Gary Oldman lives in America now: ‘I say trunk & elevator & cellphone these days’

wenn21046810

Here are some photos of Gary Oldman at the London Critics’ Circle Awards over the weekend. I meant to cover them yesterday, but I totally forgot. I know how much many of you ladies love a dash of Oldman in your day. I have to admit, he looked very handsome at the event. The tuxedo was lovely, his hair is working and he’s aging a lot better than most of us were expecting. He’s 55 years old by the way. For some reason, I did think he was older.

Gary was at the event to pay tribute to a friend and film critic. But Gary also has some new movies coming out: he’s got supporting parts in Robo-Cop and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, both of which come out this year. So that probably explains why he did this new, lengthy interview with The Big Issue. You can read the full piece here, and here are some highlights:

His happiest memory: “To this day I think my happiest memory is the night my sister Jackie took me on the 36 bus to the Odeon. We went to see A Hard Day’s Night. I remember clearly waiting in line, then sitting in the audience in that lovely old cinema singing along to all the Beatles songs. Jackie had the album so I knew all the lyrics. I think I was wearing short trousers and a sweater my mother knitted for me. At one point Jackie had to shush me because I was singing so loudly. I remember that moment. Great memory. A great memory. I was six. And I didn’t have a care in the world.”

He lives in LA & Santa Barbara now with his English jazz singer wife Alexandra Edenborough, and his accent has changed: “I have dropped some English words for American ones; I say trunk and elevator and cellphone these days.”

He’s good an impressions: “I was quite a good impersonator. I have a knack. I can meet a person and do an impersonation of them within minutes. Yeah, it is a skill. I could have a whole conversation with myself and the four Beatles. I like language and I’ve always enjoyed the wonderful sounds of different accents. I can pick up an accent very quickly up.”

Even though he’s been a bad boy, he insists: “[I’m] a sweet boy whose conscience always got the better of him. A nice boy, a bit too sensitive for my own good.”

When people praise him: “What blows my mind most is when you meet people you respect and they revere you. You’re a fan of theirs… and it turns out they’re a fan of you. I still meet these people thinking, oh come on, they won’t have a f–king clue who you are. It’s wonderful when they know who I am. I remember with Dustin Hoffman, he actually just called up one day. He’d asked for my number. I answered the phone and there he was [he drops into a perfect Dustin Hoffman nasally snuffle], ‘Look, Gery, it’s uh, it’s Dustin’. And I said, oh… alright? And he’d seen something I was in and wanted to tell me.”

[From The Big Issue]

Gary also says he’s tried to pay it forward with compliments, and he’s started calling up his fellow actors to praise them when he’s seen a particularly good performance. He said that the last person he’s called was Matthew McConaughey, and Gary thought MM was “fabulous” in Dallas Buyers Club.

I actually didn’t know Gary had transplanted to California somewhat permanently. I know a lot of English actors get crap for immigrating to America for work (or for the American lifestyle), but I think it’s nice. And it explains some questions I’ve had about Gary making so many appearances in so many American films lately. He’s in LA/Santa Barbara – he probably takes meetings all the time for projects. It reminds me a bit of Anthony Hopkins too – after Hopkins became so famous in American films like Silence of the Lambs, he gave up his British citizenship and became an American.

wenn21046593

wenn21047190

Photos courtesy of WENN.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

80 Responses to “Gary Oldman lives in America now: ‘I say trunk & elevator & cellphone these days’”

Comments are Closed

We close comments on older posts to fight comment spam.

  1. Tapioca says:

    I did not know that they were remaking RoboCop.

    I’m going to go off into a corner and cry for a bit…

    • AG-UK says:

      The first one ws R rated I think now this one is 12A in the UK (for the kiddies) I will be there with my 13 y/o… 🙂

    • doofus says:

      and if you’ve seen any of the previews, you’ll cry even more.

      gone is the wonderful camp and it’s full of CG. it’s like a transformers sequel that way. it looks terrible, and that’s saying something in this era of mega-crap emanating from Hollywood.

    • atlantapug says:

      Yep,
      The best thing about the original was the human story behind the robocop. His family left behind, the sadness that surrounded him. Hopefully, they didn’t just make a giant CGI nightmare and toss the entire story to the wayside.

      BUT, LOVE ME SOME OLDS!!!

    • InvaderTak says:

      Peter Weller will join you there. He wasn’t thrilled either.

  2. Kali says:

    I love how many people’s earliest/happiest memories are tied to movies. Mine was “Sound of Music” 😄

  3. T.fanty says:

    I call dibs on Gary!

    • Sixer says:

      I think NOT.

      • T.Fanty says:

        You FAILED to secure me books; I demand restitution in the shape of a talented, bespectacled Anglo-American (now, apparently).

        No worries about the book, btw. I just managed to secure a copy of Fahrenheit Twins, which I’m excited about reading.

      • Sixer says:

        Join Amazon Prime and I’ll lend you my entire Kindle library. Just don’t take Garyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

        (I’m not actually a member of Amazon Prime but you get my drift).

      • T.Fanty says:

        Kindle gives me a headache. Call me old fashioned, but I like books (they also give me something to throw at those damned kids while shouting at them to get off my lawn).

      • Sixer says:

        I like both. Now editing is mostly done via Adobe or word processing packages, I’ve had to get used to screen reading.

      • T.Fanty says:

        I’ve adapted to writing on screen more – I’m a better editor on screen now, than on paper. I just find that my eyes tire more quickly when reading on the screen. Plus, there’s always a distraction lurking in the corner. I like to put all technology aside once in a while, and shut myself off.

    • Emma - the JP Lover says:

      Too late, ladies … he’s ‘mine.’ 🙂

  4. Zadie says:

    What is the British word for trunk?
    And I was disappointed in Hopkins after he said in an interview with Craig Ferguson that he’s more America than Welsh.

  5. Nar says:

    I’m happy you guys covered a Gary story today. My day brightened up! His interviews are so enjoyable.

  6. Kezzle says:

    The British word for trunk is boot haha! Sounds weird but it’s all we know 🙂

    • NYC_girl says:

      I prefer lift, carpark, petrol, etc…. and I’m American!

      • lilian says:

        I lived in Boston for a while. I’m from South Africa. One time I went into a starbucks and asked the guy behind the till where the toilet was. He looked at me like I was speaking Hindi! I then repeated myself a few times and my friend from England who was with me interupted me and asked him where the Bathroom was and then he pointed. Apparently its considered rude or gross to say toilet in certain places. I dunno.

      • SonjaMarmeladova says:

        Would wc work?

      • LadySlippers says:

        @Lilian: Really? That’s sad. It’s not like we don’t know what other words that can be substituted for bathroom or restroom.

        @Sonja: Okay, water closet would stump most Americans. Sorry that’s just too advanced for some of us. 😉
        Stick with restroom, bathroom, and use the word toilet only in emergencies. (Loo is another word that’s catching on but be ready to explain or use the safe words.)

        😉

  7. GiGi says:

    I just love him. That’s all.

  8. Bored suburbanhousewife says:

    He is one of the greats though I feel like he has never fully realized his potential. He is the male Meryl in that he can completely transform himself physically and nail every accent so that he truly inhabits the character. I hope things stay happy with his latest wife. He like my other fave bad boy Sean Bean seem compulsively driven to marry women who are bad for them, repeatedly.

    • Zadie says:

      I don’t think he’s the male Meryl. Now, this may be sacrilegious, but I always found Meryl’s acting to be somewhat too technical, everything was perfect but it lacked something.
      Gary has that something, IMO.

    • FingerBinger says:

      @Bored All you have to do is watch ‘Sid and Nancy’, ‘State of Grace’ and ‘JFK’ and you will see Oldman has “fully realized his potential.”

      • Faye says:

        ITA! I also loved him in “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.” He completely became his character. He may not have gotten the Oscar love he deserves (IMO), but he has fully realized his potential.

      • Bored suburbanhousewife says:

        As far as sheer performance brilliance, ITA he is brilliant– By potential I mean I don’t think he has been fully recognized or rewarded for his brilliance on the scale Meryl has or he deserves.

        And ITA he has that special something!!

  9. LadySlippers says:

    Has anyone seen Oldman’s movie ‘Nil by Mouth’? If you have — what did you think of it? I ask because I’ve seen some *astonishingly* good reviews and am very curious about seeing the film myself,

    Note: Oldman wrote and directed the movie. It’s supposed to be a masterpiece of a movie but tough and gritty — very ‘real’.

    • Sixer says:

      I’ve seen it dozens of times. It’s fantastic. But I like gritty. It stars Kathy Burke, of whom I’m a great fan. Lots of swearing and every possible no-no-don’t-make-me-wince thing you could imagine. He cast his sister, who had never acted before, in it, and she is now a stalwart on a popular British soap.

  10. eliza says:

    The movies need to see more of this man. He is perfection, in my opinion.

  11. don't kill me i'm french says:

    But he lives in USA since long time .Before to live in California,he was in NY with his sons.He was married with David Fincher’s ex-wife

  12. Green is Good says:

    Gary Oldman. Greatest actor ever. Done.

  13. epiphany says:

    Like it or not, everything in Hollywood is political. Gary refuses to play the Hollywood glad handing game, as Clooney did for many years after leaving ‘ER’, which precipitated Clooney’s super stardom. Gary is politically conservative – his manager Doug Urbanski fills in for Rush Limbaugh when Limbaugh is on vacation – and while an actor’s ideology shouldn’t matter one whit – talent should be the only yardstick – unfortunately, to the overwhelming leftwing majority in Hollywood, it does. Believe as they believe, or find yourself ostracized.

    • FingerBinger says:

      Clint Eastwood is conservative, probably more of a libertarian, and he has four Oscars.

      • LadySlippers says:

        The Arnold is another. I think they tolerate men with more oddities than women though…

        The actress who played Ray Romano’s wife on his sitcom, Patricia Heaton, has complained about being a Republican actress in Hollywood. For her and probably others, I think being conservative/ Republican might have closed some doors.

      • epiphany says:

        True, but Clint didn’t become politically vocal until later in his career, when he moved away from acting and did more directing/producing. By then, he was a power player, regardless of his political stance.

      • dizzylucy says:

        Lady Slippers, I think that’s an interesting theory you bring up, and I’d bet there’s some truth to it.
        I think anyone who is too aggressive with politics in the workplace can run the risk of damage to their career though.

      • HappyMom says:

        And Bruce Willis is a right winger (and a complete ass to boot) but this doesn’t seem to have stopped his success either.

      • LadySlippers says:

        Bruce, Clint, and Arnold make studios money. Almost any sin can be forgiven if you can make someone else rich.

        (Apparently Bruce is not only a jerk but a British journalist also stated he’s as dumb as a box of rocks.)

    • SonjaMarmeladova says:

      Really? He’s conservative? How disappointing. And Rush Limbaugh? Yuck.
      Still love him as an actor.

      • Zadie says:

        So, is Gary conservative or Rush Limbaugh crazy?

      • lu says:

        British conservative is very different from US conservative. I don’t know which he is, I would think British style. The British Prime Minister (conservative) is said to be on par with Obama.

    • LadySlippers says:

      I think being more conservative might play a part but there are several successful conservative actors and actresses in Hollywood so it’s not the only reason he’s not über famous.

      I think his possible lack of ‘ass kissing’ might be more of a detriment than political affiliation. Isn’t ass kissing their religion of choice????? 😉

      • epiphany says:

        Yes, I used the term “gladhanding” but “ass kissing” works too! Gary’s never been good at it, and has said so himself. Clooney on the other hand…

    • Pumpkin Pie says:

      What’s the hollywood glad handing game?
      + I love the way he describes his happiest memory, uber-cute

      • LadySlippers says:

        It’s sycophancy perfected! 😉 But more commonly known as ‘ass kissing’. You either got that skill or ya don’t.

  14. JM says:

    Thank you for posting Mr. Oldman’s interview. It was intelligent, as is he, and quickly erased all the “likes” Miley’s lame interview planted inside my brain.

  15. Cora says:

    I don’t think Anthony Hopkins renounced his British citizenship. I think he’s a dual citizen now – British and American.

    • frisbeejada says:

      I think you are right, to get US Citizenship don’t you have to give up any other nationality? If you have US citizenship you can then get UK citizenship if you are born in the UK and so can hold two passports (and lets face it visit numerous exotic locations across the world and get shot – twice!) I might be talking complete rubbish but I think I remember reading that somewhere…

    • Hiddles forever says:

      Hopkins has retained British citizenship, therefore both countries (UK and US) allow dual citizenship.
      Kaiser, he’s still both lol

      @bluhare I know some of my friends who migrated to US have dual citizenship, therefore Us recognises another citizenship.

      Concerning the American language, I was educated in US and when I moved to UK years later I encountered a few problems lol
      “Gotta go and pick the garbage can up”
      “Pardon me?”
      XD

  16. dizzylucy says:

    Love him, such a great actor. I was a little sad to see him in what looks like a lame CGI-heavy remake though.

  17. InvaderTak says:

    What’s the British word for cellphone? I thought it was just cellphone.

  18. Helvetica says:

    I love this man. He is the sex.

  19. PunkyMomma says:

    Best Dracula ever.

    • Helvetica says:

      Agreed. I read an interview with him back in the day where he said he took the part because he always wanted to say, “I’ve crossed oceans of time to find you.”

      I LOVE HIM. Haha

      • LAK says:

        that one line is epic….his reading of it…..it’s been 20yrs since i saw that film and it’s still fresh in my head.

    • hmmm says:

      I thought he was wimpy looking until I saw him in Dracula. He was so compelling and tragic. It made me stand up and notice. I have enjoyed his acting ever since.

  20. Alina says:

    He is one of the examples why the Oscars are total crap.
    If the Oscars would be about acting talent Gary Oldman would have a dozen or so, but all he has is one single nomination. And he´s not the only one…. unbelievable how brilliant actors get ignored every year while some overhyped “stars” get Oscars like candy.