Gary Oldman Talks Real Sobriety at Cannes

AND HIS OSCAR? –

May 23, 2024 – British actor Gary Oldman, who plays a washed-up alcoholic writer in new Cannes film “Parthenope”, said he is celebrating 27 years sober. Oldman appears briefly as famed novelist John Cheever, who in real life struggled with severe alcoholism — a part that Oldman said was not much of a stretch.

I just celebrated 27 years of sobriety,” he said, to applause.

“My wife actually found a quote where (Cheever) says, ‘My shaking hand reaches for the phone to ring Alcoholics Anonymous, and instead it remains at the whiskey, the gin, the vermouth,’” Oldman continued.

“I’ve been there. I know what that means. So coming to this role, there were things that I just instinctively understood.

“When Paolo said to me, ‘I want you to play this sad, melancholic, drunken poet,’ I went, ‘Yeah, I kind of know what that is!’”

In the film, Cheever strikes up a bond with Parthenope, who adores the author’s books but has grown disenchanted with her life.

– Actors always ‘hyper-critical’ –

Oldman was also asked about negative comments he recently made about his own performance as Sirius Black in film adaptations of J. K. Rowling’s beloved Potter books.

Addressing why he had called the role “mediocre”, Oldman clarified that he did not mean to “disparage anyone out there who are fans of Harry Potter and the films”.