The Best Gary Oldman quotes

Over the years, I have been asked to play these sort of scary frenetic characters that express their emotions physically. — Gary Oldman

You choose your friends by their character and your socks by their color. — Gary Oldman

The book tells you everything you need to know. The book is the map of the world that you’re in with the character. — Gary Oldman

You take what you know, and you put it through your own prism. If I play characters that break down or cry, it’s Gary Oldman crying; it’s not the character crying. — Gary Oldman

Each role you play, they set a bar of challenges that you meet. And in the past, I’ve played characters that emotionally expressed themselves a bit more in a physical way. It was a joy, actually. — Gary Oldman

There are roles that you chase sometimes. — Gary Oldman

The world lost an artist of transcendent talent, he was The very definition, The living embodiment of that singular word: icon. — Gary Oldman

The script is your map of the world, isn’t it? And if someone knows that if it’s well–written, you get all of the beats, it will tell you everything you need to know. — Gary Oldman

By the way, the Harry Potter series is literature, in spite of what some people might say. The way J.K. Rowling worked that world out is quite something. — Gary Oldman

The building of America has had its fair share of mistakes, but it’s a constitution that’s the jewel of democracy, the envy of many, and it’s the most generous nation in the world. — Gary Oldman

Reality TV to me is the museum of social decay. — Gary Oldman

I got obsessed with classical music, I got obsessed with Chopin, with playing the piano. — Gary Oldman

I did have a knack for playing weirdos. There’s still sort of this perception of me out there as being this crazy guy. — Gary Oldman

I enjoy playing characters where the silence is loud. — Gary Oldman

To be honest, Im a little tired of playing bad guys. I long to do a comedy. But it was fun knocking Indiana Jones around. — Gary Oldman

I wanted to play Dracula because I wanted to say: ‘I’ve crossed oceans of time to find you.’ It was worth playing the role just to say that line. — Gary Oldman

Change is vital to any actor. If you keep playing lead after lead, you’re really gonna dry up. Because all those vehicles wean you away from the truths of human behaviour. — Gary Oldman

Being a good director is knowing sometimes when not to say something. — Gary Oldman

Sometimes directors feel like they have to justify that hat that they are wearing they’ve got on as a director, and they come in and they tweak and interfere. — Gary Oldman

I think filmmaking should be a wonderfully free collaborative process, and it so very rarely is. I often see directors as jailers of my talent. — Gary Oldman

How many movies do you see when you can say this director really knew what film he wanted to make? I can count them on the fingers of one hand. — Gary Oldman

It’s funny: I’m a lifelong musician, but because I principally play the piano it’s been a solitary thing. — Gary Oldman

If one could have a wish, or an alternative life, I would’ve liked to have been John Lennon. — Gary Oldman

Overall I enjoy a certain anonymity. I live a very normal, very ordinary life. — Gary Oldman

It’s been said that alcoholics are egomaniacs with low self–esteem. It’s the prefect description. Being larger than life and yet your pride is crushed with self–loathing. — Gary Oldman

We’re given a code to live our lives by. We don’t always follow it, but it’s still there. — Gary Oldman

Getting sober was one of the three pivotal events in my life, along with becoming an actor and having a child. Of the three, finding my sobriety was the hardest thing. — Gary Oldman

Wanting to be a good actor is not good enough. You must want to be a great actor. You just have to have that. — Gary Oldman

Any actor who tells you that they have become the people they play, unless they’re clearly diagnosed as a schizophrenic, is bullshitting you. — Gary Oldman

People imagine that actors are being offered everything and you are not. So things come in and sometimes there are things that I want and can’t get a meeting on, or go to a different actors. — Gary Oldman

As an actor, you people–watch, you observe. And the more famous you become, the sad thing is you lose the ability to do that. Instead of people–watching, you become the focus of attention. — Gary Oldman