10 Actors Who Didn't Want To Be Credited For Movie Roles
3. Gary Oldman In Hannibal
As actors go, Gary Oldman has to be classed as something of a national treasure to the Brits now. He has played some of the most famous faces in history and literature; Winston Churchill (in a fat suit), Dracula (in an old, weird suit) and Sid Vicious (in a drunk suit). He is undeniably one of cinema's most versatile performers working today, having rubbed shoulders with Quentin Tarantino, Francis Ford Coppola and Sir Ridley Scott.
When Hannibal released in 2001, Oldman went uncredited as Mason Verger, a disfigured yet surviving victim of Hannibal Lecter and his deadly charms. The performance was a dead giveaway though, his voice and mannerisms were unmistakably Oldman through and through.
The subsequent situation regarding his lack of screen credit is a difficult one; as the story goes, Oldman originally wanted top billing alongside Hopkins and Moore but when MGM refused, he did a total reversal. Now Oldman desired no billing at all, stating at the time in an interview with IGN:
"Yeah, we thought that as I'm unofficially the man of many faces, you know, of Lee Harvey Oswald, Dracula, and Sid Vicious, and Beethoven, we thought that I would be [too recognisable]. I'm playing the man with no face. So we just had a bit of fun with it. We thought it would be great. The man with no face and no name, and sort of do it anonymously. It's no secret that I'm in the film. We just had fun with it, really."
The truth is anyone's guess but as Verger said in the film "It seemed like a good idea at the time... "