Gary Oldman is mesmerizing every moment that he’s on-screen as the very disheveled leader of a lesser MI5 spy unit in the Apple TV+ series, Slow Horses. And he still pops up in other projects, including a one-day gig as president Harry Truman in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.
“I’d spent almost seven years with Chris over three Batmans and then he went quiet for a long time, then he called me. And I think I was maybe just flattered he remembered me,” Oldman jokes.
The Academy Award-winning actor speaks to Eric Deggans about why playing Jackson Lamb in Slow Horses appealed to him and how he made a major career change after years of being typecast as what he calls a “rent-a-villain.” He also explains that “idiots” are the only thing standing in the way of him returning to writing and directing.