“My work is mediocre in it”: Gary Oldman on his performance as Sirius Black in Harry Potter franchise
Washington [US], December 29 (ANI): Actor and filmmaker Gary Oldman is not fond of his performance as Sirius Black in the Harry Potter franchise and he said that his portrayal of the character was “mediocre”, reported People.
The actor, whose Apple TV+ series ‘Slow Horses’ returned for a third season last month, criticised his performance as Sirius Black in the Harry Potter franchise on the most recent episode of Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast.
After telling Horowitz, “I think my work is mediocre in it,” the Oscar winner said he believes he could have performed the role “differently.”
As his late costar, Alan Rickman, put it, Oldman’s approach could have been different if he had read J.K. Rowling’s original books before acting in the films.
“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,” Oldman said on the podcast.
According to People, the actor joined the franchise as Sirius Black in 2004’s ‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’ and reprised the role in ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’. He also had a cameo in the franchise’s final film, ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2’. Oldman said he typically critiques his past performances.
“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,” explained Oldman. “Because you want to make the next thing better.”
While the actor isn’t thrilled with his performance, he recently expressed his gratitude for the franchise.
Oldman told Drew Barrymore on her eponymous talk show earlier this month that the Harry Potter franchise and Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy aided his personal life.
After becoming a single father in 2000, Oldman stated to Barrymore, 48, that he had turned down possibilities in order to spend more time with his children, Alfie, 35, Charlie John, 24, and Gulliver Flynn, 26.
“Thank God for Harry Potter. 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,” Oldman told Barrymore.
“At 42 years old, I woke up divorced and I had custody of these boys and so that, in itself, was… That was hard because there was a shift in the industry where a lot of productions were being [filmed in] — it was Hungary, Budapest, Prague, Australia, you know, all of these places,” he continued.
Oldman said he took round trips between the Dark Knight trilogy films production in London and his home in Los Angeles 27 times in order to spend time with his children, reported People.
