldman is Unimpressed With His Performance in Harry Potter
The Harry Potter film franchise is still one of the most popular ones regardless of how many years have passed since the last movie’s release. Gary Oldman played the role of the protagonist of Harry Potter’s Godfather Sirius Black. Although the viewers love how well he played the role, the actor himself has revealed that he is not a fan of his work in those movies.
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During the interview on the Happy, Sad, Confused podcast, the Darkest Hour star expressed his dissatisfaction with his work on Harry Potter: “I think my work is mediocre in it.” He personally believes that if he knew what Sirius Black’s fate was going to be in the upcoming books, he could have done better. Addressing this, he said:
“Maybe if I had read the books like Alan, if I had got ahead of the curve, if I had known what’s coming, I honestly think I would have played it differently.”
That is an uncertain proposition though because it is hard to tell if Oldman’s performance could have been better if he had read the upcoming books. Even so, it cannot be denied that his performance as Sirius Black was very impressive.
