Gary Oldman may be getting serious for his upcoming role as President Harry S. Truman in Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer, but he's all laughs in Esquire's latest episode of "Explain This." Joking about his various Hannibal prosthetics and iconic roles in Harry Potter and The Dark Knight, the actor answered questions about his lengthy career—dating all way back to when he had to spit on Joey in an episode of Friends.
For fans of his Batman character, Commissioner Gordon, Oldman confirmed that he believed Joseph Gordon-Levitt would eventually become Robin if the franchise continued on. "I think that was the idea," he said. "Now all they need is the money!" After Nolan left the The Dark Knight trilogy, the cowl passed to Ben Affleck and Robert Pattinson—who both led entirely new stories for the DC Comics superhero. Speaking about The Dark Knight Rises, Oldman added that he thought the controversial ending was "a wonderful resolution for the character," because Bruce Wayne was able to "find love, finally."
The Mank actor also revealed that he isn't recognised on the street very often—but when he is, it's usually as Commissioner Gordon or Harry Potter's Sirius Black. "I was glamping years ago in El Capitan and I ran into my dentist who said, 'My son's over there and he would love to meet you. He loves Sirius Black,'" Oldman recalled. "It was a bunch of kids sitting around, and I said, 'I'm Sirius Black.' He looked at me, and this kid at the end said, 'No you're not. You're Commissioner Gordon!'"
Oldman also spoke about his television drama, Slow Horses, which about MI5 rejects who become embroiled in a dangerous plot involving far-right terrorists. The joke of term "Slough Houses," he explained, is that you're so far away from MI5 that you may as well be in Slough, a town located 20 miles west of London. "I hope you enjoyed this brief moment with Gary Oldman," he said as he capped off the episode, whispering, "Thanks for watching!" We certainly did, Gary.
Josh Rosenberg is an Assistant Editor at Esquire, keeping a steady diet of one movie a day. His past work can be found at Spin, CBR, and on his personal blog at Roseandblog.com.
