The movie Gary Oldman did “as a favour”
Gary Oldman has enjoyed a long and illustrious career in the movie industry. He earned his stripes performing in some of the best independent British television films during the 1980s that tackled head-on the plight of society during Margaret Thatcher’s reign. He was brilliant as the volatile skinhead in Mike Leigh’s Mean Time and superb as the family man and estate agent who, on the weekends, was the head of a violent football hooligan firm in Alan Clarke’s The Firm. The roles cemented Oldman as one of the finest and most exciting young actors to come from British cinema.
Since then, Oldman has travelled across the pond and found the bright lights of Hollywood, starring in key roles in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy as Detective Gordon, as well as taking on the role of Sirius Black in the Harry Potter franchise, and featuring in Dracula and True Romance. But Oldman has also worked behind the camera when he directed his Cannes Festival entry, the kitchen sink drama Nil By Mouth. When discussing the film recently with Yahoo, Oldman also revealed that by directing that movie, he would have to star in another as a favour.
In 1997, Oldman made his debut feature as the writer and director with the powerful Nil By Mouth. Starring Ray Winstone, Kathy Burke, and Charlie Creed-Miles as a working-class family living on a council estate in south London, the story follows their turbulent lives as they deal with drug addiction, domestic violence, and poverty. It’s a gritty and hard-hitting debut that won Oldman a Bafta for ‘Best Screenplay’ and Burke the ‘Best Actress’ award at the Cannes Film Festival that year.
To get the project financed, Oldman reached out to the director, Luc Besson, for help. The star and filmmaker had previously worked together on Besson’s hitman thriller Léon: The Professional, and Besson agreed to come on board Nil By Mouth as the producer. After the film’s release, Besson called Oldman and asked him to star in his next movie. “I was singing for my supper,” noted Oldman of the deal made to star in the movie.
“He called (Besson), he said I need you to do the movie. I didn’t read the script; it was a favour,” said Oldman. The actor was a man of his word and, soon after, took the role of Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg, the evil villain sporting a horrendous haircut, in the sci-fi adventure The Fifth Element. The film takes place in the 23rd century and stars Bruce Willis as a taxi cab driver who comes into contact with a young woman escaping from an evil organisation and agrees to help her. The pair go on a treacherous voyage to find four mystical stones to save humanity from an impending attack on Earth.
The film also stars Chris Tucker, Ian Holm, and Milla Jovovich, all dressed in bonkers costumes designed by Jean Paul Gaultier with a dramatic score from the French composer Éric Serra. However, the critical response to the film was a mixed bag. Panned by some for its convoluted and implausible narrative, others celebrated the over-the-top performances and pure silly spectacle that Besson envisioned. The film has become a cult classic, perhaps partly down to its marmite receptions from filmgoers and film critics.
Oldman, however, was clearly less impressed by the final film and perplexed by people’s positive reaction to The Fifth Element. When asked about the movie’s ascendence to ‘cult classic’, Oldman responded, “(Laughs) I know! I know. But that’s the wacky world we live in.”
