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Gary Oldman says his performance as Sirius Black in Harry Potter was ‘mediocre’: ‘Maybe if I had read the books…’
'If I had got ahead of the curve, if I had known what's coming, I honestly think I would have played it differently," Gary Oldman said
Gary Oldman recently critiqued his performance in the Harry Potter franchise. Oldman, who played Harry’s godfather Sirius Black in the movies, believes his portrayal of the character was “mediocre.” The actor’s Apple TV+ series Slow Horses returned for a third season in November.
Oldman made the comments on the latest episode of Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast. “I think my work is mediocre in it,” he said, adding that he thinks he could have played the role "differently."
Oldman went on to say that his approach may have been different if he had read the books, written by J.K. Rowling, before acting in the films. “Maybe if I had read the books like Alan, if I had got ahead of the curve, if I had known what's coming, I honestly think I would have played it differently," Oldman said, referring to the late Alan Rickman, who played Severus Snape in the franchise.
Oldman joined the Harry Potter franchise in 2004, first appearing in the third film, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. He appeared again in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and was seen in a cameo in the final film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.
"It's like anything, if I sat and watched myself in something and said, 'My god, I'm amazing,' that would be a very sad day,” said Oldman. “Because you want to make the next thing better."
‘Thank God for Harry Potter’
However, Oldman appreciated the franchise earlier this month in an interview with Drew Barrymore. He said that both Harry Potter and the Dark Knight trilogy helped him in life.
“Thank God for Harry Potter. I tell you, the two — Batman and Harry Potter — really, they saved me, because it meant that I could do the least amount of work for the most amount of money and then be home with the kids,” Oldman told Barrymore.
“At 42 years old, I woke up divorced and I had custody of these boys and so that, in itself, was... That was hard because there was a shift in the industry where a lot of productions were being [filmed in] — it was Hungary, Budapest, Prague, Australia, you know, all of these places," he added.
Oldman described how he took round trips between his Los Angeles home and the Dark Knight trilogy films production in London as many as 27 times to be able to spend time with his children during his busy schedule.
