Gary Oldman, Vol. IV

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21:24I Want to mention more than mention and talk about slow horses Gary has been acknowledged for the third year in a row with an Emmy nomination well-deserved that's coming next next week It's actually your fourth Emmy nomination does anybody know what Gary was first nominated for the Emmys Friends Fred friends But that's what we call a fun fact. How did you end up in friends my comedy period that was

21:50Gary Oldman:Yeah, I think. How did I end up in France? Yeah, Matt LeBlanc. I worked with Matt LeBlanc in a film called Lost in Space. And we became buddies. And then the spitting actor came up and he said, would you like to do it? It was, I loved it. I could get really used to it. You come in on a Monday, you did the read-through, then they rewrite. They send you some roommates on a Wednesday and then Thursday Can't even remember if we came in on Thursday And then Friday you came in and you blocked it Friday afternoon you shoot it in front of an audience. You're done by five I thought I Thought I could yeah, I could get used to this This could be the next this could be the next phase of your career after slow horses a sitcom a sitcom But I tell you, what was wonderful was observing them just going through the technical rehearsal.

22:56Gary Oldman:And watching those actors, it was like breathing form. By then it was well-willed. It was easy as breathing. It was just a wonderful experience watching it, the rehearsal and behind the scenes of that show. I would imagine in a similar way that's what Slow Horses is, especially now as you've... We're all pretty oiled in them. Yeah. This is such a gift, both to the audience and you, I know. You have such affection for this character and this series and this company that you've worked with. As you well know, this is not like, you know, you worry at different ages, are the parts going to come? Are the rewarding parts going to come?

23:43In your 60s, you have found arguably Like one of your favorite if not favorite roles. Can you talk to me a little bit and the audience a little bit about Just the meaning of this world.

23:52Gary Oldman:I feel very I feel very fortunate To as you say you get to a certain point in life and you hope the work is you know for some for some people the work dries up and For whatever ever serious reason it didn't mean they get less talented or any less good but And I was a big fan of long-form TV. And I would watch, talking about not being in a competition, but I would watch sometimes with envy these actors in these shows and think, God, it would be so wonderful to do that, to come back season after season a sort of company of actors rather rather in the way a closeness and a conspiracy that you have when you do a play to be in a company to come and play a character and really go on a journey with a character and I said to my producing partner Doug I'd like to is there anything i would love to do something long form i'd love to do tv um and enjoy what these these other actors obviously you know grew we were getting something out of it yeah yeah and um i said you know is there anything around i said but i said there's a there's a but i said um something in the spy world would be would be good if there's anything out there in the spy world that I quite like that.

25:41Gary Oldman:I don't want prosthetic makeup because I've had so much prosthetic makeup. I do not want to live in a makeup chair for four or five hours. I want my own hair. I don't want to wear a wig. I want so many wigs. I'd like something maybe a little closer to my own accent because I've done many accents and things. And I don't want big, elaborate clothes. I don't want, you know, I just want... I just want like one costume. I want to come in, throw on the costume, put some grease in my hair. And, you know, lo and behold, be careful what you wish for. And he said... You called this manifestation. You were the master of this.

26:27Gary Oldman:I did. I manifested. And then we were on a plane together, going, always on a plane together. And he always says to me, I've got a lot to tell you. we'll catch up at 30 ,000 feet. And we're on a plane somewhere and he's reading a script and he's chuckling away. And I said, what are you reading? And he said, I am reading a character that I think is about to become your best friend. And it was slow horses. And six years, yeah, six years on. um and we're still we're still going yeah you've said to me before you often kind of like put obstacles in your way before kind of taking on a character saying no or otherwise almost everything i've done i've said no to so you and it came back were there any obstacles that you put in place for jackson because you didn't say no you were excited seemingly but in on another in any other way did you create obstacles for yourself in this character?

27:37Gary Oldman:Well, of course, the one thing I have is...

27:45Gary Oldman:I thought, wouldn't it be fun just to maybe... You know, his description of him was such. But anyone would tell you that you put on a little weight and then you get to a certain age. and it's not quite so easy not quite so easy to take off so but there are no there were no there were no obstacles no not not with this one I was really thirsty for it the source material was amazing these books I mean the whole I mean I'm here you know bathing in the warmth of the slow horses legacy or but really That world and those people are all from the imagination of Mick Heron, right who wrote the books He can't he came up with the whole thing And it's a testament to his brain But also the environment that you all have created on set because I mean, I'm sure they're all we're also horses fans here I mean the company of actors yeah, it's it's it's a true testament to what you've created that Each season new and returning characters come into it And as you well know like the key in any production is like being in the same production And that's I think like what I sense in slow horses everybody knows their knows what they're in they're in the same thing Right.

29:15Yeah, how do you have you must have had that experience at some point being on a set where? That epiphany happens. We're like, oh, I'm in a different movie than the directors directing.

29:25Gary Oldman:Oh, yeah I should say so. And you're working with sometimes actors that you just think you're... You know, I tell you, I'm sure many of you are a Kung Brothers fan. I mean, it's just, yeah. and they tend to they dial in a tone or a frequency that you've just five minutes you know it's a Cung Brothers movie and there's a certain acting but it's consistent you know and I've been in situations where you know someone's in a Cung Brothers movie and someone's in a martyr's corset, you know, you do get that occasionally. Tonally, it's imbalanced. What do you do in that situation? You just have to really, well, you can speak up.

30:32Right. And then if you're heard, that's the other thing.

30:40Gary Oldman:The thing I will say about the slow horses is, well, there's been a current thing about the Will Smith leaving and the showrunner.

31:02Gary Oldman:We have many showrunners. there's a wonderful team of uh of creative producers there's a a room of writers and then the actors also who now really understand the dna of these people these characters coming I mean, it is very, very collaborative exercise, slow horses. And we, you never want to, you can feel that you can speak up, that you're not put down, you're not judged. And sometimes in past experiences with movies, Sometimes a director sets an atmosphere where you can really work and really feel that you can let go and be creative. And other times it comes from the top. It always comes from there.

32:12Gary Oldman:More Happy Say Confused coming up.

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35:50Let me mention some of the now iconic roles in your filmography, if you'll indulge me and all of us. Because I think about your chameleon-like tendencies, especially, it's so funny, you talk about slow horses being kind of like no prosthetics, close to your voice. It's like you're kind of in this, the total opposite era for you. Between Manc and Slow Horses, you kind of went in the other direction and found it just as rewarding. That's just something, I don't know, that I find fascinating.

36:18Gary Oldman:Actually, it was Manc to Jackson. Right, yeah. That was the last big well, of course my my cameo in a open I'm I missed you in the Odyssey though. I will say you should have really I did that was the one thing it was missing I Think of your voices though throughout they reverberate in my brain as a film lover and I think of something like and I know You don't have the most affection for it, but I'm gonna say at the fifth element

36:57Gary Oldman:What where did that voice come from absorb the voice for the fifth element well But the song would it now here's the thing It will give you lime raisings. Oh wow, which is supposed to be the thing you should you find a way of getting what you want you know but but you should never give a they say you should never give an actual line reading i mean david finch who gives you line readings i'm happy to take it actually how do you want it said okay i'll say it like that um but luke would sometimes give you line readings but of course he had this french right voice he had the sad very french accent at that time.

37:44Gary Oldman:His English wasn't great. So he would talk like this and he would give you a direction and he would say and he would give you an inflection of how he wanted to look. But he was hearing it in his accent. And I thought how can I give him what he wants but not do you know Immanuel Zorc could not not make it and not and I'm supposed to sort of are we in America you know it was never really we're in some other region yes so I thought how can I get close to what he wants but you know make him happy and and you know help me get through So I could survive it how could I survive this and So what I came up with was I had a little forced teeth that I used to clip in So I had the force the front teeth and I did a cross between it was Bugs Bunny meets Ross Perot

38:59Gary Oldman:And that and that's that old chestnut everybody does that one Remember you remember Rouse Pro is the sort of sound like that sound a bit like that and I just thought well if I just do Yeah, what's up doc if I if I just marry the two Then and it was perfectly I wouldn't always I wouldn't always come a character that way But it was a cartoon. Yeah, it was it's bigger than life. It's a cartoon so but that's how that That happened yeah It worked don't worry don't work. Thank you. Another one that works. I'm I'll always bring up Bram Stoker's Dracula with you because I think it's just I'm sorry as long as we're talking I will ask new questions because I'm always obsessed with this film I mean, I've been lucky enough in recent years to do a lot with Winona Actually, we're gonna ride her and talk to her a lot about the production and I will say she has nothing but love for you Gary you should know that and I know like it's famously kind of like a bit of a fraught production I don't know if that was overblown or not but did tensions like elicit to help the production in some way I don't know if in the case of like Francis kind of like pushing you asking you to improvise in character supposedly did that help as you recall or I mean overall yeah yeah it was good I mean overall it was a good experience and I only wanted to do it because of Francis right I mean I didn't it wasn't sort of on my bucket list you know I did I've got to play Dracula or I really need to play drag I mean it wasn't it wasn't anything I'd never even see it never even crossed my mind you know and then it was so the interesting thing about it was that it was Francis Coppola's Dracula and how he would see it and what vision that he would bring to it.

41:05Gary Oldman:And we... Sometimes we came together and we would butt heads. Yeah. There's some amazing behind-the-scenes footage. Oh, I know. Some of it looks... Yeah, I look at it... Have you seen it? Yeah. I'm not. No, I'm not very... I'm not very proud of it. No, the final process. But the fact... Yeah, but we... we we sometimes clashed yeah but yeah then when I like this is this this is the funny thing is when I later directed and I used a clip from Apocalypse Now I obviously had to ask permission and he gave me that clip free and he said yeah you know Gary can have whatever he wants and then later I ran into him again in Khan and we were whatever differences we had at the time you know we sort of we made up but I used to love the way I actually would like I love the way he direct because he would talk to you through in the take like it's like as if you were making a silent movie you love you love her you've never loved a woman like kiss her run your feet but sort of more more but and he would say okay that was good over let's now go out come in and do that again and the camera was the camera would be rolling and he would you know what and we're we're all a bit we're all a bit nuts and to do the job I do and directors they're all very they're all very strange.

43:12Gary Oldman:Yes. And they're great, and they're great. And some of them are very good friends, but we're all a bit nuts. So what you do is you just slip in, and you go, oh, she's like this. Okay, he's like this. Ah, he wants to do 100 takes.

43:38Gary Oldman:I'll surrender to the process and I'll go along and do that this person over here only wants to do two takes and is moving on and that is And you just have to morph right into each of your own Yeah, I mean you can you bring your you know most directors will cast you and expect you to do to do your work you don't get to a chris nolan set and he's hired you because he knows that you're going to do your homework and you're going to come and you're going to know the lines and you're going to be prepped i mean that's that's you know but they're all they're all different and um and you and you really you have to find a way of working with them and or it will it'll be really tricky it it it could make their life your life and the people that you're working with it can make their lives of misery so you have to and I was a little more a combative when I was younger right it's something that I've just learned with age that you know that thing I'm speaking to maybe the the over 60s in the audience but you know the thing where you just go life's too short life's too short

45:12Gary Oldman:you know you can you can still fight you can still have the it's taking your battles too the kit the commitment yeah to the work and everything but let's get along yeah you know rather than, you know, I read those stories about, you know, Fitzcarraldo and, you know, where he, didn't he get a gun and he was going to shoot him? I believe so. Because he wanted to walk off the movie. And he said, you're not going to walk off the movie because I'm going to, I will kill you and then I'll kill myself. I mean, you thought you were crazy as a young actor. You were fine. You were nothing. Yeah. Who is that?

45:50Gary Oldman:Kinski, isn't it? Klaus Kinski. Kinski, yeah. Yeah. What let's continue our ongoing debate about the quality of your work in Harry Potter that we've had over the years

46:03Is that what it's about you just want me to compliment you more because you're amazing a serious flag, but okay You've said before to me and others you've said you you call your work mediocre. That's insane that we're gonna leave that behind Do you have a favorite scene at least can you cite like a moment that you felt between you and Daniel that then you take pride in?

46:21Gary Oldman:Yeah, I have the scene with Daniel where I talk about the people that we've loved or that have loved us live in here and that we carry them always with us. Yeah, something like that. Yeah, I loved working on the... In fact, I just told a story just very recently.

46:49you all remember the rat scabbers the rat well that there's this electronic ones and this you

46:59Gary Oldman:know the sort of the those technical people magicians with what what they can do but there is a real scabbers right and he would have to have a break every 15 minutes and we'd be like in a scene he would go why was why we stopped you know well scabbers gets a bit stressed out oh really yeah and he has to have a break so every 15 minutes the rat in this scene with the where the rat really i mean it was scabbers scene we were just there it was all about the rat but um yeah he would have to be he would have to be taken off i do remember i do remember that and at a certain point the kids go to school right where's your excuse you need a 15 minute break yeah well that's actually when the rat kept going out i kept saying who's his agent i mean he's going what a fantastic deal there's rats on um but the um yeah and then the kids and then the kids would go to school and I would finish the scene with Daniel standing right you know and that's again okay this is what it's gonna be like the nature of the beast this is the nature of the M week and we've just got to and we just got to get through it but I I remember I tell you what a lovely story about Alan Rickman.

48:34Gary Oldman:God bless him. Alan Rickman, yeah.

48:43Gary Oldman:He, not only was he sort of, Alan was kind of like the cheerleader of it, you know, he was into it. He was doing it so he was with it and committed to it kind of thing. But he would bring in kids every single day. He would bring them in from a school. He would bring them in from a hospital. He would bring friends and their kids in every single day and lunchtimes and things. he would take kids around and tour the sets and we would meet them. I thought that was the most extraordinary thing that he was in this world that he got to be in and come in every day. And he knew how much it meant to these kids.

49:47Gary Oldman:So he sort of wanted to share it. I'll never forget that. He was such a darling like that. I mean you've worked with so many iconic actors and you know By way into the the Batman films. I want to ask you about working with the the sadly Departed Heath Ledger and we lost way too soon and you know You did get to work with Heath obviously in the dark night and I think of that interrogation scene Him bathed in black that amazing silhouetted image of him that Chris created on set. Yeah Do you have any memories of just like I mean he seemed to be on another level on that film it was teeth? Yeah, yeah, he was extraordinary Yeah, it was a Wonder to be honed on the set.

50:29Gary Oldman:Yeah, he was He was in it. Yeah You said like it did feel like the beginnings of a relationship I was watching like you you accepted the SAG award for him posthumously Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, we yeah, we yeah, I could see Being friends with him, yeah. And I remember Douglas, and you told me. You were the one that broke the news to me. Yes. And I was an utter, utter... And Philip Hoffman. Does it look terrible? Philip Seymour Hoffman. You know, and you... Just both. I mean, extraordinary talents. Yeah. both of them and to lose them to lose them like within actually No, they're the two actors that this next generation that they they talk about the most I feel like and you frankly I mean among others um Leonardo DiCaprio has famously said his advice supposedly to young actors is no superheroes and no hard drugs What would be Gary Oldman's advice to young actors?

51:47Gary Oldman:Yeah, no superheroes and no hard drugs But I am

51:59Gary Oldman:Be on time

52:12Gary Oldman:Come prepared. Know the lines. You know, just that's the minimal, isn't it? I mean, it's like page one. Like, come with ideas. Have an idea. Throw it out there. Not always. You know, the directors, well, you could come with ten ideas and they may reject them all and may reject nine and go you know that that's a really good idea but I I've noticed a little bit of just people who they don't know the text well enough and it's not to say that they haven't looked at the lines but it's you know you have you have to know the material if you don't know the material you can't relax and you can't listen because you're in your head going on I got a light coming up over it you're not it you're not in you're not in it you're in your own film not someone else's you're in your own film so that's always been a big that's always been a big thing with me you have to really know the material and so that you can live in the thing and really and really listen to other actors and and the people that you're in the scene with and um you know the the craft just the sheer craft of you know hitting marks and camera where you have to look at sometimes you know you have to do i've done it you know you have to look to a piece of tape you know yeah you know is that a bird is it a plane you know you have to uh succumb with imagination um um but you you gotta you gotta learn the craft of what you're doing because you if you're looking for truth so I guess we all are in whatever whatever creative journey we're on but you know that has to marry with technique and so you couldn't you just say you'd know it be open and you know it and then you forget it yeah kind of thing does that make sense absolutely now I'm gonna be a great actor thanks for that simple tip From Gary Oldman, I've got that down.

54:52Don't worry Before I let you go. Here's a random one. We're talking backstage. Should we set the record straight? You don't know who James Bond is do you?

55:05Or or if you do do you want to announce Jack Loudon right here and now?

55:09Gary Oldman:Okay, here's what I said Let me tell you and they've taken it as Doug pointed out, they've taken it to the very edge of almost misquoting me. But they don't. I was in an interview with a Canadian journalist. And she asked me about, oh, you know, James Bond and Jack Loudon. And I didn't bring it up. She brought it up. did not volunteer this and I said well there's a rumor has it that they've already cast bond but they haven't announced it yet which I believe I believe is true there's six people I think on a short list I heard a rumor that they've picked James Bond but they haven't announced it here which is their prerogative you know not for me to announce James Bond and I simply said because they brought up Jack and they know that he's on the short list Jack Loudon and I said yeah I hear that they've I think they've cast it but obviously we're waiting for them to announce it I said fingers crossed for my mate Jack that was it confirmation as far as I'm concerned I like I've got like I actually know and I've got I'm in with the oh yeah I mean with the bond people like I've got I'm on I got a red phone from you know me so let me please put the record straight I do not know who the next James Bond is I remember I got into a lot of trouble because I said that there was going to be a third Batman and they hadn't announced it boy and I got reprimanded for that I got into a lot of shit for that so even if I knew who even if I knew it was who the James Bond, I wouldn't I wouldn't I've learned my lesson I'm not gonna work on my mouth.

57:40Gary Oldman:So I do not know who I'm hoping It's Jack

57:53Hey, and I'll just say for the record look you've kind of left your baddie period behind but maybe one more But you know Bond villain as Gary Oldman would be really awesome I'll just show No Not to drag some bomb villains You don't want the white cat you don't want the whole thing. No, okay

58:12Gary Oldman:I've never never know we've there was an inquiry I'm sure back when I think peers was James and Not not no not for me not a bomb villain. Okay, no, but Jackson lamb for him We're gonna And on this we can keep I keep going with James good. He is keeping you are going because you've already shot I believe we can say season 7 is coming. We know that and perhaps more. We'll see we don't know But yes season season 7 is in the can come on great. Yes

58:49But before season 7 I'll remind folks Apple TV it's September 16th season 6 I've seen it all it's fantastic congratulations and

58:59Gary Oldman:Let's just let me say that when this was announced, we requested Josh because he's really, he's the best.

59:14You've just made 14-year-old Josh, whose favorite actor was Gary Oldman, very happy. So let's talk about your work. That's next time. We're out of time. Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Gary Oldman, everybody. Come on.

59:33And so ends another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Remember to review, rate, and subscribe to this show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm a big podcast person. I'm Daisy Ridley, and I definitely wasn't sure to do this by Josh.

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