Gary Oldman's 10 Greatest Movie Performances - Ranked

10. Léon: The Professional - Norman Stansfield

Gary Oldman can turn in performances of great restraint and subtlety, and he can really let rip. The important talent is knowing when to deploy each mode. In 1994’s Léon, there’s no scenery left once Oldman is through eating it - but that proves to be exactly the right decision, with the actor’s wild performance being the highlight of the film.

Oldman plays Norman Stansfield, a corrupt DEA agent whose personal addictions have led him down a dark path of murder and insanity. It’s a performance of relentless movement, with Stansfield a raw nerve, a bag of tics prone to sudden violence and histrionic outbursts.

It’s a hammy turn, then, but it’s precisely what the film needs. As the titular hitman, Jean Reno is all personal rules and control, and he teaches his protégé - played by a young Natalie Portman - to live by the same careful principles.

It’s left to Oldman to inject the film with its fun and personality, and he does so with aplomb. He overacts, but he does so with precision - it’s not just lunacy, it’s well observed and considered lunacy, and he steals the movie with ease.