“Gary is there, at the top of his art, absolutely odious”: 32 years ago, Gary Oldman embodied one of the most brilliant bad guys ever seen in the cinema

True Romance, which many consider the best film of the late Tony Scott, was released 32 years ago. It is an understatement to say that the film has become over the years an absolutely cult and even a classic work, repairing a real injustice in front of its painful commercial failure when it was released.

In France, he had attracted just over 360,000 spectators, very far from the filmmaker's personal record with Top Gun (3.57 million admissions), a state enemy (2.06 million), or even a USS Alabama and its 638,000 admissions. Internationally, he had only picked up $ 13 million. That is to say the violence of the slap, which had the vigor of an uppercut.

Served by brilliant dialogues sewn hands by Quentin Tarantino, True Romance aligns a gallery of sensational characters worn by a King size cast. A denial Christopher Walken who almost steals the show from the whole cast during a interrogation scene from Dennis Hopper. A Val kilmer in almost Elvis. A James Gandolfini Psychotic chilling with violence. A Brad Pitt completely smashed adept at the smoking on the sofa. A great performance of the love duo launched in a bloody run, Christian Slater, and a very young Patricia Arquette.

“I know I'm cute!”

And then, of course, there is the delusional composition of Gary Oldman, absolutely brilliant in the features of the Mac Rasta Drexl Spivey, the mouth selected of scars and its exhilarated eye, which conceals under false airs of coolness a very vicious and ultra -violent temperament. One of the most memorable mouths and nasty compositions in the cinema.

“I met Tony Scott and I hadn't read the script yet. He said to me:” I have a great script for you! “He wanted to explain the story to me and said to me:” I am not very good for that, I don't know how to explain the story to you “. I replied:” Forget that. The character is who? “He replies:” Well, is it a mackerel, a white one who believes it is black “. I said:” Ok, we do it! “

If Tony Scott gives him some ideas on his character, it is Gary Oldman who seizes his panoply, from his mind -blowing look to his inimitable phrasing. The actor also knows that with such a limited presence on the screen – barely two scenes, one particularly strong -, the imagination of spectators must be strongly struck.

Metropolitan Filmexport

“In a way I had to assemble him, I had to work on him while I was doing something else” will tell Oldmanapproaching while shooting the film Romeo is Bleeding. And to ask Scott: “I would like to have dreadlocks. What do you think?” And he replied: “Yes, great”. So I knew Stuart (Artingstall), who had been wiggle on Draculaand he gave me this wig in around 48 hours. I went to a dentist – I worked here in New York – who gave me the golden teeth, and I got the eye of the accessories department of … Well, it was one of the eyes I wore for Dracula! I assembled everything and walked on the set hoping that Tony would appreciate it. “

Not only did the director loved it, but his mother too. Oldman came downright the first days of filming accompanied by his mother80 years at the time, which approved and even applauded its composition: “She said, “I think it's really very good!”

“Gary is there, at the top of his art, absolutely odious”

Barely two scenes, we said above. One of the two is essential in the plot. The one where Christian Slater knocks on the door of the Night Club of Drexl, in an attempt to buy, get out of the claws of Drexl rather, his young wife Alabama.

In this scene, “Gary is there, at the top of his art, and absolutely odious” said the director in the audio commentary on the film on the DVD. We can only prove him right. The proof in pictures, in a scene that lasts less than 7 min.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXUCVUAWEOU

But where did Gary Oldman go to get his phrasing? There too the actor has several times staggered on the subject, as in This video interview made in 2010 On the occasion of the Bafta, which returned to its various compositions. The anecdote is still quite crazy.

While he was shooting Romeo Is Bleeding in Brooklyn, Gary Oldman was in his caravan when he heard African-American teenagers speak and joke outside. The actor took one of the young people apart and asked him: “Can you read these dialogues and tell me what you think? Is it authentic? He then changed a few words. It's crazy when you think about it.”

When Tarantino caresses the idea of ​​embodying Drexl himself …

What is even more crazy is to know that Tarantino had written this character thinking of himself, caressing the idea of ​​embodying him, As he explained to Empire in 2014 :: “I wrote Drexl for me. Because I didn't think it would be a Tony Scott film – I thought it would be a film at 800,000 dollars.

I said to myself: “No one will let me play Clarence, but I could perhaps play Drexl in a cheaper film”. In fact, it was simply a role for which I thought I would do a good job. ” It is not insulting the talent of QT to prefer the fabulous composition of Gary Oldman, Drexl for eternity.