Gary Oldman quotes

Born
21 March 1958, New Cross, London, England.

Occupation
Actor.

I enjoy playing characters where the silence is loud.
– Gary Oldman

Political correctness has become a straightjacket.
– Gary Oldman

If one could have a wish, or an alternative life, I would’ve liked to have been John Lennon.
– Gary Oldman

You choose your friends by their character and your socks by their color.
– Gary Oldman

I’m almost incapable of lying. I’d be a terrible spy.
– Gary Oldman

Speaking very generally, I find that women are spiritually, emotionally, and often physically stronger than men.
– Gary Oldman

I was never really that interested in the punk movement. I was a blues guy: I liked Motown, James Brown.
– Gary Oldman

My big love was the Beatles. I was more into music.
– Gary Oldman

I tend to read non-fiction.
– Gary Oldman

As a drama student I got into Thirties and Forties suits.
– Gary Oldman

My passion and energy get mistaken for anger.
– Gary Oldman

What other people think of me is none of my business.
– Gary Oldman

People who know me, they know I have a sense of humor, I’m a bit of a joker, a bit of a clown really, and I would love someone to exploit that side of me and send me a romantic comedy.
– Gary Oldman

But you see, I have played more good guys than I have played villains.
– Gary Oldman

Overall I enjoy a certain anonymity. I live a very normal, very ordinary life.
– Gary Oldman

I like a cheese and pickle. Nice cheese and pickle on a real old-fashioned bread. Ploughman’s lunch.
– Gary Oldman

I just think political correctness is crap.
– Gary Oldman

Wanting to be a good actor is not good enough. You must want to be a great actor. You just have to have that.
– Gary Oldman

Growing up in a particular neighborhood, growing up in a working-class family, not having much money, all of those things fire you and can give you an edge, can give you an anger.
– Gary Oldman

I can’t imagine childhood without ‘Planet of the Apes.’ I was nine or ten when the first one came out.
– Gary Oldman

Over the years, I have been asked to play these sort of scary frenetic characters that express their emotions physically.
– Gary Oldman

I hadn’t worked for a couple of years so I thought it would be nice to earn some money and pay the bills.
– Gary Oldman

You can play older than yourself. You can play younger than yourself up to a point, and then that just becomes impossible because you carry a weight with you that you can’t shift, unless you have very boyish looks.
– Gary Oldman

I love the simple poetry of theater, where you can stand in a spotlight on a stage and wrap a coat around you, and say, ‘It was 1860 and it was winter…’
– Gary Oldman

I’m still a member of the Empire! Although I sometimes feel like an American with a British accent – you get contaminated after so long.
– Gary Oldman

People imagine that actors are being offered everything and you are not. So things come in and sometimes there are things that I want and can’t get a meeting on, or go to a different actors.
– Gary Oldman

I wanted to play Dracula because I wanted to say: ‘I’ve crossed oceans of time to find you.’ It was worth playing the role just to say that line.
– Gary Oldman

I’m rarely asked to play the smartest man in the room.
– Gary Oldman

I wasn’t ever a huge fan of comics. Just not one of those kids, you know?
– Gary Oldman

I didn’t do drugs. It wasn’t my thing. But the drink was terrible. Today when I look back, it’s like I was another person. You could call it a coping mechanism, but that would be an excuse. I just drank too much.
– Gary Oldman

I did have a knack for playing weirdos. There’s still sort of this perception of me out there as being this crazy guy.
– Gary Oldman

My favorite meal would have to be good old-fashioned eggs, over easy, with bacon. Many others, but you can’t beat that on a Sunday morning, especially with a cup of tea.
– Gary Oldman

Reality TV to me is the museum of social decay.
– Gary Oldman

A lazy man works twice as hard. My mother told that to me, and now I say it to my kids. If you’re writing an essay, keep it in the lines and in the margins so you don’t have to do it over.
– Gary Oldman

How many movies do you see when you can say this director really knew what film he wanted to make? I can count them on the fingers of one hand.
– Gary Oldman

I don’t think Hollywood knows what to do with me. I would imagine that when it comes to romantic comedies, my name would be pretty low down on the list.
– Gary Oldman