Gary Oldman has done a lot and seen even more in his time in Hollywood. He played key roles in two of Hollywood’s series, “Harry Potter” and “The Dark Knight,” and he took some time to explain how those experiences allowed him to battle through a terrible divorce that ripped at the seams of his entire family.
Following his split with his former wife, Donya Fiorentino, a woman whom he spent four years married from 1997 to 2001, he found himself in brand new territory as a single father to his children named Alfie, Charlie John, and Gulliver Flynn. That, combined with the busy work schedule of a mid-tier actor, meant that something had to change.
That was when Oldman stumbled into the two biggest works of his lifetime. The two massive series, both of which earned massive critical fame as well as allowed him to make money from the huge box office returns, allowed his family needed and still have time to be present for his growing children in the absence of their mother.
He said, in an interview on “The Drew Berrymore Show” shared by People, “Thank God for Harry Potter. I tell you, the two, Batman 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.”
The life-changing event of the divorce rocked him to his core. He had one blessing, however, after winning custody of his children. Even that caused problems, though, as Oldman was constantly shipping himself around the globe to find work and to continue his acting career. Though well-paying, it was taking a toll on the family.
He continued, “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 has found that those two films not only boosted his acting career to atmospheric heights but also allowed for him to be a better father when he wasn’t shooting. Being in a place where he could take months off to be with his sons was a massive increase in quality of life for the star that has graced so many TV screens due to his work on these films.
He also dropped an interesting take on his acting as Sirius Black in the “Harry Potter” series, saying that he should have made an effort to read the books before filming. He explained that had he known the arc that his character was meant to take in the later films. His acting would have been different and a better expression of the character.
Explaining his reasoning and offering some deep self-criticism of his role, he said, “Maybe if I had read the books like [late costar Alan Rickman], if I had got ahead of the curve, if I had known what’s coming, I honestly think I would have played it differently.”
Featured image credit: By Jasmin Hunter from Portsmouth, NH – IMG_5478, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10535799
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