Even Gary Oldman Was No Match For This 1 Method Actor Who He Found “Forbidding” on Set

Gary Oldman is a tour de force in the world of cinema and his level of dedication and versatility as has as an actor is astoundingly remarkable. Films such as Sid and Nancy, State of Grace, JFK, and The Darkest Hour show the incredible range Oldman has and he even won an Academy Award for Best Actor for playing Winston Churchill in the latter.

Oldman had also participated in franchise films such as Harry Potter and most importantly Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy where he played Commissioner James Gordon. He worked with Christian Bale in the three films and was amazed by his dedication while also finding him particularly forbidding when he became Batman on set.

Gary Oldman Found Christian Bale ‘Forbidding’ Whenever He Becomes Batman

Gary Oldman starred as Commissioner James Gordon in the Dark Knight Trilogy alongside Christian Bale. Bale is known for his intense and meticulous ways of preparing for a role and hence was fully dedicated to bringing Batman to life. While Oldman was himself a profound actor, he was still amazed by Bale’s commitment.

In an interview with MovieWeb alongside Joseph Gordon-Levitt for The Dark Knight Rises, both actors talked about how inspiring Bale was on set. Oldman particularly found him forbidding in his transformation as Batman on set. He said,

“He changes in the suit, doesn’t he? There’s something quite forbidding about him when he’s on the set with you.”

Gordon-Levitt further went on to praise Bale’s Batman and how practical everything was which made the film real and interesting. He said,

“When Christian puts on that suit, it’s really there. There’s no added digital anything. It just looks like a movie when he’s got it on. He looks like a legend. He doesn’t look like a person anymore. He looks like the Batman.”

Nolan’s emphasis on practicality and Bale’s immense dedication to the role has managed to make the trilogy distinct from other superhero films. Even veterans like Oldman are inspired to see Bale and the lengths he is ready to go to do the character justice, which is why he is one of the best actors of his generation.

Christopher Nolan Started the Trend of British Actors Playing Superheroes

Superhero films and their main leads were mostly played by Americans when the genre was in its inception. As the genre grew bigger and and popular, actors of other nationalities started playing these American-based superheroes for instance Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland as Spiderman, Robert Pattinson as Batman, and so on.

In an interview with Den of Geek, actor Gary Oldman claims that Christopher Nolan started this trend by casting Christian Bale as Batman and him as Commissioner Gordon which were both heroic roles. These casting choices according to him,  changed the age-old typecasting of British actors as villains in mainstream Hollywood films. He said,

“Well, I think what happens is a trend. And someone starts the trend, and it’s so blinkered that they go, ‘Oh yeah, now it’s this,’ and off they go. I got typecast as a villain, the bad guy, and I wanted to turn that around. Slowly, slowly, I turned that ship around, but you’re at the mercy of the imagination of who’s casting you.

And Chris Nolan came to me with a villain, and I said, ‘I don’t want to play the villain.’ I think it was [suggests scary mask over face, with hands]. Yeah, maybe. I said I wasn’t interested. I said, ‘What about Commissioner Gordon?’ And to his credit, he thought about it, came back, and said yes.”

It is widely believed that British actors are easily able to portray themselves as Americans while Americans find it hard to adapt to the sensibilities of the Brits and their way of speech. It seems the level of discipline and the ease with which Brits can adapt to a certain sensibility has led to them being cast as the lead superheroes who are American-based.