Gary Oldman's 10 Greatest Movie Performances - Ranked

Alex Cox’s dramatisation of the Sex Pistols bassist and his girlfriend, and their untimely deaths, caused a fair bit of controversy at the time of its 1986 release. Pistols singer John Lydon loathed the film, describing it as inaccurate, and the film’s unenthusiastic depiction of the band may have contributed to a pitiful box office return.

No one though, now or then, would doubt the power of Gary Oldman’s performance as Sid Vicious (except Oldman himself, who’s dismissive of his own work here). It’s a nuanced, complex depiction of a man who wasn’t really all that complex; a semi-tragic tale about an ultimately untalented individual who flew too close to the sun.

Cox isn’t afraid of shining a light on the negative side of Sid, who was a violent and thoughtless individual even before he murdered Nancy Spungen, and Oldman is unafraid of being repellent in one of his earliest prominent movie roles.

This is no burial, though, and Oldman is sure to give a balanced portrayal of a man who was around addiction all his life, and ultimately didn’t have the facilities to deal with fame. It’s a star-making turn, even if Oldman thinks otherwise.