Blood, sweat and toil to look like Winston

As GAry Oldman worked with a makeup designer to come up with his ‘look’ for his portrayal of Winston Churchill, he glanced in the mirror and joked that he looked ‘more like stan Laurel’. That was in the very early stages of a

50-day process, in which he also worked with prosthetic designer Kazuhiro Tsuji; and months before director Joe Wright started rolling cameras for Darkest Hour.

The stirring film tells how Churchill replaced Neville Chamberlain as Prime Minister in May 1940, and how he battled powerful forces in Britain urging him to agree a settlement with Hitler.

‘There was blood, toil, tears and sweat, just to get me to look a little bit like Churchill,’ Oldman told me on the set.

‘There was one look that was even more like Churchill than Churchill — but it was spooky, and there had to be a little bit of me to come through. The idea is to give an essence of the man. I wasn’t to be a man with a rubber face.’

Once the actor, designer, director and executives at Working Title and Focus Features were happy with the look, Oldman worked with costume designer Jacqueline Durran, on Churchill’s dress: opting to use the great man’s tailor and shirt-maker for his outfits.

‘It’s about capturing a flavour, a sense,’ Oldman said. ‘My girlfriend said: “I go to bed with Winston Churchill, but I wake up with Gary,” ’ he joked.

The result is a truly magnificent portrayal of a world leader — particularly at a time when proper world leaders are few and far between. The film, which also stars Kristin scott Thomas as Clementine Churchill (pictured with Oldman), stephen Dillane as Viscount Halifax, ronald Pickup as Chamberlain and Lily James as a private secretary, will have its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival tonight.

screenwriter Anthony McCarten said the film shows a Churchill who had doubts. ‘He wavered; there were uncertainties.’

Director Wright said he wanted to show Churchill ‘the human being’.

‘We know Churchill the icon. But I wanted the human being, with all his flaws and doubts. It’s important to see that out of doubt comes great strength; and out of despair can come hope. Churchill was vulnerable as well as powerful. That’s what I wanted to come across.’ The film’s set against the backdrop of Dunkirk and makes an excellent counterpoint to Christopher Nolan’s hit movie. Darkest Hour explains why Dunkirk happened, and how it gave Churchill the strength to scuttle the appeasers. And Oldman’s delivery of some of Churchill’s most famous speeches is breathtaking.