Gary Oldman

Made films the shows talk about.

Wikidata Q83492: matched by corpus:resolve, told apart by the only person by that name on Wikidata.

Counted as actor. The films the hosts said they acted in, which the two lists below run through too: Sid and Nancy (1986); RoboCop (1987); Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990); True Romance (1993); Léon: The Professional (1994); The Contender (2000); Batman Begins (2005); Darkest Hour (2017); Mank (2020); Oppenheimer (2023); State of Grace; The Book of Eli. Count them as director (1 film) instead.

Draws on

What the speakers say they, or a film of theirs, drew on. Each is a speaker's account: “the maker said so” when they report the maker's own words, “the host's read” when the read is theirs.

Citizen Kane (1941): 2 lines

lineage (visual influence) · through Mank (2020), which they acted in: Citizen Kane ⇒ Mank (the maker said so: David's interview with cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt). Messerschmidt told the interviewer he wanted low, deep-focus photography evoking Citizen Kane, not noir.
“He's like, no, I want to do it low to the ground, lots of deep focus, evoking citizen Kane.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 1:13:08 · David Sims (0.80 sure it was them)
lineage (subject / source) · through Mank (2020), which they acted in: Citizen Kane ⇒ Mank (the host's read). Mank is partly inspired by Pauline Kael's essay on who truly authored Citizen Kane.
“it's in part inspired by that very famous Pauline Kale, story raising Kane, about the true authorship of Citizen Kane”
The Big Picture · Emergency Mailbag: The Oscars Are Streaming and Hollywood Is Fighting Over Trolls | The Big Picture · 0:58:09 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)

Pan (2015): 2 lines

career (career) · through Darkest Hour (2017), which they acted in: Pan ⇒ Darkest Hour (the maker said so: Wright, on the show). Wright says Pan's failure and his own doubt are what made the doubt-ridden Churchill script resonate.
“I had made a film called Pan, which had lost about $100 million, and had been slated, really, by most everyone, and I was suffering my own crisis of confidence”
The Big Picture · Joe Wright Bounces Back From His Darkest Hour | The Big Picture (Ep. 37) · 0:02:29 · Joe Wright (0.95 sure it was them)
career (career) · through Darkest Hour (2017), which they acted in: Pan ⇒ Darkest Hour (the maker said so: Wright, on the show). After Pan he decided he was not cut out for big studio movies and wanted to return to his wheelhouse.
“I realized after Pan that I wasn't cut out necessarily for the kind of big studio movies, and I wanted to return to something that was closer to my wheelhouse.”
The Big Picture · Joe Wright Bounces Back From His Darkest Hour | The Big Picture (Ep. 37) · 0:03:05 · Joe Wright (0.95 sure it was them)

Andrei Tarkovsky: 1 line

lineage (lineage) · through Darkest Hour (2017), which they acted in: Andrei Tarkovsky ⇒ Darkest Hour (the maker said so: Wright, on the show). Wright wants his work called cinematic and cites Tarkovsky's 'sculpting in time'.
“as Tarkovsky put it, sculpting in time.”
The Big Picture · Joe Wright Bounces Back From His Darkest Hour | The Big Picture (Ep. 37) · 0:15:27 · Joe Wright (0.95 sure it was them)

Anna Karenina: 1 line

contrast (contrast) · through Darkest Hour (2017), which they acted in: Anna Karenina ⇒ Darkest Hour (the maker said so: Wright, on the show). Darkest Hour's stripped-back look is a reaction against Pan and Anna Karenina.
“as a kind of reaction to what I've been doing before, including Pan, but also, you know, Anna Karenina and movies like that.”
The Big Picture · Joe Wright Bounces Back From His Darkest Hour | The Big Picture (Ep. 37) · 0:04:41 · Joe Wright (0.95 sure it was them)

Avatar (2009): 1 line

lineage (lineage) · through RoboCop (1987), which they acted in: Avatar ⇒ RoboCop (the host's read). The robot-waking sequence is beat for beat the first act of Avatar, down to testing the new body's powers.
“It is crazy actually how much this sequence is like beat for beat, the Avatar, right?”
Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:38:34 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

Batman Begins (2005): 1 line, within their own work

lineage (lineage) · through RoboCop (1987), which they acted in: Batman Begins ⇒ RoboCop (the host's read). The remake is part of the grounded-and-serious wave that followed Nolan; the speakers say this film marks the end of it.
“The Batman begins effect.”
Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:47:48 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

Do the Right Thing (1989): 1 line

unmapped (borrowed speech) · through True Romance (1993), which they acted in: Do the Right Thing ⇒ True Romance (the host's read). The Sicilians-and-Moors speech in True Romance echoes what Mookie says to Pino in Sal's.
“Well, Sicilians and and Africans and the Moors in that whole speech that appears in true romance, which is also something that Mookie essentially says to Pino”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:51:06 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)

Flesh and Blood (1985): 1 line

career (career) · through RoboCop (1987), which they acted in: Flesh and Blood ⇒ RoboCop (the host's read). Flesh+Blood is the failure that led Verhoeven to Hollywood and RoboCop, where he built entertainment around his interests.
“from this film on, he figures out how to take everything he's interested in and put it into the body of a conventionally entertaining Hollywood movie”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Flesh+Blood · 0:49:14 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

Jack Fincher: 1 line

lineage (script origin) · through Mank (2020), which they acted in: Jack Fincher ⇒ Mank (the maker said so: Fincher's own account as read from the dossier (outlet not named)). Fincher's father wrote the original Mank script, which David set aside until years later.
“I'm handed this script that my dad wrote about all powerful directors ruining storytelling”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 0:48:09 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)

Max Richter: 1 line

craft (craft) · through Darkest Hour (2017), which they acted in: Max Richter ⇒ Darkest Hour (the maker said so: Wright speaking of his own film on the show). Wright says he wanted a cinematic equivalent of the minimalist music he was listening to, including Max Richter.
“I was also listening to a lot of minimalist music at the time, Max Richter and Niels Fram and, of course, the great Philip Glass and so on.”
The Big Picture · Joe Wright Bounces Back From His Darkest Hour | The Big Picture (Ep. 37) · 0:05:00 · Joe Wright (0.95 sure it was them)

Nils Frahm: 1 line

craft (craft) · through Darkest Hour (2017), which they acted in: Nils Frahm ⇒ Darkest Hour (the maker said so: Wright speaking of his own film on the show). Wright says he wanted a cinematic equivalent of the minimalist music he was listening to, including Nils Frahm.
“I was also listening to a lot of minimalist music at the time, Max Richter and Niels Fram and, of course, the great Philip Glass and so on.”
The Big Picture · Joe Wright Bounces Back From His Darkest Hour | The Big Picture (Ep. 37) · 0:05:00 · Joe Wright (0.95 sure it was them)

Philip Glass: 1 line

craft (craft) · through Darkest Hour (2017), which they acted in: Philip Glass ⇒ Darkest Hour (the maker said so: Wright, on the show). Wright aimed for a cinematic equivalent of minimalist music by Richter, Frahm and Glass.
“I wanted to try and achieve some kind of cinematic aesthetic equivalent to that music.”
The Big Picture · Joe Wright Bounces Back From His Darkest Hour | The Big Picture (Ep. 37) · 0:05:08 · Joe Wright (0.95 sure it was them)

The Lost Weekend (1945): 1 line

craft (visual echo) · through Mank (2020), which they acted in: The Lost Weekend ⇒ Mank (the host's read). The election-night drunk sequence in Mank is called self-consciously reminiscent of The Lost Weekend.
“almost self-consciously reminiscent of the last the lost weekend”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 2:03:48 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)

The Wizard of Oz (1939): 1 line

craft (craft) · through RoboCop (1987), which they acted in: The Wizard of Oz ⇒ RoboCop (the host's read). The training-sequence song joke riffs on the Tin Man and If I Only Had a Heart.
“If I only had a heart is what it's.”
Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:46:51 · Griffin Newman (0.30 sure it was them)

Drawn on by

What the speakers say drew on them or a film of theirs, marked the same way.

RoboCop (1987): 1 line, within their own work

lineage (lineage) · through Batman Begins (2005), which they acted in: Batman Begins ⇒ RoboCop (the host's read). The remake is part of the grounded-and-serious wave that followed Nolan; the speakers say this film marks the end of it.
“The Batman begins effect.”
Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:47:48 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

What the speakers said they did

What was said about them, by kind

career (1)

career (career): Gary Oldman → Batman Begins. Oldman's Gordon role changed his career after a stretch as a studio villain, and RoboCop asks him to play Gordon again without the mustache.
“He's just kind of Gordon without a mustache being like, Robocop, I'm really trying to help you here.”
Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:24:43 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

people (4)

people (people): Gary Oldman → Darkest Hour. Wright cast Oldman for Churchill's essence rather than his look, over more obvious choices.
“you can fake the exterior, but you can't fake the interior necessarily, Gary had the essence.”
The Big Picture · Joe Wright Bounces Back From His Darkest Hour | The Big Picture (Ep. 37) · 0:09:49 · Joe Wright (0.95 sure it was them)
people (people): Nil by Mouth → Gary Oldman. Nil by Mouth is a favorite of Wright's, and made Oldman his first actor who is also a filmmaker.
“nil by mouth is one of my favorite films.”
The Big Picture · Joe Wright Bounces Back From His Darkest Hour | The Big Picture (Ep. 37) · 0:10:51 · Joe Wright (0.95 sure it was them)
people (people): Christopher Nolan → Gary Oldman. Nolan offered Oldman the Gordon part, which the speakers say reset Oldman's career.
“Nolan offers Rashal Ghoul to Gary Oldman, of course.”
Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:24:23 · David Sims (0.30 sure it was them)
people (later collaboration): David Fincher → Gary Oldman. Fincher eventually worked with Oldman and admires him.
“I mean, obviously, Fincher eventually worked with Oldman and really admires Oldman.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 1:49:29 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)

unmapped (2)

unmapped (business partner): Douglas Urbanski → Gary Oldman. Urbanski, the Larry Summers actor, is Gary Oldman's producing partner and not an actor.
“Okay. Who is Gary Oldman's producing partner and not an actor?”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 1:48:30 · Griffin Newman (0.35 sure it was them)
unmapped (recasting): Gary Oldman → Brian Cox. Fincher tried Oldman in prosthetics for Belli, then hired Cox.
“He always asked Gary Oldman in, but he put him in a bunch of prosthetics and was like, this looks silly.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 1:52:11 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

what-if (2)

what-if (what-if): Gary Oldman → Reservoir Dogs. In Tony Scott's version, Oldman would be Mr. Blonde with dreadlocks and gold teeth.
“Gary Oldman would have been Mr. Blonde, but with like a dreadlocks and gold teeth.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Reservoir Dogs’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:05:55 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Gary Oldman → Léon: The Professional. Oldman in The Professional is described as Mr. Orange's cousin.
“Gary Oldman pretty much plays like Mr. Orange's cousin in the professional.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Reservoir Dogs’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:06:02 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)

Fun items about them

fun, about Gary Oldman: Running gag: Adam says Oldman is great 'playing Mank or whatever', and Sean protests loudly.
“Not or whatever, how dare you? Back when he was, he played mank, all right?”
The Big Picture · ‘Elvis,’ ‘Walk Hard’ and Top Five Music Biopics · 1:08:51 · Sean Fennessey (0.85 sure it was them)
fun, about Gary Oldman: Churchill prep started with how he walked, smoked, and snuffled.
“he smoked a lot, and he had this kind of snuffle in his breath.”
The Big Picture · Joe Wright Bounces Back From His Darkest Hour | The Big Picture (Ep. 37) · 0:09:57 · Joe Wright (0.95 sure it was them)
fun, about Gary Oldman: Casting director Laray Mayfield: Herman was 'beat to shit', so Oldman's age doesn't matter.
“But then she says, but look, Herman was beat to shit.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 0:58:16 · David Sims (0.70 sure it was them)
fun, about Gary Oldman: Oldman was put in prosthetics to play Belli; it looked silly, so Fincher hired Brian Cox.
“He always asked Gary Oldman in, but he put him in a bunch of prosthetics and was like, this looks silly.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 1:52:11 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)