THE DARK KNIGHT Star Gary Oldman Reveals Why He Thinks His HARRY POTTER Performance Was "Mediocre"

THE DARK KNIGHT Star Gary Oldman Reveals Why He Thinks His HARRY POTTER Performance Was "Mediocre"

Gary Oldman is a screen icon and many of you will know him best for The Dark Knight Trilogy and Harry Potter. However, the actor has now shared his belief that his performance in the latter was "mediocre."

By JoshWilding - Dec 29, 2023 06:12 AM EST
Filed Under: Harry Potter
Source: SFFGazette.com

It's not hyperbole to call Gary Oldman a legend of the screen, but in a new interview, the British actor has admitted to being dissatisfied with one of his most famous roles: Harry Potter's Sirius Black.

The Dark Knight first played the beloved J.K. Rowling creation in 2004's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, delivering a madcap performance which later saw him reprise the role in the following two movies. Eventually, Oldman bid farewell to the character when Sirius tragically died in battle during the events of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Alas, it seems the actor wasn't unhappy to bid farewell to the role as he recently told Josh Horowitz (via SFFGazette.com), "I think my work is mediocre in it. No, I do. Maybe if I had read the books like Alan [Rickman], if I had got ahead of the curve, if I had known what's coming, I honestly think I would have played it differently."

"I'll tell you what it is," he said of why he often finds fault with his work. "It's like anything, 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."

It's hard to find too many Wizarding World fans who are unhappy with Oldman's approach to Sirius, though there were some differences from the books, particularly in Prisoner of Azkaban. Filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón took a unique approach to the material, of course, so the actor's performance was a good fit for his darker approach to the material.

You can watch Oldman's comments in full in the X post below. 

Recently, the actor talked candidly about how important the Harry Potter and Batman franchises were for him. He was already a household name when he played Sirius Black and Commissioner Jim Gordon, of course, but the star power those roles gave him came at a crucial time in the actor's life. 

"At 42 years old, I woke up divorced and I had custody of [my] boys," Oldman explained. "That, in itself, was...that was hard because there was a shift in the industry where a lot of productions were being [filmed in] Hungary, Budapest, Prague, Australia, you know, all of these places. So, I turned down a lot of work."

"Thank God for 'Harry Potter,'" he continued. "Thank God for ['Batman']. I tell you, the two - 'Batman' and 'Harry Potter' - really, they saved me, because it meant that I could do the least amount of work for the most amount of money and then be home with the kids."

"When we did the first Batman, London doubled for Gotham. I did 27 round trips of flying back from LA. I’d fly in for a day. I’d do a shoot a day. To Chris Nolan’s credit, he stayed on schedule. I would go home for three days. Come back for two. Go home for a weekend. Come back for a day," Oldman recalled. "Otherwise, I just felt my kids are being brought up by a nanny."

Here's our 2022 interview with Oldman for Slow Horses season 2:

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TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 12/29/2023, 6:10 AM
I thought he did well as Sirius in the HP films he was in , though I guess he didn’t have much to work with other then being the “cool” uncle & father figure to Harry…

Still , he was able to capture the despair & madness of the character when we first properly see him in Prisoner of Azkaban and then the endearing & caring nature of the character later on aswell (though maybe the turn was a bit too quick I feel).

whoknows
whoknows - 12/29/2023, 6:43 PM
@TheVisionary25 - that monologue when he shouts “I did my waiting! 12 years of it… in Azkaban. You feel that speech in your bones. And man I wish I could rewatch that with fresh eyes like the first time when you still think he’s about to kill Harry. I didn’t read the books before I watched the movies so I had no clue of those twists.
lazlodaytona
lazlodaytona - 12/29/2023, 6:28 AM
Dude, your name is highly associated with the single greatest comicbook trilogy of all time.
dagenspear
dagenspear - 12/29/2023, 8:36 AM
@lazlodaytona - He seems to be giving acclaim. And why should being apart of it matter more than his kids?
lazlodaytona
lazlodaytona - 12/29/2023, 12:11 PM
@dagenspear - I don't see how you pulled your statement out of the words of my recent tilling one
dagenspear
dagenspear - 12/29/2023, 1:08 PM
@lazlodaytona - You told him to get over it. I only see the meaning of that in dismissing his issue. I'm sorry for my wrong assumption, if not.
lazlodaytona
lazlodaytona - 12/30/2023, 8:43 AM
@dagenspear - Seriously. The joke was the kid gif saying 'get over it' like the dude's complaining about life. I didn't mean to insinuate anything else. I apologize myself.
OrgasmicPotatoe
OrgasmicPotatoe - 12/29/2023, 6:39 AM
Good on him for always wanting to be better than his past self.

But really, there's nothing wrong with how he played Sirius. I always felt he was ripped straight from the pages. The casting for these movies, especially the older actors, was stellar.
dragon316
dragon316 - 12/29/2023, 7:49 AM
How old is movie read about this now from him?
Ginley
Ginley - 12/29/2023, 7:50 AM
Oldman and Spall are very broad in the third film (and Oldman barely features in the fourth), but he is superb in the fifth film.

His scene about "light and darkness" is one of the best-acted scenes in the series (well, apart from Radcliffe).
JustAWaffle
JustAWaffle - 12/29/2023, 8:55 AM
I don’t care what he says, he was a great Sirius Black. We listened to the book before watching the movie again and he was spot on.
Ryguy88
Ryguy88 - 12/29/2023, 9:46 AM
 "I did 27 round trips of flying back from LA. I’d fly in for a day. I’d do a shoot a day. To Chris Nolan’s credit, he stayed on schedule. I would go home for three days. Come back for two. Go home for a weekend. Come back for a day,"

But us peasants are causing the end of the world and need to change our habits.
whoknows
whoknows - 12/29/2023, 6:44 PM
@Ryguy88 - you act like those flights weren’t flying anyways regardless of whether he was on the plane or not. Lol
Ryguy88
Ryguy88 - 12/29/2023, 8:33 PM
@whoknows - no planes would need to fly if people didnt fly on them. Every added flight increases the need for more planes in the air. Ot to mention many if these flights were likely private. Why do I even need to explain this?
whoknows
whoknows - 1/2/2024, 2:10 AM
@Ryguy88 - You didn’t need to explain it. People were flying regardless and you don’t know whether it was private or not and if it were private you don’t know if it was chartered or not. But regardless of all that you seem to be having a hard time to understand that those flights were flying with or without him. For the sake of redundancy to help you out, him choosing not to fly doesn’t stop all the other ppl that are choosing to fly, which majority of them are working class folk, but instead you are alluding to him having one of the bad habits causing the end of the world? As if he isn’t bringing entertainment to those stressed working class folk, as if he isn’t flying back to be a more present father to his kids, you just choose to over look any good he could be doing to say something negative and really [frick]ing dumb.
Ryguy88
Ryguy88 - 1/2/2024, 8:03 AM
@whoknows - more people booking flights = more plans in the air. It's simple and hypocritical coming from hollywood. Although I dont believe Nolan or Oldman spout off on the climate stuff like many others do.

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