A biography for Gary Oldmanhasn’t been written yet.
“There's no handbook for parenting. So you walk a very fine line as a parent because you are civilizing these raw things. They will tip the coffee over and finger-paint on the table. At some point, you have to say, 'We're gonna have to clean that up because you don't paint with coffee on a table.'”
“On set I keep myself to myself; I'd rather the director speak up. I'm not gonna direct a younger actor. I think the power of example works best, actually.”
“I had a guitar when I was 6 or 7, a plastic guitar with the Beatles' faces on it. It would be a collector's item now. It would fetch a hefty sum, I imagine.”
“I hadn't worked for a couple of years so I thought it would be nice to earn some money and pay the bills.”
“I don't think Hollywood knows what to do with me. I would imagine that when it comes to romantic comedies, my name would be pretty low down on the list.”
“Culturally, politically, everywhere you look... Read the newspaper. Go online. Our world has gone to hell.”
“I have three kids who like Harry Potter so I was sort of aware of it. You can't really move from it: it's on buses, in stores, it's everywhere. One of my kids has read the books; the other two are too small but they like the movies.”
“But you see, I have played more good guys than I have played villains.”
“And costume is so important for an actor. It absolutely helps to get into character; it's the closest thing to you, it touches you. Some actors like to go into make-up and then put their clothes on, but I like to dress first; that's my routine.”
“Interesting things come your way but as you get older, your lifestyle changes. I don't want to travel; I don't want to be in a hotel room away from my family.”
“There will always be spies. We have to have them. Without them we wouldn't have got Osama bin Laden - it took us years, but it happened.”
“Overall I enjoy a certain anonymity. I live a very normal, very ordinary life.”
“I'm not the best audience for that because I'm not a great science-fiction fan. I just never got off on space ships and space costumes, things like that.”
“בימינו זה באמת מאוד יוצא דופן לעשות חזרות, וזו חוויה מתגמלת ביותר כשחקן. כבר יצא שפגשתי במאים בפעם הראשונה בלילה לפני שהתחלנו לצלם. אתה פשוט עולה לסט, ואתה מתחיל. ואז הבמאי שואל 'אז שניקח טייק?' 'מעולה! יש לנו את זה! בואו נמשיך.' ”
“עשו לי טייפקאסט. המפיקים היו אומרים, 'אנחנו צריכים נבל, תקראו לגארי שיעשה את הדבר שלו'.”
“הרבה יותר קל לגלם דמות משנה. יש לך ימי מנוחה, אתה נכנס ויוצא.”
“I'm almost incapable of lying. I'd be a terrible spy.”
“It's funny: I'm a lifelong musician, but because I principally play the piano it's been a solitary thing.”
“I like celluloid, I like film, I like the way that when a movie is projected it sort of breathes a little in the gate. That's the magic of it to me.”
“I love the simple poetry of theater, where you can stand in a spotlight on a stage and wrap a coat around you, and say, 'It was 1860 and it was winter...'”