Gary Oldman Is Too Hard on His Harry Potter Performances as Sirius Black – Beragampengetahuan

These sort of flourishes were usually forbidden from the other filmmakers in the series, and even the movies’ absolutely stacked ensembles of British thespians.

Oldman points to Alan Rickman’s now iconic turn as Professor Severus Snape as a more rewarding creation because Rickman invested so much time into creating the character. However, we also know from Rickman’s posthumously published memoir that he had mixed feelings about playing Snape, and even briefly attempted to leave the series midway through. This is because while he had perhaps more latitude than any other actor in the series in helping define his character, with Rickman being in private communication with Rowling about Snape’s true intentions and motivations, the films were so carefully curated as fan and author-pleasing experiences that any artistic amendment or departure was heavily scrutinized and generally avoided by the producers.

One example where a director and actor did something drastically different from Rowling was when in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, director Mike Newell and actor Michael Gambon decided to play the usually unflappable Professor Albus Dumbledore as very flapped. After Harry Potter inexplicably, and illegally, had his name added to the Goblet of Fire, thereby putting his life in mortal danger, Dumbledore is so disturbed he loses his cool and raises his voice. He demands to know for certain if Harry somehow inserted his own name into the Goblet as a way to boost his popularity! The moment reveals Dumbledore to be human and prone to moments where his carefully curated grandfatherly persona cracks. There is more to this man than meets Harry’s eye (or our own).

Fans were apoplectic about the change. Dumbledore would never shake Harry by the shoulders or shout! But in this writer’s opinion, Goblet of Fire is probably the second best film in the series. Even if certain creative choices didn’t work, perhaps including this one, the film is largely a success that let the creatives actually create their own interpretations. It’s notable, then, that the next film was directed by filmmaker David Yates, who helmed every Harry Potter film thereafter, including the Fantastic Beasts prequels (all of which Rowling was a producer on). Yates never once second-guessed or deviated from Rowling’s vision of these stories, and the films became more staid and eventually lifeless as a result.

Yates’ first Potter movie, Order of the Phoenix, was also Oldman’s last, and Sirius Black is asked to be nothing but a kind and lovely father figure to Harry in a handful of scenes before getting killed off.

For an actor who once turned Dracula into a sweating, swaggering rock star in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and a rock star into a tragedy in Sid & Nancy, it was probably a pretty flat part to play, and one in which he maybe did not get to sink his teeth into the material as fully as, say, Rickman, or for that matter Voldemort actor Ralph Fiennes. But, personally, he was a fine Sirius Black who did everything the part required. Whether it reached its full artistic potential, it will undoubtedly be shared for generations to come.