Gary Oldman

0:13Gary, thank you so much. Thank you. Really appreciate it. Yeah, welcome. So what drew you to this role of George Smiley? I saw the original series in Seventy-Nine and was familiar with the books. So it was like an actor being asked to play Hamlet. I mean, you kind of, even if you haven't read it, you've got a very good idea of what it's about and who you're playing. But it really fell from the sky. You know, that's the sort of exciting thing I think about being an actor sometimes is that one minute you're out of work and the phone rings and they want you to play George Smiley and here we are. And what did you do to make George different from allergenesis? I didn't really, I mean, you're using the same source material and you are playing the

1:00same role. And a lot of things I would imagine, those things that we've both found that are very similar. There's a DNA to Smiley. I think there's things that you have to kind of respect. And there's a cruel, maybe a harder cruel aside, I think, to George. And you were in? Yeah. Obviously Guinness was nearly 70 when he played him. So Alec was a little more, maybe a little more huggable than me. It tends to be a more quieter role for you. Do you enjoy that? Being able to play things more with maybe the visuals of your face? I, you know, I've sort of said that this is a role I've been looking for for about 30

1:45years. And this is very contained and very sort of reigned in. And I found it liberating actually not to have to communicate all the time with words. I mean, there's occasions here where Thomas has taken perhaps a half a chapter and has reduced it to five lines and a look. And I found that very freeing. Did you develop that with him? Now that was pretty much... Did he tell you this is what I'm looking for? Yeah, I mean that was pretty much in the script when it came through. You have to find a fillet, I guess, when you're dealing with something on this scale and this size, you know, you can't, you can't eat the whole oxen.

2:33So he found a really good steak. What did you make of it, Jim? Controls the... It was madness. How do you approach a character differently now? I was looking at the IMDB page. It looks like your first film was 30 years ago in 1982. So you must approach characters differently now than when you started. Is there more work that goes in pre-production into developing the character? No. No, I mean I... Is there less? It's sometimes... If you hadn't have done the work, the homework, the work leading up to that moment, then you would be free falling. I think that once you've done the work and that you found a character, then you can do that. I mean you would make a movie in the old days in 55, 60 days.

3:24I mean when Le Mette was making movies, you were making them in 75 days. Le Mette was standard. And now people want to make movies in 16 days and 20 days. And the whole process is cut. How long did that take to film in this one? This was three months. But it's a big film, so we moved quickly on it. I mean two takes. Really? Three if you're lucky. Three if you're lucky. And we just motored through it. Do you prefer that? Less takes? Or do you prefer getting the freedom of doing a whole lot more? I think I'm a... I could average out... A five take guy, maybe. But that's... I would say. When you go through the airport and you have to take all the... You know whether you're a two-binner or a three-binner.

4:10You're a five-take guy. I'm a five-take guy. We do something called five questions. Five quick questions, one more answers. Spielberg or Scorsese? Scorsese? Lennon or McCartney? Lennon. Your greatest influence as an actor. That could be Lennon again. Interesting. From like, how I won the war or just because he's John Lennon? He's amazing. Yeah. Because he's John Lennon. Film you're most proud of. The film I'm most proud. I think this one. Take your tailor. Yeah. Fantastic.

4:56That leads us to the last one. In one word. Take your tailor, soldier spy. In one word. In one word. Life changing. Nice. Thank you very much. Thank you. Really appreciate it. Yeah. Thank you.