Gary Oldman clarified his previous comments about regretting his performance as Sirius Black in the Harry Potter films, which he had called “mediocre.”
At Cannes, Oldman explained that as an artist, he is always hyper-critical of his own work and strives to improve, which doesn’t mean he was disparaging the beloved character or the films themselves.
His regret stemmed more from the secrecy surrounding the novels at the time of filming. Oldman only had access to the book his character first appeared in, without knowing Sirius’ full arc across multiple books. Had he been aware of where the character was headed, he said he may have approached and portrayed the role differently.
Oldman stated he didn’t intend any rudeness towards Potter fans who enjoyed his performance. He simply wishes he could have prepared for the role with more complete knowledge of Sirius Black’s journey, rather than being limited to one book’s portrayal initially.
The actor had previously lamented not reading ahead like his co-star Alan Rickman, believing it would have informed his choices as Sirius better.
However, Oldman also credited the Harry Potter franchise for providing steady work that allowed him to balance his career and co-parenting duties at the time.
So while self-critical of that particular performance, Oldman has no ill-will towards the beloved wizarding world films and simply rues not having more preparatory insights into the character’s development.