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The Great Thing About Having Been In A Lot Of Make-up, And Stuff Like That, Is That When You're Working With Someone Who's In It, And You've Been There And Done It, But You're Not In It Anymore, You Feel So Good.

-Gary Oldman

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The Great Thing About

Gary Oldman

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The Great Thing About Having Been In A Lot Of Make-up, And Stuff Like That, Is That When You're Working With Someone Who's In It, And You've Been There And Done It, But You're Not In It Anymore, You Feel So Good.

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We're Given A Code To Live Our Lives By. We Don't Always Follow It, But It's Still There.

Reality Tv To Me Is The Museum Of Social Decay.

When You Play A Character That Is So Emotionally Closed There Are Times When You Ask Yourself If You Are Doing Enough And If It's Reading. That Is Where You Have A Director, Who Is The Barometer Of What You Are Doing.

Impressionists Have To Paint With A Very Broad Stroke Because You've Got To See It Within A Couple Of Seconds. You Go, "that's A Really Funny Robert De Niro." As An Actor, Though, You Look At Different Aspects Of A Character. I Try To Completely Surround Myself With The Assignment. It's Like Being In A Big Cloud And Then Some Of It Rains Through.

Over The Years, I Have Been Asked To Play These Sort Of Scary Frenetic Characters That Express Their Emotions Physically.

You Choose Your Friends By Their Character And Your Socks By Their Color.

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.

My Favorite Meal Would Have To Be Good Old-fashioned Eggs, Over Easy, With Bacon. Many Others, But You Can't Beat That On A Sunday Morning, Especially With A Cup Of Tea.

Shakespeare Doesn't Really Write Subtext, You Play The Subtext.

I Like Celluloid, I Like Film, I Like The Way That When A Movie Is Projected It Sort Of Breathes A Little In The Gate. That's The Magic Of It To Me.

I Didn't Do Drugs. It Wasn't My Thing. But The Drink Was Terrible. Today When I Look Back, It's Like I Was Another Person. You Could Call It A Coping Mechanism, But That Would Be An Excuse. I Just Drank Too Much.

Coping Mechanisms

I Was Quiet, A Loner. I Was One Of Those Children Where, If You Put Me In A Room And Gave Me Some Crayons And A Pencils, You Wouldn't Hear From Me For Nine Straight Hours. And I Was Always Drawing Racing Cars And Rockets And Spaceships And Planes, Things That Were Very Fast That Would Take Me Away.

The Building Of America Has Had Its Fair Share Of Mistakes, But It's A Constitution That's The Jewel Of Democracy, The Envy Of Many, And It's The Most Generous Nation In The World.

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.

It's Funny: I'm A Lifelong Musician, But Because I Principally Play The Piano It's Been A Solitary Thing.

Your Own Barometer Is All You Have To Go By, And Often What Makes A Good Director Is Knowing When Not To Say Something. On Occasions You Can Find Yourself On A Film Set Where The Person Who Is Wearing The Director's Hat Is Only Trying To Justify His Position.

Finding Yourself

On Set I Keep Myself To Myself; I'd Rather The Director Speak Up. I'm Not Gonna Direct A Younger Actor. I Think The Power Of Example Works Best, Actually.

Being An Actor Is A Good Way To Earn A Living. And To Meet Fabulous People. It's Great To Live Very Comfortably. I've Been Lucky, I've Had A Lot Of Fun With Great Roles, But It Is True That If I Were Extremely Rich, I Would Stop And I Would Go To Play Football On A Beach In The Caribbean With My Children.

It's Always Hard When You're Playing Someone For A Lot Of People Out There Who Are Going To See The Movie After Reading The Books. There's A Communion Between A Reader And The Writer, So People Will Have An Idea Who Sirius Black Is And I Might Not Be Everyone's Idea Of That.

I Have Three Kids Who Like Harry Potter So I Was Sort Of Aware Of It. You Can't Really Move From It: It's On Buses, In Stores, It's Everywhere. One Of My Kids Has Read The Books; The Other Two Are Too Small But They Like The Movies.

You Can Play Older Than Yourself. You Can Play Younger Than Yourself Up To A Point, And Then That Just Becomes Impossible Because You Carry A Weight With You That You Can't Shift, Unless You Have Very Boyish Looks.

So Harry Potter Came In And It Is Nice That I Have Kids Of The Right Age. I Took Them To London And They Walked Around The Set And Met Harry Potter And That Is Thrilling.

How Do You Remember All Those Lines? By Forgetting Everything Else.

The Great Thing About Google Is That You Type In Neuro-surgery And Somehow You End Up With Peter Sellers Or Watching Frank Sinatra. Google Is A Great Resource.

I Drank For About 25 Years Getting Over The Loss Of My Father And I Took The Anger Out On Myself. I Did A Good Job At Beating Myself Up At Sometimes. I Don't Drink Anymore But My Alcoholic Head Occasionally Says Different. 'nil By Mouth' Was A Love Letter To My Father Because I Needed To Resolve Some Issues In Order To Be Able To Forgive Him.

But You See, I Have Played More Good Guys Than I Have Played Villains.

I Don't See A Great Difference Between Someone Sending A Robot Or A Drone To Bomb People And Controlling It On A Playstation From Another Country. It's Thousands Of Miles Away As Opposed To Someone In An Airplane Who Is Thousands Of Feet Away Releasing A Bomb.

I'm Not The Best Audience For That Because I'm Not A Great Science-fiction Fan. I Just Never Got Off On Space Ships And Space Costumes, Things Like That.

I Was Never Really That Interested In The Punk Movement. I Was A Blues Guy: I Liked Motown, James Brown.

It's Becoming Increasingly Harder And Harder; There's No Such Thing As Independent Film Anymore. There Aren't Any, They Don't Exist. In The Old Days You Could Go And Get A Certain Amount Of The Budget With Foreign Sales, Now Everybody Wants A Marketable Angle.

I Tend To Read Non-fiction.

At The Oscars, If You Didn't Vote For '12 Years A Slave' You Were A Racist.

To Be Able To Do This Job In The First Place You've Got To Have A Bit Of An Ego.

I Grew Up In Deptford In South London, And At That Time I Used To Wear Toppers, Loon Pants And Tonic Suits From Shops Like Take 6 And Topman. I Was A Bit Of A Soul Boy, But I Had A Very Eclectic Taste In Music - I Was Into James Brown And Bowie; And I Was The Only Kid In The Neighbourhood Who Would Also Be Listening To Chopin.

I Don't Go To Premieres. I Don't Go To Parties. I Don't Covet The Oscar. I Don't Want Any Of That. I Don't Go Out. I Just Have Dinner At Home Every Night With My Kids. Being Famous, That's A Whole Other Career. And I Haven't Got Any Energy For It.

The Work I Enjoy Is When The Camera Rolls, And I Like The Work In The Moment.

It's Been Said That Alcoholics Are Egomaniacs With Low Self -esteem. It's The Prefect Description. Being Larger Than Life And Yet Your Pride Is Crushed With Self- Loathing.

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.

I Was Brought Up By My Mother And My Two Sisters, Although They're Older Than Me And Fled The Nest Very Young, So I Was Technically Raised As An Only Child, But I Was Very Much Loved.

And Costume Is So Important For An Actor. It Absolutely Helps To Get Into Character; It's The Closest Thing To You, It Touches You. Some Actors Like To Go Into Make-up And Then Put Their Clothes On, But I Like To Dress First; That's My Routine.

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.

By The Way, The Harry Potter Series Is Literature, In Spite Of What Some People Might Say. The Way J.k. Rowling Worked That World Out Is Quite Something.

I Drank For About 25 Years Getting Over The Loss Of My Father, And I Took The Anger Out On Myself. I Did A Good Job At Beating Myself Up Sometimes.

I Like These Calm Little Moments Before The Storm, It Reminds Me Of Beethoven

The Book Tells You Everything You Need To Know. The Book Is The Map Of The World That You're In With The Character.

'nil By Mouth' Was A Bit Autobiographical, But As I Always Pointed Out At The Time, That's Not My Dad.

I Went And Lived In Chicago For A Year , And I Studied At The Police Academy.

As An Actor, You People-watch, You Observe. And The More Famous You Become, The Sad Thing Is You Lose The Ability To Do That. Instead Of People-watching, You Become The Focus Of Attention.

I'm Almost Incapable Of Lying. I'd Be A Terrible Spy.

How Many Movies Do You See When You Can Say This Director Really Knew What Film He Wanted To Make? I Can Count Them On The Fingers Of One Hand.

I Don't Think Hollywood Knows What To Do With Me. I Would Imagine That When It Comes To Romantic Comedies, My Name Would Be Pretty Low Down On The List.

Speaking Very Generally, I Find That Women Are Spiritually, Emotionally, And Often Physically Stronger Than Men.

Each Role You Play, They Set A Bar Of Challenges That You Meet. And In The Past, I've Played Characters That Emotionally Expressed Themselves A Bit More In A Physical Way. It Was A Joy, Actually.

In The Past, I’ve Had My Share Of Good Reviews, But It’s Always The Crazy, Scary, Weirdo Guy. I Don’t Even Know How It Happened. Look At Me. I Mean, When I’m Naked, I Look Like A Bald Chicken. How Did I Get To Be A Scary Bad Guy?

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.

I Know I'm Pretty, But I Ain't As Pretty As A Couple Of Titties.

Getting Sober Was One Of The Three Pivotal Events In My Life, Along With Becoming An Actor And Having A Child. Of The Three, Finding My Sobriety Was The Hardest Thing.

The Great Thing About Having Been In A Lot Of Make-up, And Stuff Like That, Is That When You're Working With Someone Who's In It, And You've Been There And Done It, But You're Not In It Anymore, You Feel So Good.

I Enjoy Playing Characters Where The Silence Is Loud.

People Who Know Me , They Know I Have A Sense Of Humor, I'm A Bit Of A Joker, A Bit Of A Clown Really, And I Would Love Someone To Exploit That Side Of Me And Send Me A Romantic Comedy.

I Never Told My Father I Loved Him Before He Died, And I Have A Lot Of Issues About That. They're All Swimming Around In My Head, In My Heart, Unresolved, And In A Way It Felt Fitting To Dedicate The Film To Him.

You Always Hope That The Cloak Of Inspiration Will Fall, And You'll Be O.k.

One Of My Career Ambitions Was Fulfilled Working With John [hurt]. I Loved His Work Long Before I Ever Had The Idea Of Being An Actor, So I Was Nervous To Meet Him. I Was Like A Fanboy, Like That Annoying Character On 'saturday Night Live'. I'm Sitting There. 'do You Remember When You Were In 'midnight Express'? Remember That Scene You Were In?' And He Doesn't Disappoint.

There Will Always Be Spies. We Have To Have Them. Without Them We Wouldn't Have Got Osama Bin Laden - It Took Us Years, But It Happened.

Osama Bin Laden

I Did Have A Knack For Playing Weirdos. There's Still Sort Of This Perception Of Me Out There As Being This Crazy Guy.

If One Could Have A Wish, Or An Alternative Life, I Would've Liked To Have Been John Lennon.

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.

And Of Course I've Got Kids Of My Own Now, And They Love Me Being In The Harry Potter Films. I'm Now Part Of A Phenomenon. You Become Incredibly Cool To Your Kids, And You Get A Young Fan Base. So You Became The Cool Dad At School. You're Suddenly Hip.

Any Actor Who Tells You That They Have Become The People They Play, Unless They’re Clearly Diagnosed As A Schizophrenic, Is Bullshitting You.

My Passion And Energy Get Mistaken For Anger.

Whats Fascinating Is That When You Write A Script, Its Almost A Stream Of Consciousness. You Have An Idea That It Means Something, But Youre Not Always Sure What. Then When You Get On The Set, The Actors Teach You.

To Be Honest, Im A Little Tired Of Playing Bad Guys. I Long To Do A Comedy. But It Was Fun Knocking Indiana Jones Around.

Overall I Enjoy A Certain Anonymity. I Live A Very Normal, Very Ordinary Life.

That's What Sets Apart One Actor From Another, And That You Can't Teach. You Can't Give Someone That. When You're Working, Putting A Character Together, Or In A Scene, That's Where Things Will Happen That You Have To Have The Intuition To Notice Them, And To Register Them.

Growing Up In A Particular Neighborhood, Growing Up In A Working-class Family, Not Having Much Money, All Of Those Things Fire You And Can Give You An Edge, Can Give You An Anger.

People Have An Idea That One Is In Control Of A Career, A Lot More Than You Really Are. You Can Engineer Things To An Extent. But You Are At The Mercy Of What Comes In Across The Desk.

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.

I Applaud Anything That Can Take A Kid Away From A Playstation Or A Gameboy. That Is A Miracle In Itself.

People Imagine That Actors Are Being Offered Everything And You Are Not. So Things Come In And Sometimes There Are Things That I Want And Can't Get A Meeting On, Or Go To A Different Actors.

As A Drama Student I Got Into Thirties And Forties Suits.

I Like A Cheese And Pickle. Nice Cheese And Pickle On A Real Old-fashioned Bread. Ploughman's Lunch.

Being A Good Director Is Knowing Sometimes When Not To Say Something.

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.

What Other People Think Of Me Is None Of My Business.

Sometimes Directors Feel Like They Have To Justify That Hat That They Are Wearing They've Got On As A Director, And They Come In And They Tweak And Interfere.

I Wasn't Ever A Huge Fan Of Comics. Just Not One Of Those Kids, You Know?

My Big Love Was The Beatles. I Was More Into Music.

I Still Don't Have A Publicist. If I'm In A Film, You Have An Obligation To Promote It, I'll Do As Much As I Can.

I Got Obsessed With Classical Music, I Got Obsessed With Chopin, With Playing The Piano.

I Want My Weekends Off And I Want To Put My Kids To Bed. Those Are Good Reasons To Want To Be In 'batman 2'.

Wanting To Be A Good Actor Is Not Good Enough. You Must Want To Be A Great Actor. You Just Have To Have That.

Not Good Enough

I'm Rarely Asked To Play The Smartest Man In The Room.

There Are Roles That You Chase Sometimes.

At 23 It Was All About Acting. Today It's Getting My Kids To School, Making Sure That They've Done Their Homework. I'm In My Fifties, And I'm Turning Into A Square.

The Script Is Your Map Of The World, Isn't It? And If Someone Knows That If It's Well-written, You Get All Of The Beats, It Will Tell You Everything You Need To Know.

Well, I Needed The Work - That's The Honest Answer. I Haven't Worked For A While, A Couple Of Years. So I Thought It Would Be Nice To Get Back To Work And Earn Some Money.

Interesting Things Come Your Way But As You Get Older, Your Lifestyle Changes. I Don't Want To Travel; I Don't Want To Be In A Hotel Room Away From My Family.

I Think Filmmaking Should Be A Wonderfully Free Collaborative Process, And It So Very Rarely Is. I Often See Directors As Jailers Of My Talent.

Political Correctness Has Become A Straightjacket.

Political Correctness

It's A Shame About California, And Particularly About L.a., Where They've Demolished So Many Landmarks. It's A Bit Of A Disease There, Where If Anything Is Over 30 Years Old, They Sort Of Knock It Down And Replace It. It's A Strange Town, It's This Sprawling Suburb, And Then There's A City, The Old Town.

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