Five movies to prove Gary Oldman is the ultimate villain
Not many people could play Dracula and then win an Academy Award for embodying Winston Churchill, but that’s the chameleonic career of Gary Oldman in microcosm.
He can do anything he sets his mind to, which has been reflected in a diverse filmography that’s been producing greatness for over 40 years. However, it has to be said that he’s at his best when he’s at his most volatile and going for broke as a bad guy.
Oldman can definitely be a straight-laced, stoic, and sympathetic character, but something always feels off about it. Maybe that’s because he’s played so many unforgettable antagonists, and breaking bad has regularly brought out the best in him.
The Oscar-winning icon has played more than his fair share of baddies, but the following five provide more than enough proof to reiterate his credentials as one of cinema’s greatest-ever villains.
The five best Gary Oldman villains:
5. Hannibal (Ridley Scott, 1998)
If Oldman had gotten his way, then nobody would have even known he was part of the cast for the sequel to The Silence of the Lambs, only for the overzealous Dino De Laurentiis to ruin the surprise.
Unrecognisable under mountains of prosthetics, Oldman didn’t want to be named in conjunction with Hannibal or billed in the credits, such was his dedication to disappearing into the deformed and depraved Mason Verger. It’s not the biggest villainous part of his career, but it’s one of the most memorable.
With an axe to grudge against Anthony Hopkins’ title character, Verger’s unusual cadence and fondness for dishing out twisted justice to anyone who wrongs him makes him a chilling figure. It could have easily been a caricature, but Oldman even manages to create a sympathetic air around a cold-blooded killer and sexual predator, which takes some doing.
4. The Fifth Element (Luc Besson, 1997)
One of the most unabashedly weird sci-fi blockbusters of the modern era, the villain of The Fifth Element required an actor who could comfortably project menace and malice while also embracing the gonzo tone required to ham it up to the maximum allowed levels.
Fortunately, director Luc Besson knew just the guy, with Oldman in tremendous scenery-devouring form as the nefarious Zorg. Part mad scientist, part dictator, and without a single redeemable feature, the odd accent and bizarre haircut would have been distracting if the star wasn’t so delicious in delivering every syllable.
A serious actor he may be, but The Fifth Element allowed him to cut loose on a scale he’d never been presented with before, and Oldman repaid Besson’s faith in kind by turning megalomania into a showcase for exaggerated tics, self-indulgence, and free rein to make the character as batshit as he wanted. Which, as it turned out, was very.
3. Air Force One (Wolfgang Petersen, 1997)
Villains in action movies tend to be one-dimensional at the best of times, and while that’s true of Oldman’s Egor Korshunov, he treats the material with enough snarling viciousness that the big bad of Air Force One is compelling in his own right.
Whoever signs on to be the antagonist in a Harrison Ford blockbuster knows they’re going to be playing second fiddle, but Oldman presents his Russian hijacker as the equal of the American president, with that self-confidence making the audience believe he might be in with a chance of succeeding.
It’s an actioner, of course, so he won’t, but that’s not the point. It’s not the best-written character he’s ever been given by any stretch, but his increasing desperation and sense of socio-political injustice make Korshunov a force of nature nonetheless, one who meets their end by way of a classic one-liner.
2. True Romance (Tony Scott, 1993)
With a script by Quentin Tarantino, the influential Tony Scott at the helm, and a star-studded cast full of killer actors, it takes something truly special to emerge from True Romance as its undoubted highlight.
Enter Drexl Spivey, Oldman’s preposterous villain who seems to have been crafted by the actor with the express purpose of being as outlandish as possible, but also unsettling and a little scary at the same time. It’s a balancing act nobody should be able to pull off, but the cartoonish drug dealer became one of his most popular characters.
His screen time may be limited, but Oldman ensures that every frame counts, making Drexel obviously theatrical but still real enough to convince as a person who probably exists out there somewhere in the real world, regardless of how ridiculous he may seem at first glance.
1. Léon: The Professional (Luc Besson, 1994)
The corrupt law enforcement agent is a trope as old as time, and while there’s nothing new to be found on the page with Norman Stansfield, onscreen Oldman steals the action thriller away from everybody else with consummate ease.
As the story progresses, the drug-addled crooked cop gradually grows more obsessive and manic. Given his profession, the cop shouldn’t enjoy causing chaos, but Oldman makes that unpredictability and ability to fly off the handle at any second a way to drum up maximum tension.
There’s plenty of calm to go along with the storms, too, which, if anything, is only more unnerving. It’s as big and broad as can be, but Oldman is expressive enough to convey just as much in the quieter moments. Rotten to the core, it’s a masterclass in villainy from one of the best to ever do it.
