Movies How good an actor is Gary Oldman?

How good an actor is Gary Oldman?

  • 7 - Good

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 6 - Above Average

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 4 - Below Average

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 3 - Bad

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 2 - Very Bad

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 1 - Terrible

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    72
One of the all time greats. Every movie he's in is just better for his being there.

Here's my favorite Gary Oldman fact:

Gary Oldman's Drexyl from True Romance
03f83433a8b69e67f6f9493459e506ac--dreadlock-wig-gary-oldman.jpg


Was based on Willi One Blood who he worked with on The Professional
547311-20860-clp-950.jpg


If you stand too close to Gary Oldman he might absorb your essence and be more interesting than you at being you.
I find that interesting because True Romance came out in September 1993 while Leon came out in November 1994. So I would imagine that Oldman was developing the Drexl character and then filmed those scenes approximately a year before he developed the Stansfield character and filmed the scenes for Leon. So was Oldman already familiar with Willi before Leon? Did Willi get cast in Leon because of True Romance? Did Oldman recommend him to Besson or something?
 
Weird. I understand he's a great actor but much like Daniel Day Lewis, I'm just not really bothered either way. Like him in Batman I guess.
 
I find that interesting because True Romance came out in September 1993 while Leon came out in November 1994. So I would imagine that Oldman was developing the Drexl character and then filmed those scenes approximately a year before he developed the Stansfield character and filmed the scenes for Leon. So was Oldman already familiar with Willi before Leon? Did Willi get cast in Leon because of True Romance? Did Oldman recommend him to Besson or something?

I actually had to look this up, but he must have known Willi in some capacity prior to playing Drexyl then probably hooked him up with a role in Leon. At least according to Willi's IMDB page.

https://m.imdb.com/name/nm0089112/trivia
"Gary Oldman based the character of Drexl in Tony Scott's True Romance (1993) on Willi One Blood, who he later starred with in Luc Besson's Léon: The Professional (1994)."

I had a mutual acquaintance with Willi like 20 years ago who first told me about this and it just made sense to me that obviously Leon would have been first, but in hindsight of course Gary Oldman would track down a white rastafarian dude to research his role.


This actually saps some of the fun out of this fact for me. I wish I hadn't looked it up.
 
Obviously incredible range, definitely one of the top tier actors in that regard but I don't think he's as convincing or has the pressence as guys like DDL or De Niro, a lot of his roles are a bit over the top charactures and his strength of filmography isn't up there compared to guys like Hanks or Bale. I'd give him a 8.
 
I gave him a 8/10. Really good actor. Favourite role was probably as the corrupt cop in Leon.

I have enjoyed his old man role in Slow Horses. Really exceptional work.

Oldman should get bonus points for marrying a prime Uma Thurman in the early 90's.
 
Back
Top