“It was an absolute pain in the butt”: the scene that infuriated Gary Oldman
When audiences watch an incredible scene in a film or television show, it can be easy to think that shooting the sequence must have been as creatively fulfilling as it was to watch. Sometimes, though, that couldn’t be further from the truth. For example, when Gary Oldman filmed a pivotal scene for the fourth season of Slow Horses, he knew it was brilliantly written and would be compelling for the fans – but it turned out to be a pain in the arse to put together, and that infuriated him.
When Slow Horses debuted on AppleTV+ in April 2022, it quickly established a strong fanbase. The tale of MI5 agents who have messed up so badly they’ve been relegated to the confines of Slough House, a grimy London office run by the equally grimy Jackson Lamb, it mixed comedy and spy thrills to great effect. Over the next two and half years, three more seasons followed, and the show became a darling of the Emmy Awards. Oldman, who clearly loves playing the scabrous, slovenly Lamb, has said he’s in it for the long haul, and it’s already been renewed for fifth and sixth seasons.
Indeed, the recently-concluded season four was arguably the show’s most popular yet. When it came time to shoot episode five – entitled ‘Grave Danger’ – it featured a scene that explored the rotten heart of the relationship between two of the show’s most important characters. In an effort to force a moment of clarity from his dementia-addled nemesis David Cartwright (Jonathan Pryce), Lamb brought the old man to a graveyard. Then, with a particularly twisted piece of subterfuge, he convinced Cartwright that he was standing in front of the grave of his grandson River – and Cartwright was the one who killed him.
The scene worked on several levels, illuminating both plot and character in subtly clever ways. When Collider praised it during an interview with Oldman, though, the iconic actor couldn’t help admitting, “To film it, it was an absolute pain in the butt.”
The Harry Potter star revealed that, as is often the case with location shooting, the weather simply didn’t want to play ball. He complained, “We had clouds, then no clouds, rain, then no rain. Then, rain, then no rain.” The graveyard was part of a small church, and Oldman revealed he, Pryce, and Saskia Reeves – who plays Catherine Standish in the show – found themselves sitting on damp church pews for hours on end, waiting for the green light to continue shooting.
Oldman confirmed that the stop-start day continued in that aggravating manner for what seemed like an eternity. He chuckled that the crew would say, “Oh, yeah, the rain has cleared. The clouds are clearing, and we’re gonna shoot” – but five minutes later, it would be, “Oh, the rain. We have to go back inside.” He grimaced, “It was an infuriating day for anyone who is remotely creative.”
Thankfully, the smoke and mirrors of television production meant that the scene ended up working perfectly. Oldman said, “They’ve graded it, and it all looks like it’s a constant thing, but it was really stop, start, stop, start, stop, start.”
After unburdening himself of his grievances with shooting the scene, though, Oldman could finally dig into its significance. He revealed that he feels the sequence is extremely revealing of Lamb’s character, even though it holds back the full reasoning behind his abiding hatred of Cartwright. Lamb knows he needs to extract information from him in the brief moments where he is compos mentis and believes a shock to the system will achieve that state. Oldman mused, “It’s a roll of the dice. Lamb doesn’t really know for sure, but… it may be the key that unlocks the puzzle.”
Oldman finished by pointing out the brilliance of the character work regularly displayed by Mick Herron, the author of the Slough House books upon which Slow Horses is based. He concluded, “It’s a long shot, but… it’s so good. It’s a really good bit of character.”
