The ‘Star Wars’ role nearly played by Gary Oldman
An Academy Award-winning actor and acclaimed performer held in the highest esteem by his peers he may be, but Gary Oldman has never been one to shy away from lending his immense talents to genre films, franchise fare, or even the occasional paycheque gig.
His theatrical performance as the title character in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Léon: The Professional‘s unhinged Norman Stansfield, The Fifth Element‘s scenery-devouring Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg, Air Force One‘s exaggerated Egor Korshunov, Harry Potter‘s Sirius Black, and the Dark Knight trilogy’s Jim Gordon are proof enough that Oldman can bring his A-game to tales of blood, bullets, and digital effects.
Admirably, his opportunity to board one of the most iconic IPs on the planet slipped through his fingers when he staunchly refused to break union rules after being sought by George Lucas to voice a soon-to-be cult favourite character: “I did a voice for Star Wars …was it General Grievous?” he recalled during an appearance on Happy Sad Confused. “What happened was something to do with union stuff and non-union stuff. I was not going to be the poster boy for breaking union rules.”
Oldman explained the local legislation meant Episode III – Revenge of the Sith couldn’t use his voice for a role that was played on set by Kyle Rowling in a motion capture suit for a production shot in Australia, but it sounded as though he’d recorded at least some of his lines and got the chance to work directly with Lucas as a result.
“He directed me the whole thing, yeah, he was terrific,” he continued. “No regrets about that.” In the end, Lucasfilm sound editor Matthew Wood would provide the vocals for the raspy Grievous, going on to reprise the part in countless additional forms of Star Wars media, including animated TV shows and video games. That turned out to be the gift that kept on giving, considering he’s been stepping into the recording booth as the four-armed cyborg for almost 20 years.
At the time, Oldman’s representatives released a statement clarifying his reasons for dropping out of Star Wars, which expanded upon his recollections: “Gary was excited and looking forward to working on the film. The snag is that the movie is being made without members of the Screen Actor’s Guild,” it read. “It means Gary would have been working illegally overseas. Out of respect and solidarity with the other members, he could not and would not consider violating the rules of his union”.
Oldman doesn’t seem too devastated to have missed out on Star Wars, but given the scenes Grievous shares with Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi in Revenge of the Sith, it’s tantalising to think that one of their generation’s finest actors was the one starring opposite.
