Shubhabrata Dutta
One of the most common faces in Hollywood and a name that is associated with two of the all-time great film franchises, namely ‘Harry Potter,’ and ‘The Dark Knight’ trilogy, Gary Oldman’s versatility transcends his filmography. His latest venture, though short-lived in the movie, is another masterclass in acting. We are talking about the role of former American President Harry S. Truman in Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer.’
But that’s not the only time he plays a real person. His other real-person portrayals include UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Joe Wright’s ‘Darkest Hour,’ screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, the one who developed the script for Orson Welles’ ‘Citizen Kane,’ in ‘Mank,’ Lee Harvey Oswald, the US Marine veteran who assassinated 35th US President John F. Kennedy in Oliver Stone’s ‘JFK,’ and Sid Vicious, frontman of punk rock band Sex Pistols, in Alex Cox’s ‘Sid and Nancy.’
Each of the movies stated above is testimony of Oldman’s prowess as an intense actor capable of pulling off any role. Even if we consider his early works, they were all signs of how significant his name was going to become in the world of acting later on. Some of them are ‘Air Force One,’ ‘Hannibal,’ ‘State of Grace,’ ‘Léon: The Professional,’ ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula,’ and ‘Prick Up Your Ears.’ Having mesmerized generations of viewers with his performances, it is not unusual to want to know about Oldman’s upcoming projects.
1. Parthenope (2024)
Directed by Paolo Sorrentino of ‘The Great Beauty,’ ‘Parthenope’ is an Italian-language fantasy drama movie that surrounds a woman named Parthenope, who, as told by Sorrentino to Variety in a statement, “bears the name of her city but is neither siren nor myth.” Addressing his female protagonist, born in 1950, he further added, “Her long life embodies the full repertoire of human existence: youth’s lightheartedness and its demise, classical beauty and its inexorable permutations, pointless and impossible loves, stale flirtations and dizzying passion, night-time kisses on Capri, flashes of joy and persistent suffering, real and invented fathers, endings and new beginnings.”
In Greek mythology, Parthenope was a siren, a humanlike being that used their hypnotic voice to allure sailors who would end up steering their ships off their course and onto rocks, thereby leading to their destruction. After being unable to lure the Greek hero Odysseus, she cast herself into the sea and drowned. Her body washed up on a shore in Naples, Italy. Naples is also known as the city of Parthenope, which is named after the siren.
The movie is written by Umberto Contarello and Sorrentino, and the cast includes Oldman, Luisa Ranieri, Stefania Sandrelli, Dario Aita, Silvio Orlando, Isabella Ferrari, Peppe Lanzetta, and Nello Mascia in undisclosed roles. It premiered at the 77th Cannes Film Festival on May 21, 2024, competing for the Palme d’Or. The film will be released on February 7, 2025. You can watch the trailer here.
2. Slow Horses Season 5 (2025) & Season 6 (TVA)
The hit dark and humorous Apple TV+ series has been renewed for its fifth season. ‘Slow Horses’ is based on Mick Herron’s novel series Slough House and explores a band of misfit MI5 agents who are dumped by the organization into a department that is addressed as Slough House. Even though the department serves as a dumping ground for agents who have made blunders in their espionage careers, Slough House still serves to protect England from domestic and foreign threats, led by its short-tempered boss, Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman).
Season 5 will be based on Mick Herron’s fifth novel, ‘London Rules.’ Along with Oldman, returning cast members include Kristin Scott Thomas, Saskia Reeves, Jack Lowden, Rosalind Eleazar, Freddie Fox, Christopher Chung, and Jonathan Pryce. Actors Hugo Weaving, Joanna Scanlan, Ruth Bradley, James Callis, and Tom Brooke have also joined the cast. Filming is complete, and the season is expected to drop in the summer of 2025. However, more details about the cast members and a potential release date are awaited. Moreover, the show has been renewed for six-episode Season 6 which will be adapted from ‘Joe Country’ and ‘Slough House,’ the sixth and seventh novels in the series.
Read More: How Much of David Fincher’s Mank is True?
