Gary Leonard Oldman: born March 21st 1958 in New Cross, England. Actor. Filmmaker. Musician. Recipient of over 20 high-profile awards for his work on the silver screen. Some recognize him as Joe Orton, others as Commissioner Jim Gordon, but no matter which of his performances stand out most to you, it’s agreeable between everyone that he is an immensely talented actor.
Considering how much Oldman’s got on his plate- a family, a music career, a filmmaking career, and jobs as an actor- it’s astounding at how well he balances them all and is able to give us such great performances. Although he’s appeared in over 60 films, there have been several roles that have stood out as classics and reminders of what real acting looks like.
Now usually on a weekend, What Culture posts a “5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked” article for an actor who has a movie out that particular week. You can see some of our previous entries here; Christian Bale, Ben Stiller and Edward Norton.
But with Lawless opening in the UK today, we just couldn’t find five bad performances from Gary Oldman. It can’t be done.
So instead, take a look at nine of Gary’s most awesome performances- and unfortunately one that maybe wasn’t so awesome.
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14 Comments
Sid and Nancy was up there for me.
How do you omit his two greatest performances, Drexyl from True Romane and especially Sid Vicious from Sid & Nancy.
I agree with both you and MaasP, Sid and Nancy was a great one. It was really difficult for me to choose just nine and believe me, it was up there. It just really just a subjective decision. Given more room it would definitely be on the list.
i was amazed to see Drexyl from True Romance not in there… even though he is only in for a short time he was superb.
he is one of my fave actors, for sure.
Josh good list but you missed drexel spivey. True Romance. “Marty. U know what we got here? Mother f’n Charlie Bronson… Mr. Majestic”
I regret to inform you that I have never seen True Romance. I’ll definitely check it out soon.
Only good thing in Hannibal, too.
I thought he was great as Mason Verger, not at all recognizable to say the least.
I can’t believe that you didn’t put his performance from JFK in here. It was a smaller part but utterly convincing. Especially when you factor in that he was constantly being edited in with stills of the real Oswald.
I totally agree, and again, it was difficult to choose only 9. It was a totally subjective decision and if I had more room I absolutely would have included Sid and Nancy as well as JFK.
Oh Chris I couldn’t agree more. I was aware of the film but had never seen it. I was looking for Radiohead tracks on YouTube and came across this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2mSs94jAgE) someone had done of Gary as Oswald – and I was sucked, I had to see it. And he was SO good. Even with such little screen time.
Personally, I would have added ‘Romeo is Bleeding’ to the top ten, along with ‘Sid and Nancy’. I do agree with the ‘Lost in Space’ rating, blech. What an awful movie.
His performance in State of Grace is pretty fun, I’d say a little underrated, whether its top 9 I’m not sure.
As for worst, Lost in Space is bad, but have you seen Tiptoes? It’s one of the worst, most unintentionally comedic films I’ve ever seen, how it hasn’t got more attention I don’t know. Oldman plays a little person alongside actual little person, Peter Dinklage. Strong argument that its as bad if not worse than Lost in Space.
I agree with a few on this list, Sirius Black especially. Though, I would have included Jackie Flannery from State Of Grace and Emmett Foley from Chattahoochee.