Gary Oldman talks about his role in 'Harry Potter': 'Mediocre'

Gary Oldman is discussing why he views his previous roles—such as his depiction of Sirius Black in the Harry Potter series—so severely.

Regarding his portrayal of the framed wizard, the actor said to host Josh Horowitz on the most recent episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, "I think my work is mediocre in it."

Oldman hypothesised that if he had known what would happen in J.K. Rowling's upcoming books, like his co-star Alan Rickman, who played Professor Snape, did, he might have portrayed Sirius Black differently or better.

“Maybe if I had read the books like Alan, if I had got ahead of the curve, if I had known what’s coming, I honestly think I would have played it differently,” the Bram Stoker’s Dracula actor explained.

He has criticised performances other than his part in the Harry Potter movies, though. Oldman acknowledged that it's challenging for him to look out for flaws in his work.

“I’ll tell you what it is,” he said. “It’s like anything, I think if I sat and watched myself in something and said, ‘My God, I’m amazing,’ that would be a very sad day because you want to make the next thing better.”

Oldman continued, “It’s so subjective. It’s such a personal thing that you’re looking at that other people are not seeing. … It’s not to disrespect someone who says to me, ‘Oh, I really love you in that movie,’ and I’m thinking, ‘I’m terrible in that movie. What are they talking about?’ It’s not that. It’s [that] they’re seeing something else.”

In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, released in 2004, the actor made his screen debut as Sirius Black. After that, he played the same part in two more films till Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, released in 2007, killed off his character.