I think filmmaking should be a wonderfully free collaborative process, and it so very rarely is. I often see directors as jailers of my talent. Gary Oldman More Quotes by Gary Oldman More Quotes From Gary Oldman At the Oscars, if you didn't vote for '12 Years a Slave' you were a racist. Gary Oldman oscars racist years Shakespeare doesn't really write subtext, you play the subtext. Gary Oldman acting play writing There will always be spies. We have to have them. Without them we wouldn't have got Osama bin Laden - it took us years, but it happened. Gary Oldman osama-bin-laden spy years The industry has changed. Two years ago I could tell a company I've got Russell Crowe and that would get the film made. Now they'd ask 'And who's the girl?' Just one famous face isn't enough any more. Gary Oldman girl two years I got obsessed with classical music, I got obsessed with Chopin, with playing the piano. Gary Oldman piano obsessed obsession The great thing about Google is that you type in neuro-surgery and somehow you end up with Peter Sellers or watching Frank Sinatra. Google is a great resource. Gary Oldman peter google ends I don't think Hollywood knows what to do with me. I would imagine that when it comes to romantic comedies, my name would be pretty low down on the list. Gary Oldman hollywood names thinking I was brought up by my mother and my two sisters, although they're older than me and fled the nest very young, so I was technically raised as an only child, but I was very much loved. Gary Oldman sister mother children I never told my father I loved him before he died, and I have a lot of issues about that. They're all swimming around in my head, in my heart, unresolved, and in a way it felt fitting to dedicate the film to him. Gary Oldman swimming heart father I'm not the best audience for that because I'm not a great science-fiction fan. I just never got off on space ships and space costumes, things like that. Gary Oldman fans space fiction I'm still a member of the Empire! Although I sometimes feel like an American with a British accent - you get contaminated after so long. Gary Oldman empires sometimes long I'm rarely asked to play the smartest man in the room. Gary Oldman play men rooms I like a cheese and pickle. Nice cheese and pickle on a real old-fashioned bread. Ploughman's lunch. Gary Oldman lunch nice real As an actor, you people-watch, you observe. And the more famous you become, the sad thing is you lose the ability to do that. Instead of people-watching, you become the focus of attention. Gary Oldman ability focus attention But you see, I have played more good guys than I have played villains. Gary Oldman good-guy villain guy I was never really that interested in the punk movement. I was a blues guy: I liked Motown, James Brown. Gary Oldman punk movement guy Interesting things come your way but as you get older, your lifestyle changes. I don't want to travel; I don't want to be in a hotel room away from my family. Gary Oldman want travel interesting People imagine that actors are being offered everything and you are not. So things come in and sometimes there are things that I want and can't get a meeting on, or go to a different actors. Gary Oldman actors different people I went and lived in Chicago for a year , and I studied at the police academy. Gary Oldman police chicago years I still don't have a publicist. If I'm in a film, you have an obligation to promote it, I'll do as much as I can. Gary Oldman obligation film stills