Gary Oldman has revealed that his recurring role as Jackson Lamb in Apple TV+’s Slow Horses has finally put a stop to the career anxiety he has experienced throughout his more than 40-year career. The 68-year-old actor, who recently received a long-overdue knighthood and was handed the Global Icon Award at the Edinburgh TV Festival, said he no longer feels the “low frequency anxiety” that used to hit him at the start of every new job.
Anxiety on Pause Thanks to Slow Horses
Speaking to Edith Bowman in a packed room, Oldman admitted that he is “deeply self critical” and tends not to watch his own work back. “I hope that the best work is, you know, next year,” he said. But thanks to his role as the whisky-swilling, soap-dodging Lamb, that dread is currently on pause.
“I haven’t had that feeling for six years, which has been really nice,” he said. “You go back and you know it’s been a success - the chemistry is working, there’s the same crew, same make-up, same hair and those wonderful actors. I have to pinch myself with how lucky I am.”
From Rep Theatre to Hollywood Stardom
Oldman, who now lives in Palm Springs, California, with his fifth wife Gisele Schmidt, said his early work in repertory theatre was extremely valuable because it allowed him to learn his trade and “make a fool of yourself” without it mattering too much. His heroes included Alan Bennett, Tom Courtenay, Albert Finney, Alec Guinness, Richard Burton, and, in the US, Robert de Niro, Al Pacino and Paul Newman.
His best-known roles include Sirius Black in the Harry Potter films, Gotham City Police Commissioner Jim Gordon in the Batman movies, a corrupt drug enforcement agent in Leon, punk rocker Sid Vicious in Sid and Nancy, George Smiley in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, the titular vampire in Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Lee Harvey Oswald in JFK.
Darkest Hour and the Demanding Churchill Role
It was his portrayal of Sir Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour that won him the best actor Oscar. Oldman recalled the demanding shoot, which sometimes required him to be in the make-up chair as early as 1am, followed by a 12-hour shoot. “The average day was 19 or 20 hours,” he said. “I loved every minute but - you’ve got to be committed.” He also had to smoke 11 cigars a day, which made him feel quite ill, and the budget for the Cuban smokes was £21,000.
Finding Jackson Lamb
When he landed the role of Lamb, Oldman had reached a stage in his career where he was desperate to make a long-form TV series, having long been “a little envious” of the likes of I, Claudius and Brideshead Revisited. He tasked his long-term friend and manager Douglas Urbanski with finding something suitable from the spy world, having enjoyed making Tinker Tailor so much.
“I told him I didn’t want any capes, armour or rubber - I’ve done all that,” he laughed. “And I didn’t want many - or any - costume changes. Also I wanted to use my own accent, I’ve done so many different voices. So could you go and find me that?”
Oldman said he enjoys playing Lamb because the character defies modern social norms. “We’re in an age where we’re told to eat certain things, to exercise regularly, not to smoke. He doesn’t do any of that. He eats junk food, he smokes, he’s a borderline alcoholic,” he said. “He has no filter and he can’t be arsed with the social norms. That’s the fun of it. I think we all wish sometimes we could be a bit more like Lamb.” He described the grubby Mac that is the character’s uniform as “my nod to Columbo”.
Oldman credited the rest of the cast, including Jack Lowden as River Cartwright, Saskia Reeves as Catherine Standish, Chris Chung as Roddy Ho, Kristen Scott Thomas as Diana Taverner and Aimee-Ffion Edwards as Shirley Dander. “As delicious as Jackson Lamb is, he doesn’t work in a vacuum, it’s a lot of team effort,” he said. He also admitted that he looks forward to returning to set. “I can’t wait to see everyone - which is rare,” he laughed. “You do occasionally work with a***holes.”
The sixth series of Slow Horses starts this autumn on Apple TV+, with a seventh series already ordered. This time around, every one of the MI5 rejects at Slough House is being targeted by killers, and Louisa Guy (Rosalind Eleazar) is back. Olivia Cooke also returns as Sid Baker, seemingly from the dead, much to the surprise of River, who had been distraught after her murder in the first series. With his trademark lack of sympathy, Jackson tells him to get over himself: “We’re spies. We’ve all faked our own death at one time or another.”
