Alec Guinness

Gary Oldman "Waited Thirty Years" for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy Role; Sequel in the Works?

Actor Gary Oldman has played a variety of memorable roles over his long career, varying from darker, conflicted characters like Lee Harvey Oswald in JFK and the titular vampire in Bram Stoker's Dracula, to more heroic characters like Sirius Black in the Harry Potter movies and Commissioner Gordon in the recent Batman movies. It's Oldman's latest role, however — that of semi-retired British intelligence agent George Smiley in the upcoming thriller Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy — that could be the actor's favorite.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Oldman revealed that he has been "waiting 30 years to play" Smiley, who comes out of retirement to uncover a Soviet mole that has infiltrated British intelligence. Oldman notes that what he liked most about the character was the contrast the part gave his career.

In the past I’ve been asked to play these characters who, you know, jump around a bit, they’re frenetic and they physicalize. [Smiley] doesn’t slouch. There’s a line in the book by Ann, the wife, and she describes – I’ll have to go back to it, dig one out to find the quote exactly – but she describes him as a swift. Like a creature that can regulate his body temperature to the room. He then sort of disappears, and you forget he’s there. The trick is, you’ve got to play a very smart man, but socially a little awkward, a little dull, he doesn’t dress very well. You’ve got to make, as far as that’s concerned, an uninteresting character interesting. You have to give a very plain man enough charisma.

• Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
• Gary Oldman
• Tomas Alfredson
• John le Carre
• Peter Straughan
• Alec Guinness