The classic Johnny Depp movie that Gary Oldman rejected: “This is nuts! I don’t get this at all”
Considering the fact that Gary Oldman is one of the most acclaimed actors of his generation, it’s only right that he has been offered more roles than he could ever take on, including one that fortunately fell into the hands of Johnny Depp, one that would forever change the latter’s career.
Looking at Oldman’s career, one will find quality of all varieties. Whether in his early British roles in the likes of Sid and Nancy and Prick Up Your Ears or his emergence in the hearts of Americans with State of Grace, JFK, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula, it’s certain that Oldman mastered the acting profession, even in the early moments of his career.
Still, despite the many undoubted wins that Oldman has enjoyed throughout his career, there has been at least one loss, well, from a commercial perspective at least. The truth is that Oldman was once considered for the lead role in Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands, but when he turned it down, it eventually landed in the lap of Johnny Depp, who invariably made it one of his most iconic moments.
Released in 1990, Edward Scissorhands saw Depp play the titular role of an unfinished artificial humanoid made with scissors rather than hands. When a suburban family takes him in, he soon falls in love with their teenage daughter but finds it difficult to assimilate into ordinary society.
While Depp would eventually deliver one of his career-defining moments as Edward, he was not the first to be considered for the role, as the likes of Tom Cruise, William Hurt, John Cusack, Tom Hanks and even Michael Jackson were said to have been either interested or actually contacted.
One person who was offered the role was Oldman, but when he read the script, he found difficulty properly understanding it, telling the Happy Sad Confused podcast, “I read it though, there’s a castle on the hill, and this guy has got scissors, then there’s an Avon lady…you know, I don’t get it.”
Seeking to remedy his confusion, the London-born actor set out for a meeting with Burton to see if things could be clarified.
However, even upon meeting with the director, Oldman was still unsure whether the film would work and decided to pass up on the role offer. He’d also once told Larry King, “I went, ‘This is ridiculous. A castle at the end of this road, and then an Avon lady comes around selling makeup, and this kid’s got scissor-hands. This is nuts! I don’t get this at all.’ And I ended up not doing it.”
What Oldman passed up, though, was invariably Depp’s gain. After Burton toyed with the idea of Tom Cruise, who wanted a happy ending, Depp was eventually given the chance to take on the gothy character. The rest, concerning Edward Scissorhands, is history, and it marked the beginning of a long collaboration between Depp and Burton.
Oldman might have felt a twinge of regret, considering that Edward Scissorhands went on to make $86million at the box office from just a $20m budget, meaning that he would have been onto a huge paycheck. Still, Oldman couldn’t have every role under the sun, could he, and had to share the wealth a little bit with Depp.
