Gary Oldman Explains Controversial 'Harry Potter' Acting Remarks
He confessed he's his own worst critic.
Oscar-winning actor Gary Oldman was introduced to many audiences worldwide with his role as the wizard Sirius Black in the hit Harry Potter film franchise. Fans may love Oldman for his work in this role, but the British actor had a tough time coming to appreciate it.
Oldman first entered the Harry Potter universe in 2004's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and was a central figure in subsequent movies Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. When looking back on his time at Hogwarts in a December 2023 appearance on Jason Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast, Oldman confessed he didn't see it as anything world-changing.
"I think my work is mediocre in it," he said at the time. "Maybe if I had read the books like 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."
Some fans were shocked by his statements, and on May 22, Oldman finally explained what he meant while speaking to press at Cannes.
"What I meant by that is, as any artist or any actor or painter, you are always hypercritical of your own work," he said. "If you’re not, and you’re satisfied with what you’re doing, then that would be death to me. If I watched a performance of myself and thought, 'My God, I’m fantastic in this,' that would be a sad day."
"There was such secrecy that was shrouded around the novels; they were under lock and key. And had I known from the very beginning, if I had read the five books and I had seen the arc of the character, I might have approached it differently. I may have looked at it differently and painted in a different color," he continued. "So when I started Harry Potter, all I had was the book The Prisoner of Azkaban and that one representation of that man. One book in the library of Sirius Black. And that’s kind of what I meant by it. It’s not me looking at the movie and saying it’s a terrible film or I’m terrible. I just wish it had been under different circumstances. That’s what I meant, not to be rude to any of the people out there who like that film."
If you want to revisit Oldman as Sirius Black, all eight Harry Potter films are currently streaming on Max and Peacock.