Oliver Stone: The director Gary Oldman calls “a force of nature”
The greatest actors of their respective generations will be lucky enough to have worked with the finest directors that have ever lived, with Gary Oldman being one such glittering star. Making one of his first major movie debuts with the British movie maestro Mike Leigh, Oldman has gone on to collaborate with the likes of Tony Scott, Francis Ford Coppola, Luc Besson and Christopher Nolan, among many others.
An acting chameleon who has appeared in a range of eclectic roles over the years, Oldman is perhaps best known for playing dark villains or at least morally complex protagonists. Such can be seen in 1994’s Leon, where he plays the sinister Stansfield, or when he plays an entirely more cartoonish cosmic caricature in 1997’s Fifth Element, but the same can be said for his part as the very real assassin Lee Harvey Oswald in Oliver Stone’s 1991 film JFK.
Playing the US Marine veteran who assassinated John F. Kennedy, Oldman captured the mannerisms of the killer to a terrifying degree of accuracy, largely thanks to the director’s willingness to allow the actor to embody the notorious icon as he saw fit. The result is one of the finest depictions of the killer ever put to screen, with Oldman and Stone being naturally fitted to each others’ work styles.
“He’s a force of nature. Brilliant. Self-destructive,” Oldman told Venice Magazine, “He might want to watch that, curb that a bit. Great vision. Angry. Good. He’s good. His energy is just enviable. A powerhouse. I had a great time working with him”.
Continuing, the actor explains that the director was directly inspired by Oldman’s performance in 1990’s crime thriller State of Grace, with his performance in the film convincing Stone to hire him for JFK. “He said he saw an ‘intensity’ and ‘haunted quality’ in my character and wanted Oswald to have that same sort of withdrawn, haunted quality,” Oldman outlined, “I remember I was very isolated on that shoot, didn’t hang out with anyone. I stayed in my hotel room on my own, ate on my own, walked around town on my own. There’s a part of me that is that, a loner”.
Despite his stellar performance in the film, Oldman didn’t see much in the form of awards recognition for his work, with the plaudits going instead to lead actors Tommy Lee Jones and Kevin Costner. Nominated for eight Academy Awards, JFK walked away with wins for just ‘Best Cinematography’ and ‘Best Film Editing’, losing out on ‘Best Picture’ to Jonathan Demme’s Silence of the Lambs.
Take a look at a clip of Oldman as Lee Harvey Oswald in JFK below.
