Gary Oldman called The Wall Street Journal from Berlin, where “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” premieres tonight, moments after he was nominated.
Congratulations on your Oscar nomination!
Thank you very much, thank you.
What’s your first reaction?
Well, I’m shocked really. I didn’t expect anything and obviously if you would have taken the temperature with SAG and the Golden Globes, we didn’t have high hopes for today. But it’s delightful. I guess it feels even more special in a way. At the moment I’m in Berlin for the premiere of “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” tonight, and of course it is where the Karla Trilogy concludes. It’s where Smiley gets his man, in Berlin, at the center of the Cold War. So it seems most appropriate to hear about the nomination for this movie while in Berlin. You couldn’t plan this if you wanted.
When you didn’t receive a SAG or Golden Globe nomination, were you disappointed?
You know, it’s disappointing for a couple of minutes, really. And then you just carry on doing what you’re doing and move on. I think other people were more disappointed for me. I could see they were more upset than me, and I just said okay, we’re moving on.
You told me you waited 30 years to play this role. Did you know it was going to be very special from the moment you read the script?
It’s an iconic creation, really, of [John] le Carre in modern 20th century literature. It has a pedigree that it comes with. So one is aware that one is playing an important part and indeed a part that was made so famous by Alec Guinness. It had its own whistles and bells. But with anything you do, you never ultimately know going into something whether you can pull it off or whether it will be successful. It’s a roll of the dice. And then you can as a company think or hope that you’ve got something special, and then there’s always the critics and the other missing component of course is the audience. You can stand there with a handful of good reviews, patting each other on the back, but you never know how it will perform at the box office. This one has amazed us all with how it’s been received.
This role is more quiet and understated than people often see of Best Actor Oscars. Is the Academy moving more toward that direction? George Clooney also had an understated role.
Yes, in The Descendants. What’s been encouraging to me has been the response to this film, which doesn’t in any way try to compete with some of the more racier, glamorous spy thrillers of recent years. It hearkens back to a sort of movie-making of the ‘60s and ‘70s. The fact that it’s such an understated film across the board and can make the noise it’s made is really encouraging. Maybe because it’s a movie that demands something of the audience when you watch it, and it’s an intelligent film and doesn’t undermine the smarts of the audience. It’s doubly nice being nominated for something that is quiet and understated.
This is your first Oscar nomination, which is hard for many to believe. How significant is it for you?
Well, I was beginning to think it may elude me. There’s definitely a strong fan base, that’s for sure. But I’m just a bit speechless, to be honest. I’m still a little in shock.
How are you going to celebrate in Berlin?
We have the premiere tonight, and we will probably have a dinner with the German distributors. Tomas Alfredson [the director] is here, and Robyn Slovo the producer, and my wife is here with me. We’ll have a little get-together later.
Follow Barbara Chai on Twitter @barbarachai
To read the whole article: http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2012/01/24/gary-oldman-is-speechless-over-his-first-oscar-nomination/?mod=google_news_blog
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