Gary Oldman has begun the second half of his career. Back in the late 80s and the 90s, he was known for one character type: the bat-shit insane psychopath. We watched him shoot people with a shotgun while miming Beethoven in Leon; destroy his life with drugs while playing bass for the Sex Pistols in Sid and Nancy; attempt to feed people to pigs in Hannibal; and suck blood and entice women in Bram Stoker's Dracula, and we loved every second of it. But since accepting the roles of James Gordon in Christopher Nolan's Batman films and Sirius Black in the Harry Potter franchise, it looks as though he has dropped the crazy in favor of the middle-aged man who is a force for good, but can also kick some ass. His newest role fits perfectly into that description.
The Guardian, via Production Weekly, says that Oldman has been recruited for the lead role in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, based on the novel by John Le Carré. Previously adapted in 1979 for a BBC series starring Sir Alec Guinness, the British actor will play George Smiley, a former intelligence agent who is brought back into MI6 to uncover a Soviet mole at the highest level of operations. The film will be directed by Let The Right One In helmer Tomas Alfredson, and Colin Firth, Michael Fassbender and David Thewlis are all currently in negotiations to co-star.
I would watch Gary Oldman sit on a stool against a white wall and recite the alphabet backwards for three hours, so I think I can stomach him as a spy rooting out traitors to the crown. He might not be the Russian hijacking the President's plane or the southern industrialist in space bent on destroying the universe anymore, but more Oldman is good Oldman.
