Top Ten Tuesday: Gary Oldman’s Best Performances

With the Hughes Brothers’ new film THE BOOK OF ELI opening in theaters this Friday, January 15 we are all looking forward to this being a real kick-ass, post-apocalyptic action movie. One of many reasons we’re excited about this upcoming film, is the return of Gary Oldman as “the bad guy.” We have collectively decided that Gary Oldman is totally awesome, so this gave us an opportunity to compile our own Top Ten List of Gary Oldman’s Best Performances, and… there is certainly a large pool of quality options to choose from. Even if the movie sucks, Gary is always on top of his game.

Keep in mind this is merely the ten best Gary Oldman performances, as we see them. Truthfully, there may not be such a thing as a “bad” Gary Oldman performance.

10. HARRY POTTER (et al) as Sirius Black

It wouldn’t be much of a surprise to see the first character on this list be an already established role that Gary Oldman has embodied in his career.  Sirius Black, once prisoner of Azkaban and would-be mentor to Harry Potter, kind of got the short thrift in the HARRY POTTER movies.  That didn’t stop Oldman, consummate professional that he is, from giving the part everything he had.  When it was first announced in 2001 or 2002 that Oldman would be joining the third HARRY POTTER cast, it was a blessing, as someone as gifted and as immersing as Oldman is is precisely what those films need.  He is but one of many reasons why PRISONER OF AZKABAN is the best film of that series.

09. TRUE ROMANCE as Drexl Spivey

“He must have thought it was white boy day.”

As with most of the roles in TRUE ROMANCE, that of Drexl Spivey is a very minute one, one that requires the actor behind it to hit it home quickly, firmly, and without question.   Gary Oldman, never one to pass up a challenge, does just that.   As Alabama Whitman’s devious, drug-dealing pimp, Drexl is a force in Quentin Tarantino’s screenplay, and really, his presence mixed with the overpowering love between the two character, is the catalyst for the whole movie.   Oldman is awesome in this part.   At one point, a vision of Elvis tells our hero, Clarence Worley, that the world would be a better place without Drexl in it.   This is true, and Oldman’s absolute gusto is one of the driving factors that makes it so evident.

08. HANNIBAL as Mason Verger

Flamboyantly gay, and horribly disfigured, this character is truly one of a kind. The story of Mason Verger is horrifying and creepy, but without Oldman behind all that disgusting make up, the role wouldn’t be nearly as interesting. Most horribly disfigured characters hide their faces out of embarrassment, but Verger parades it when he can to make people uncomfortable, and it really works. Gary Oldman almost gets to give two performances in Hannibal, one as a flashback, seducing Dr Lecter before tearing his own face off and eating it, and the other as the disgusting results. It’s almost hard to believe he’s really under all that make up, but it really does sell the part.

07. IMMORTAL BELOVED as Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven… a historical figure and a legend of tortured genius, what actor wouldn’t love to have the chance to throw themselves into this role. One of the most talented composers, his music beloved despite his reputation as a horribly mean and tempered man. Gary Oldman captures the inner torment of this musical maestro, burdened by his hearing loss and loneliness, Beethoven comes to life on screen. It is clear that Oldman completely gave himself to this role, in fact… it has been said that he actually “chained” himself to a Steinway for several hours a day, practicing, not to sound as good as Beethoven (virtually impossible) but to train himself to look and feel as Beethoven did as he played. The music itself was actually played by Murray Perahia, but the audience is none the wiser. With the film spanning many years of Beethoven’s life until his death, Oldman is charged with maintaining a believable progression of age and temperament. He pulls this off so naturally that he actually appears to be aging and the make-up becomes an afterthought. A fitting performance to honor an incredible artist, giving equal focus to the light and the dark of his life.

06. BATMAN BEGINS/THE DARK KNIGHT as Jim Gordon

70 years of lineage is quite a thing for an actor to overcome when taking a role (I guess it would have just been 65 when Oldman first took the part for BATMAN BEGINS, but you get the idea).  For Jim Gordon, Gary Oldman did brilliantly what a lot of people were beginning to question whether or not he could do, not play the crazy bad guy.  He gives one of the best performances in his life in not one film, but two, and his Jim Gordon in both BATMAN BEGINS and THE DARK KNIGHT is a noble and hardhearted law enforcer who isn’t afraid to keep things close to his chest.  If Jim Gordon were police commissioner of every, major city, crime would essentially whittle down to not much of anything, and, with Oldman driving the character in these films, you realize the firm grasp on those 65 years of lineage this amazing actor has.

05. SID & NANCY as Sid Vicious

It’s one thing to portray a famous personality like Amadeus, or Malcolm X, or even Lee Harvey Oswald (not to spoil anything, but check out number four on this list). These are people who had an immense impact on the course of human history. It’s another thing to lose tons of weight and transform yourself into the grungiest icon of punk self-destruction. As Sid Vicious in Alex Cox’s SID AND NANCY, Oldman utterly transformed himself into music’s most vile Romeo; while he’s had many memorable roles, this is one of his earliest and he embodies Sid entirely.

04. JFK as Lee Harvey Oswald

In his busy 1991 film JFK, Director/writer Oliver Stone was clearly hostile to the lone assassin findings of the Warren Commission and his Lee Harvey Oswald (as played by Gary Oldman) is merely the ‘patsy’ of a complex but nebulous conspiracy cover-up involving just about … oh… everyone! Whether you agree that Kennedy’s death was the work of a communist ex-Marine with a rifle or not, the film packs a powerful punch thanks to it’s technique, urgent editing, and sprawling cast. Stone originally considered Charlie Sheen for Oswald, but went with Oldman, who at this point in his career was just beginning to make himself known to movie audiences. Oldman makes a believably nutty Oswald who’s acquitted by the evidence Stone presents, and his place in the conspiracy has become utterly mysterious by the time the three-hour movie ends.

03. THE FIFTH ELEMENT as Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg

Somewhere it has been written that Mr. Oldman attempts to vary his accent and speech with every role — I’d believe it. I don’t know where Zorg, the flamboyant villain from Luc Besson’s sci-fi film THE FIFTH ELEMENT, picked up his accent, but I’d like to visit. Somehow Gary Oldman stays threatening in the role, while also being utterly absurd. In so many words: “Zero stones, ZERO CRATES!”

02. BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA as Dracula

Gary Oldman is an actor that will always bring his A-game, regardless of what role he chooses to take on, but he seems driven to takes roles that are beyond challenging for any actor. Case in point… how does an actor approach the legendary role of Dracula, but make it his own and make it shine. Whether he’s a suave and mysterious younger creature of the night, seducing young virgins or a hideous old man-woman looking freak, lusting after blood… Oldman takes this stock character and creates something entirely new and fascinating. Oldman’s subtle eccentricities accentuate the make-up, whereas this is often the opposite for many actors. While many of his roles require a certain level of wildness, this is just one example of how Oldman is equally capable of bringing it down several notches and still being able to mesmerize the audience. Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a film that takes Francis Ford Copola’s brilliant and under-appreciated knack for artistic cinema and joins in unholy motion picture matrimony with Oldman. This film may not be everyone’s favorite Dracula movie, but you would be hard-pressed to exclude this from being one of the very best portrayals of The Count ever captured on *celluloid.

(*Funny, we won’t be using that term much longer, will we?)

01. LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL as Stansfield

“Bring me everyone… EVERYONE!!!!” I love this role! Not only is Leon one of my all time favorite films, but it has my all time favorite villain as well. The incredibly dirty DEA agent, Stansfield is sadistic, twisted, high as a kite, and loves to listen to Beethoven while he’s murdering entire families. He doesn’t have time for Mickey Mouse bullshit, and isn’t afraid to shoot you enough times that he’ll need to reload, just for ruining his suit. I LOVE HIM! Gary Oldman’s performance of Stansfield is almost the polar opposite of Jean Reno’s as Leon. Leon is calm and collected, living by a code of rules that keep him alive, where as Stansfield breaks every rule in the book in order to get rich. Leon won’t kill women or kids, and Stansfield does this in the first act of the film! He’s a fantastic bad guy, one of the best villains in cinema history, and definitely Oldman’s best performance to date.