DESCRIPTION

I was nervous to meet Gary Oldman, I did not know how he would be in person, or gosh, how he would react to me HA! But to my surprise, he was funny, and was ready to play along. So we played, but we also ruminated on the excellent of “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.” Oldman gave a wonderfully subdued performance as George Smiley, the principal spy looking for a mole. It is fitting that he’s being honored at the upcoming Palm Springs International Film Festival.

And Oldman gave me the best quote ever when I asked him how he was, he said, “I’m much better for seeing you!” Yay!

In this interview, we talked about:

*** How happy he was that the producers went to him “first” to offer the role of Smiley. Normally, the actor said, he was the second or third choice, but this time around, he was the first!
*** How did he make sure that his take on the famous George Smiley character would be different from performances by other actors who have played the role before?
*** Did he put on some pounds to play the character?