Gary Oldman isn’t a big fan of his portrayal of magician Sirius Black in the Harry Potter franchise.
Speaking to Josh Horowitz on the latest edition of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Oldman claims his work in the role was meh in the three films he did in the series.
Oldman debuted as Sirius Black in 2004’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. He came back for the next two films, ending in 2007’s Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
“I think my work is mediocre in it,” Oldman claims. “No, I do. Maybe if I had read the books like Alan (Rickman, aka Prof. Snape), if I had got ahead of the curve, if I had known what’s coming, I honestly think I would have played it differently.”
Oldman is his own biggest critic.
“I’ll tell you what it is. It’s like anything, if I sat and watched myself in something and said, ‘My god, I’m amazing,’ that would be a very sad day, because you want to make the next thing better.”
During an earlier appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, the actor explained said that he was cast as Sirius Black after becoming a single father.
“At 42 years old, I woke up divorced, and I had custody of these boys, and so that, in itself, was…that was hard, because there was a shift in the industry where a lot of productions were being [filmed in], it was Hungary, Budapest, Prague, Australia, you know, all of these places.”
Oldman said he “turned down a lot of work” in order to be with his children. “Thank God for Harry Potter, he told Barrymore. “I tell you, the two — Batman (where he played Commissioner Gordon) and Harry Potter — really, they saved me, because it meant that I could do the least amount of work for the most amount of money and then be home with the kids.”
Oldman is out promoting his Apple TV+ spy show Slow Horses, whose third season has just concluded. Season 4 of the series has already been shot, with Oldman in the role of spymaster Jackson Lamb.