Gary Oldman on his ‘Slow Horses’ character: ‘He’s unkempt’ and yet ‘so beautifully drawn’ [WATCH]
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“Outwardly, he gives the impression that he doesn’t care very much,” Gary Oldman recently said about portraying a disgraced MI5 agent on the acclaimed AppleTV+ spy drama “Slow Horses,” explaining that underneath his disheveled exterior, there’s so much more to the man than what meets the eye. “He’s unkempt, and he uses it to play a game. It’s a defense mechanism, and I would say he cares a lot more than most.”
Oldman is mesmerizing in “Slow Horses” as the aloof and often contemptuous Jackson Lamb. He’s a pariah living out his twilight days as the begrudging leader of a group of fellow outcasts to whom he is almost comically obnoxious and offensive. He is truly captivating every time he’s on screen. So, a brilliant performance deserves a brilliant Emmy campaign. The Best Actor Oscar winner for “Darkest Hour” (2017) recently participated in a fun and insightful conversation with Screen Actors Guild members (watch above), sharing stories about his role in the show’s third season. “The people in this are so beautifully drawn. The voices, the individual voices of the characters,” Oldman stated during the event, adding that, “I feel very lucky. I’m 65 and I’m thrilled to be working.”
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SEE Emmy Experts predict Gary Oldman (‘Slow Horses’) will win Best Drama Actor
Oldman is clearly an actor’s actor, boasting a career filled with leading roles and character performances, and often touted by his peers as one of the most respected and admired actors of all time. His 2018 Oscar victory for “Darkest Hour” capped off a rare clean sweep of wins at SAG, BAFTA, Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards that year. He’s also earned three overall Oscar nominations to date, plus six BAFTA, three Golden Globe, three SAG and four Critics Choice nominations, and a single Emmy bid for guest-starring on “Friends” in 2001. He currently sits atop our Emmys odds chart for Best Drama Actor at this year’s Emmys, well ahead of contenders Dominic West (“The Crown”), Colin Farrell (“Sugar”), Tom Hiddleston (“Loki”), Donald Glover (“Mr. and Mrs. Smith”) and Ben Mendelsohn (“The New Look”).
“Slow Horses” is based on Mick Herron‘s series of novels, adapted by showrunner Will Smith (“Veep”), about a group of MI5 agents who are consigned to a dumping ground for British intelligence rejects paying the price for their past mistakes. Those that are banished to the Slough House administrative purgatory are known as “slow horses,” expected to endure interminably dull, paper-pushing drudgery, along with occasional berating from their rude and abrasive boss, Jackson Lamb. Oldman plays the rude, crass and often drunk department head with a bracing panache, reveling in being as unapologetically miserable as possible, while showing flashes of the intellect, perceptiveness and savvy from his former life as a respected spy.
SEE Watch our lively chats with dozens of 2024 Emmy contenders
Season 3 debuted in November last year, earning acclaim from critics and fans for its high-stakes drama and its occasionally droll, jet-black comedic tone. The six-episode third season scored six 2024 BAFTA TV nominations last month, trailing only “The Crown” (with eight) and “Black Mirror” (with seven) as the most-nominated series this year. Oldman also received a Best TV Drama Actor nomination at the Globes earlier this year for his work on the show. The spy drama also stars Jack Lowden, Kristin Scott Thomas, Saskia Reeves, Olivia Cooke, Jonathan Pryce and Sophie Okonedo.
On working with the cast, Oldman said that “honestly and genuinely, I can say that it’s absolutely a joy to go in and work with these people,” adding that “the cast are the most adorable bunch of people that you could ever really spend time around,” and “I know it sounds like gushing, but I love these guys, and we’re very lucky that we’ve got producers who are all on the same page. They don’t bicker, there’s no real arguments, we all get on. So, it really is a joy.”
All three seasons of “Slow Horses” are now streaming on Apple TV+.
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