‘Dark’ victory looms for Oldman
OSCARS Best Actor favorite Gary Oldman says he is relaxed about if he wins or not on Sunday night — the real victory for him was getting to play the World War II British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Brit Oldman, 59, has long been the Best Actor front-runner for his role in “The Darkest Hour,” in a strong category of nominees including Daniel Day-Lewis, Daniel Kaluuya, Timothée Chalamet, and Denzel Washington. Oldman’s film is nominated for six Oscars in total, including Best Picture. “I am feeling good about it,” the actor told Page Six of Oscar night. “These things will be what they will be. They will either call my name or they won’t. It was an honor and a pleasure to play Churchill, and I have really a enjoyed the ride.”
Speaking on Friday at the Film is GREAT reception for British Oscar nominees in Los Angeles, Oldman said of Churchill, “We think of him as an old man with a cigar who was born in a bad mood. But he was far more complex than that.”
He nearly turned down the role because Churchill had been played by so many before, but Oldman said once he read the script and started researching Churchill, he found a personality that hadn’t fully been explored. “What interested me was to show a side of him that was dynamic and energetic and funny — he wasn’t the curmudgeon we all assumed he was. “When I looked at old footage of him, it was revelation to see someone who was very light on his feet, not quite as rotund as we all imagined.”
He read many biographies of Churchill, and studied video footage to mimic his mannerisms. “You imagine him to be grumpy all the time, and I am sure he sometimes was, but other times he looked like a baby. There was this boyish sweetness to him.”
Oldman had to shave his head and endure four hours of makeup each morning to play Churchill, but the role also appealed because of the chance to play Churchill at the moment he gives his famous “We shall fight on the beaches” speech to Britain’s Parliament in 1940.
“That is one of the seminal speeches you could ever deliver as an actor, along with Hamlet’s ‘To be or not to be,’ ” Oldman said.