Gary Oldman Gave Christopher Nolan an Ultimatum for ‘Oppenheimer’

Gary Oldman is back on Apple TV+ thanks to the fourth season launch of his Emmy-nominated drama “Slow Horses,” and his ongoing role of Jackson Lamb nearly impacted his reunion with Christopher Nolan on “Oppenheimer.” Oldman, who played detective James “Jim” Gordon in Nolan’s Batman trilogy, starred as U.S. president Harry S. Truman in the director’s Oscar-winning drama. But accepting the role meant telling Nolan that his “Slow Horses” character came first.

“This [role] is a little different because I’m tethered to it, even when I’ve got a six-month break. And it dictates if I do anything else,” Oldman told the Wall Street Journal Magazine about how his preference to immediately move on from the characters he plays has now changed from doing an ongoing TV series. “I did a day on ‘Oppenheimer.’ I said to Chris Nolan, ‘I would love to come and do it, but I’m going to have to wear a prosthetic cap and a wig and I can’t cut my hair. So if you can deal with that, then I’d love to come and do it. And if you don’t want wigs, then you have to get someone else to do it.’ Lamb is never far away in that sense.”

“I remember once hearing something that John Lennon said he hated his voice, as hard as it is to believe,” Oldman continued. “He always wanted to put some kind of effect on it or double the vocal. He said, ‘I’d just burn all the records and start all over again.’ I know what he means. I don’t go back and revisit these things. It’s old work. If someone said to me, ‘What’s your best work?’ I’d have to say, ‘Next season.’

Nolan agreed to the prosthetic cap and the two reunited for “Oppenheimer.” During an appearance on “The Drew Barrymore Show” last year, Oldman expressed gratitude for the “Harry Potter” and “Batman” movies for saving him personally and professionally. Acting jobs were drying up for Oldman before he got cast as Sirius Black and Jim Gordon — two roles that made him a fan favorite among genre fans and gave his career the star power it never had before.

“At 42 years old, I woke up divorced and I had custody of [my] boys,” Oldman said. “That, in itself, was… that was hard because there was a shift in the industry where a lot of productions were being [filmed in] Hungary, Budapest, Prague, Australia, you know, all of these places. So, I turned down a lot of work.”

“Thank God for ‘Harry Potter,’” he said. “Thank God for ‘Harry Potter.’ I tell you, the two — ‘Batman’ and ‘Harry Potter’ — really, they saved me, because it meant that I could do the least amount of work for the most amount of money and then be home with the kids.”

The fourth season of Oldman’s “Slow Horses” just premiered on Apple TV+.