Gary Oldman is preparing for retirement.
The Oscar-winning actor, 64, shared that he intends to wind down his illustrious career when he completes his run in the acclaimed spy drama Slow Horses.
“I’ve had an enviable career, but careers wain, and I do have other things that interest me outside of acting,” the Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy told the Sunday Times. “When you’re young you think you’re going to get round to doing all of them — read that book — then the years go by.”
Oldman continued, sharing that while he has signed on for two additional seasons of the Apple TV+ series, he doesn’t intend to work well into his later years like some actors.
“I’m 65 next year, 70 is around the corner. I don’t want to be active when I’m 80. I’d be very happy and honored and privileged to go out as Jackson Lamb — and then hang it up,” he told the publication, citing his Slow Horses character, a slovenly, alcohol-abusing intelligence officer leading a ragtag team of sidelined MI5 agents.
Oldman himself is in recovery from alcoholism and says it was one of his famous co-stars who actually pushed him to seek treatment for his drinking. Demi Moore, with whom he starred in 1995’s The Scarlet Letter, encouraged Oldman to go to rehab to address his drinking, which had led to many lost weekends in hotel rooms. She told him, “you’re very ill, you have to go away.”
“I’ve not made any secret of it. There but for the grace of God go I. I’ve been in recovery, and I’ve made 25 years sober,” said Oldman, who greatly relates to the alcoholism of his Slow Horses character.
“Maybe the drink is what it is about Lamb. The biggest lie he tells himself is about his drinking. That cruel mocking way he has — he knows he’s a drunk but he lies to himself about it,” said the star, who won the Academy Award for his portrayal of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 2017’s Darkest Hour.
Oldman has also been through four divorces, an experience he referred to as “heartbreaking.” However, he has found love in recent years and tied the knot for the fifth time in 2017 to art curator Gisele Schmidt, People reported. Despite his desire to wind down, Oldman still maintains an intense devotion to the work that he’s famous for. He refused to cut his long hair for Christopher Nolan’s upcoming atomic bomb film Oppenheimer, in which he plays President Harry Truman opposite Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt and Florence Pugh.
“I told Chris [Nolan] I can’t cut my hair because I’m committed to playing Lamb for as long as the audiences like the show and those people upstairs want to write the checks,” Oldman told the newspaper, patting his belly. “I’m growing into the part.”
