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‘Darkest Hour’s Gary Oldman Joins Director Joe Wright And Tells Why He Almost Turned Down The Role Of Churchill – The Contenders Video

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Gary Oldman received a Golden Globe nomination today, his first ever, for his critically acclaimed performance as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour. During last month’s 7th Annual Deadline’s The Contenders awards season event at the DGA Theatre he joined me on stage with his director Joe Wright to discuss the film and the towering performance in front of a packed house of AMPAS and key guild members.

Oldman reveals that he in fact actually turned down the role and gives among his reasons that he worried he would not be able to meet the physical demands playing Churchill required. Fortunately he changed his mind. He said that the key finally for him was discovering all the old newsreel footage where he noticed that despite being 65 years of age that Churchill had a youthful vitality to him that informed the way Oldman would play the role. Wright talks about how important it was to find the human being, and not the statue that sits in Parliament Square, and also talks about uncovering the remarkable willpower that helped Churchill lead the resistance.

Check out our conversation above.

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