‘I realized too late’: Gary Oldman regrets turning down Tim Burton’s masterpiece

As we told you recently, before Johnny Depp landed the iconic role of Edward in Edward Scissorhands, many actors were considered for the role. The first was Tom Cruise, who was fired after asking too many questions that were irrelevant. The search for an actor to play the role then continued with Jim Carrey, John Cusack, Robert Downey Jr., William Hurt and Michael Jackson. Tom Hanks and Gary Oldman were also involved, but both turned down the offer: the first to star in The Bonfire of the Vanities and the second because he thought the plot was crazy!

Indeed, in an interview with Larry King in 2016, Gary Oldman details his career and the few regrets he’s had along the way. One of the questions was about the roles that the actor turned down.

“Have you ever regretted something you gave up?“- he asked Larry King has Gary Oldmanwho sat next to Kevin Costner during the interview.

“I refused a few things. I can’t say I “regret” it, but I didn’t mention them“, he replied. “I can tell you a story: they became interested in me many years ago, Edward Scissorhands. I read the script and thought: This is funny. At the end of this road, a prison, then an Avon representative comes to sell makeup, and this kid has scissor hands. This is madness! I don’t understand at all.’ And in the end I didn’t do it. I don’t even think I went to meet them. I just said “it’s not for me, I don’t understand”.“

Gary Oldman followed by: “Johnny Depp and Tim Burton were also relatively unknown at the time, and that was something of an unknown as well.“

Actually, this is the bottom line Johnny Depp who took on the role of a romantic outcast created by a scientist (Vincent Price) who died before he could complete his work. Thus, Edward, his name, turns out to have scissors for hands. He lives alone until Peggy (Diana Wiest) discovers him and welcomes him to his suburban home, where he falls in love with her daughter (Winona Ryder) and faces ostracism from her family.

Gary Oldman Did he finally realize what he was missing? The answer is yes!

“I went to watch the film and the camera looked at these colorful houses in this kind of suburban neighborhood, and then you see this kind of Dracula’s castle on the hill… Two minutes later I was like, “Yeah, I got it. I understand. I realized too late.“

Listen to him talk about it in the video below:

It is interesting to imagine an alternative world in which Gary Oldman She would play in the movie and become Tim Burton’s muse. But a career Gary Oldman Of course, he did not feel this small regret, he who has since played characters as iconic as Edward, including Dracula in Francis Ford Coppola’s film of the same name in 1992, the venerable Sirius Black from the Harry Potter saga or even Jim Gordon. From Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy.

Not to forget the roles that earned him three Oscar nominations, including one win: as George Smiley in Thomas Alfredsson’s The Mole in 2012, as Winston Churchill in Joe Wright’s Darkest Hours in 2018, for which he won Best Actor. The actor and finally Herman Mankiewicz in David Fincher’s Manc in 2021. He was also recently seen in the highly acclaimed Oppenheimer. Christopher Nolan as Harry Truman.

Gary Oldman can currently be seen in Apple’s spy-thriller series Slow Horses opposite Jack Lowden, Kristin Scott Thomas and Olivia Cooke, available on Apple TV+.

Edward Scissorhands can be found streaming on Disney+.