I’ll fight them at the Oscars! Gary carries ‘lucky’ Winnie speech
HAVING already won a trio of top of awards for his portrayal of Sir Winston Churchill, you’d think Gary Oldman would be quietly confident ahead of the Oscars.
But the actor wasn’t taking any chances at last night’s ceremony and insisted on slipping lucky charms into his pocket.
Oldman, up for Best Actor for his role in Darkest Hour, confessed that he would be carrying Churchill’s famous ‘We shall fight on the beaches’ speech as well as a commemorative coin issued after the former Prime Minister’s death.
He told the Daily Mail: ‘I have some powerful good luck charms in my pocket to help me over the final hurdle.
‘I’ve taken Churchill’s “We shall fight on the beaches speech” – all of it – and had it turned into a miniature book so that it fits into my pocket.
‘And, as added insurance, I’ve got a Sir Winston Churchill commemorative coin that was issued after his death in 1965,’ the 59-year-old explained.
Sir Winston’s ‘Beaches’ address to Parliament was made on June 4, 1940, and is considered one of the greatest oratorical moments in history.
Churchill had taken over as Prime Minister from Neville Chamberlain in May and the speech helped him win over the hearts and minds of MPs and the public who were concerned about war.
‘There was no going back after he made that speech. I know it off by heart,’ said Oldman as he began to recite the most famous passage.
‘Sometimes I privately joke that we shall fight them in the Hollywood Hills,’ he added.
‘I know the speech backwards and I can recite the entire address, but to have it in my pocket gives me comfort and helps remind me of what went into portraying Winston.
‘I remember when [production company] Working Title first asked me, I thought they were having a laugh.
‘I remember telling them that I looked more like Stan Laurel than Winston Churchill. But they were serious. But I had to be convinced.’
He met with famed make-up artist Kazuhiro Tsuji and, over a period of months, the pair studied Churchill’s looks to see if Oldman could be transformed into the great statesman.
Oldman and his wife, the photographic artist Gisele Schmidt, studied hundreds of photographs of Churchill, did extensive research of his speeches, viewed hours of footage and listened to recordings of his orations.
Oldman said that portraying Churchill was like running an Olympic marathon every day.
Applying the transformative make-up took close to four hours every morning and involved make-up artists David Malinowski and Lucy Sibbick arriving at the studio in the early hours.
Malinowski, Sibbick and Tsuji were also on the Oscar red carpet as best make-up nominees.
Oldman said that he found the sevenmonth film award season more ‘nerveracking’ than all the efforts he put into portraying Churchill in director Joe Wright’s film.
‘I think you’re frightened of revealing too much of the magic, giving too much away about how you do what you do,’ he said. ‘It’s more than just standing in front of a camera and saying your lines. It’s a collaboration with scores of other artists in front of the camera and behind it.
‘It has been some of the finest hours of my career,’ he said.
Oldman was up against rival nominees Timothee Chalamet for Call Me by Your Name, Daniel Day-Lewis in Phantom Thread, Daniel Kaluuya in Get Out and Denzel Washington for Roman J. Israel, Esq.
Having already taken home the Bafta, Screen Actors Guild award and Golden Globe for his performance Oldman said: ‘The Oscar’s the last one.’