ILLUMINATING ‘DARKEST HOUR’

The Envelope welcomes a select audience of Hollywood guild members and Oscar voters during awards season to consider some of the year’s most talked about films with the Envelope Screening Series. Each screening is followed by a Q&A with the cast and filmmakers moderated by an L.A. Times journalist. For those of you unable to attend, The Envelope brings you highlights right here. For videos of the events, go to latimes.com/screenings. ¶ Recently, we screened “Darkest Hour,” director Joe Wright’s look at Winston Churchill, brought into the role of England’s prime minister during World War II, even as the Nazis were advancing through Europe and the war cabinet advocated peace talks and surrender. Immediately at stake, hundreds of thousands of British troops surrounded by the enemy on the shores of Dunkirk, France. ¶ The film stars Gary Oldman as Churchill, who is considered the Oscar front-runner. The slender actor would hardly seem the right fit to play the jowly Churchill, but four hours in the makeup chair and costuming every day took care of that. ¶ Oldman and Wright joined L.A. Times film writer Glenn Whipp in conversation.

“I said to [makeup artist Kazuhiro Tsuji] I want three versions, the most makeup, the least makeup and somewhere in between. The first version was the most makeup and he looked rather like he had a raw chicken stuck on his face, and I was worried.” — JOE WRIGHT “I couldn’t wait to get to the set [after the makeup process]. I couldn’t wait to be him. It was hard work, but it was rewarding work.” — GARY OLDMAN

Photographs by Michael Owen Baker For The Times “I FELT Gary understood what I was trying to do, so it was a very close collaboration,” director Joe Wright says.

GARY OLDMAN has won acclaim for his performance as Churchill.

GLENN WHIPP, left, interviews Gary Oldman and Joe Wright.