Gary Oldman Reveals One of the Two Notes Christopher Nolan Gave Him on Batman

In addition to filmmaker Christopher Nolan having a reputation for delivering audiences boundary-pushing narratives, he also enlists ensembles of immensely talented performers, which allow them to offer up their impressive skills to amplify his stories. According to collaborator Gary Oldman, this means that Nolan doesn’t offer many notes to his actors, though Oldman did recently reveal one note he received from the director while working on The Dark Knight trilogy that was a subtle suggestion that impacted the whole dynamic of the scene. It’s likely this dynamic that has caused so many actors to regularly collaborate with Nolan on multiple projects over the years.

“I’ll give you an example of a really fantastic piece of direction. I did seven years for Chris Nolan on the three Batmans,” Oldman shared with the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “Chris is not a big notegiver, he does leave you alone. He expects you to do your work, come in, and, ‘You do your work, I’m gonna do my work,’ so he does tend to leave you alone. He’s not one for small talk. You get there and you’re there to work and he’s very charming.”

He continued, “I did a scene once, in Batman, and he came up to me and it was probably one of two notes he ever gave me in seven years, and he came up to me and he said, ‘Let’s do that one more time, There’s more at stake.’ And I went, ‘Yep, got it, all right, let’s do one more, I know what you mean.’ That’s a fantastic piece of direction. I don’t need to know the ins and outs of the whole universe, I just need that nudge. And then you go, ‘Oh, he just wants me to turn it up, I just need to adjust the volume on it.’ Not vocally, but the energy or the dynamic of it.”

Oldman worked with Nolan on those three Batman films, and with Oldman having admitted that he sees his own retirement on the horizon, he’s been more selective of his roles, though returned to collaborate with Nolan by playing Harry S. Truman in one scene for Oppenheimer. Even if he might be leaving acting behind, Oldman is set to direct the upcoming biopic Flying Horse about photographer Eadweard Muybridge.

Stay tuned for updates on Oldman’s future projects.

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