Will The Real Gary Oldman Please Stand Up
Maybe I have some problems with the part of my brain that identifies people. Maybe this part of the brain is limited to a handful of people. Of course I think this disability is directly related to Gary Oldman. I am really starting to think I have a condition, a condition I like to call:
Oldmanidentisis
There may be some of you suffer this very affliction. If you have the inability to indentify Gary Oldman when you see him, then maybe you suffer from Oldmanidentisis. For most of you it is not a debilitating disability, but for me, I pride myself on being able to notice actors and connect them with other actors and projects they have done. I pick up on all of the subtle nuances that a filmmaker adds to a film. As I like to say: “I watch the movie good.”
But for some reason I cannot identify Gary Oldman when I see him.
Last night I went to see “The Dark Knight” with a large chunk of my Dork crew. I am not going to ramble on about the film, or give my opinion, I will leave that up to another Dork to post about. As we were watching the film and the character Jim Gordon came on the screen, I leaned over to Robin and said “That dude looks like the Kokanee Ranger.” What I should have said was “Gary Oldman looks like the Kokanee Ranger.” [sorry to all of you that have not seen the Kokanee commercials you may not get this reference; it's a Canadian thing.]
It wasn’t until the end of the movie when I saw the credits and I realized that it was in fact Gary Oldman. I understand that he played the same role in “Batman Begins,” but again I must have not noticed him.
The actor Gary Oldman is an enigma to me (and to those that are afflicted with Oldmanidentisis).
I do not think there is any treatment for this condition. I am screwed. I am going to live my whole life not being able to identify Gary Oldman. I just hope that I am not the only one with Oldmanidentisis. Maybe it’s just me, but the images above do not look like the same person. Am I going crazy or is Oldmanidentisis really affecting my ability to watch Gary Oldman movies?
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I don’t think you are alone in your suffering. Often times I will go to a party and people will ask me if I’m famous. I say no (I’m a programmer by day). And then they can’t think of Gary Oldman’s name, but can remember the film. “Really? You look like that guy from the 5th Element” (sometimes Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead, lately the Dark Knight), to which I replay “Gary Oldman?” and they nod in adoration. I’m glad that I now have a label for these people.
One of my all-time favorite actors; he actually ACTS. I’m a big fan of Edward Norton for much the same reason.
Yeah, he’s pretty much a different person in every movie he’s in. I don’t blame you. It took me a while to connect Sirius Black with Zurg. But Gary Oldman is pretty awesome, so I think we can give him a break on his face-changing nonsense.
George, I must agree with you, also. Edward Norton made The Incredible Hulk not suck; I blame Eric Bana for the suckitude of the 2003 Hulk.
i have the same problem with Benicio Del Toro
the one had me going “that was gary oldman?” was murder in the first. and i was a big fan from sid and nancy. totally didn’t recognize him. really liked him in leon aka the professional, too. everything, really.
I think part of the reason that he is hard to identify at times is because he’s got a very changable face… he’s a regular chameleon and it doesn’t take a ton of makeup to make him look different.
I always think of him when he was on Friends. He was the actor that gets drunk and makes Joey late for Monica and Chandler’s wedding.
You’re right Garry is one of the biggest ever. Saw all of his films.
You people are incredible fucktards if you can’t recognize Oldman as Gordon.
I thought myself and my very close group of friends were alone in noticing this! The way we figure it, Gary Oldman is secretly in EVERY movie. If he hasn’t been spotted in the cast, than he’s the explosion at the end.
Completely agree. Every time I see a movie with him in it, I don’t know until the credits. Gary fucking Oldman was in that? And then you can’t even figure out who he played!
It’s not just the face. It’s also the voice – he’s changed his accent in every film he’s made. It makes a huge difference!
I have never been able to identify Gary Oldman myself. Though I always knew of him and knew he was a popular actor and knew the movies he was in. Just shows that the man is good at what he does, which is convince you he’s someone else.
Omg now I know I am not alone! I have never been able to distinguish him in movies. I also did not even know he was Zorg O.o. Obviously he’s a very versatile actor
so I’m not the only one?! Feels good to know.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!! I was thinking about writing this exact same article, but you have done a much better job than I would have. I had a whole conversation about having the exact same problem with my friend.
Interesting Fact, Gary Oldman was in “The Professional” which also starred Natalie Portman. One of the previous posters must have $*** Bricks when he saw that movie.
He’s a spy
*Sigh* I have the exact same problem. I can never EVER spot him in a movie.
Oh, my God! I’m glad I’m not the only one. Seriously, unless I know who he’s playing ahead of time, I can never spot him even if I know he’s in the movie. It drives me nuts. It doesn’t help that he can put on a convincing American accent. Thank you so much for this.
So has anybody seen book of Eli yet?
I remember in high school, I showed a close friend Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and she then became obsessed with Gary. She actually did this really big end of the year project on him. I was so proud!
Yea… I think Johnny Depp has the same chameleon like quality. He looks so different in all of his movies!
After I saw “Sid & Nancy”, I became a little bit obsessed with Gary Oldman! I have no problem recognizing him, it’s his eyes. He is just an amazing actor… I think he is very underrated.
Hi. good article. what do you think about Gary Oldman in Hannibal?
hopefully someone will realize how useful mr oldman is and put him in a movie.
Another difficult one, Benicio Del Torro. I didn’t start recognizing him until Sin City, but he was in just about everything
holy crap. gary oldman as gary oldman is HOT! i never knew! i always think of him as the bad guy in the fifth element. or dracula.
i love gary…great actor,he’s such a shapeshifter!and HOT!!!and i love those piercing blue eyes*blushes*i had quite a hard time relating Norman Stansfield to Zorg to Sirius Black to Drexl Spivey….he’s just perfect!!!
i still remember him from friends though…”is that MY arse???”LOLLLLLL! and on leon(aka the professional)”bring me everyone…EVERYOOONNNEEE!!!!!!!!!!!”
and FRANK,ARE YOU SINGLE???;-)
my math teacher was always telling me that gary oldman was a good actor and I knew he was in fifth element and then later learned that he was in dracula, but I did not up until this point know he was in the Dark Knight or Batman Begins (and I saw the Dark Knight five times in theaters)
You can add his role in the movie “Hannibal”…
One cannot make him out in his role until they see the end titles
i too suffer from Oldmanidentisis, in fact, i didnt even realise he was in batman until i read this article on it, and i quite like gary oldman, i think he is a cool actor, does the fact that i do not recognise him as the actor, but only the characters he plays mean that he is an even better actor than i originally thought, as he plays it so well that there is no gary oldman left, only the part he plays?
Sid Vicious, Dracula and Sirius Black are all the same person. Blows my mind
Thats just because gary oldman is probably the best actor in acting right now.
he just completely transforms into each of his roles
i suffer from that too! i swear every movie i see him in i fail to recognize him. i thought it was just me!!!!!!!
When I saw airforce one and somebody was like “that’s sirius black” my was blown. so, yeah i have it too.