Gary Oldman Once Had a Brief Breakdown in ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’: ‘I Can’t Do This’

Actor and Oscar winner Gary Oldman has starred in a wide range of memorable films. But perhaps one of his most unforgettable roles in the film Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy might have briefly been his most unpleasant.

How Gary Oldman was cast in ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was based on the 1970s novel of the same name and directed by Tomas Alfredson. The 2011 film is also set around the 1970s, and saw Gary Oldman playing veteran MI6 agent George Smiley. The veteran is brought out of retirement by MI6 to sniff out a potential mole they suspect has infiltrated their organization.

Alfredson was interested in Oldman in the main role after having a difficult time imagining other actors for the part. According to Oldman, Alfredson was almost completely discouraged from casting the role before Oldman’s name was brought up.

“The story that he tells me is that they were going through the lists and after five months of this they were almost giving up,” Oldman once told Collider. “Then the casting director said, ‘What about Gary?'”

Oldman had a few reservations about becoming George Smiley. The character was already played well by late actor Alec Guinness in a much earlier adaptation of the book. In the end, however, Oldman tricked himself into starring in the feature.

“I sort of thought, ‘Well, there have been other Romeos, Hamlets, and King Lears, and it is just another reinterpretation.’ So I sort of approached it rather how you would approach a classical part,” he said.

Gary Oldman once had a brief breakdown on the film ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’

Even after agreeing to do the role, Oldman still had his doubts and concerns about the feature. In a 2014 interview with Playboy, Oldman asserted that his character was very different from other roles he’d played. Whereas other movies allowed him to hide behind a mask or perhaps be more eccentric, Smiley was more subdued than he was used to.

“On the other side of that coin, the most stressful role, the most painful to do, was Smiley in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. There’s no mask. It’s very exposed. You have to play boring in an interesting way. Not that Smiley is a boring character, but he’s plain. Everything is dialed way down,” he said.

Ironically, Oldman compared his emotional response to the film with Guinness’ own anxieties back when he played Smiley.

“I understand why Alec Guinness had a kind of nervous breakdown leading up to the shooting of the original Tinker Tailor and wanted out. I had a breakdown too, briefly,” he added.

Because of this, the Batman Begins star feared that the film might taint the public’s perception of his acting ability.

“Once I signed on, I thought, ‘F*** me! I can’t do this. I can’t pull this off. Everybody’s going to see what a fake I am. This is the moment I get found out. Who does he think he his? He thinks he’s Alec Guinness,'” he said.

Gary Oldman was nominated for an Oscar for ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’

It seems that Oldman’s concerns for his role might have been relaxed after the near universal acclaim his performance received. Oldman even found himself nominated for a Best Actor Oscar thanks to his role in the spy thriller. Given that it was his first nomination, all Oldman decided to do at the time was enjoy the ride.

“I’m having a terrific time… I think you can either be overwhelmed, stressed, cynical about the whole thing or you embrace it and enjoy it … I’ve been in the front cabin,” he once told Collider in a separate interview. “I’ve always wondered what was beyond that curtain [in first class].”

Oldman would later win a Best Actor Oscar for playing Winston Churchill in the movie Darkest Hour.