Gary Oldman Quotes

Rather like Batman, I embody the themes of the movie which are the values of family, courage and compassion and a sense of right and wrong, good and bad and justice.

It's funny: I'm a lifelong musician, but because I principally play the piano it's been a solitary thing.

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

I took a bit of a back seat, I had kids and I wanted to focus on them. There's that period in the late '90s, the early 2000s, where I didn't do a great deal.

I wasn't ever a huge fan of comics. Just not one of those kids, you know?

I know I'm pretty, but I ain't as pretty as a couple of titties.

I like a cheese and pickle. Nice cheese and pickle on a real old-fashioned bread. Ploughman's lunch.

'Nil By Mouth' was a bit autobiographical, but as I always pointed out at the time, that's not my dad.

As an actor, you people-watch, you observe. And the more famous you become, the sad thing is you lose the ability to do that. Instead of people-watching, you become the focus of attention.

I tend to read non-fiction.

There are roles that you chase sometimes.

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

There will always be spies. We have to have them. Without them we wouldn't have got Osama bin Laden - it took us years, but it happened.

I'm not the best audience for that because I'm not a great science-fiction fan. I just never got off on space ships and space costumes, things like that.

I'm rarely asked to play the smartest man in the room.

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

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

The building of America has had its fair share of mistakes, but it's a constitution that's the jewel of democracy, the envy of many, and it's the most generous nation in the world.

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

I'm almost incapable of lying. I'd be a terrible spy.

I went and lived in Chicago for a year , and I studied at the police academy.

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.

Each role you play, they set a bar of challenges that you meet. And in the past, I've played characters that emotionally expressed themselves a bit more in a physical way. It was a joy, actually.

The book tells you everything you need to know. The book is the map of the world that you're in with the character.

The work I enjoy is when the camera rolls, and I like the work in the moment.

Sometimes directors feel like they have to justify that hat that they are wearing they've got on as a director, and they come in and they tweak and interfere.

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...'

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.