The 65-year-old Academy Award winner has been in over 70 movies, with each role becoming more iconic than the next. But, believe it or not, he’s not the biggest fan of one of his most famous roles to date.
Born in London, England, Gary started with a career in theatre before jumping over to movies with some killer roles as a character actor.
Count Dracula in Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992).
Drexl Spivey in True Romance (1993).
Norman Stansfield in Léon: The Professional (1994).
Ivan Korshunov in Air Force One (1997).
Eventually, he stepped away from playing primarily villains to recreating real-life figures like Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour (2017).
And Herman J. Mankiewicz in Mank (2020).
But nothing is more memorable than his character, James “Jim” Gordon, in one of the greatest film franchises, The Dark Knight Trilogy.
Despite how fans might feel about his short-lived character in the magical franchise based on the popular novels — Gary thinks his portrayal as Sirius was mediocre, and I wholeheartedly agree.
On an episode of Happy, Sad, Confused, Gary talked about his prominent roles in Harry Potter and Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and revealed an unpopular take.
While he admitted Sirius is one of his most popular roles, he doesn’t think it’s his best. “I think my work is mediocre in it,” he said.
“Maybe if I had read the books like [Alan Rickman]… if I had got ahead of the curve, if I had known what’s coming, I honestly think I would’ve played it differently.”
I have to agree. Sure, you can’t talk about Gary without mentioning Sirius, but compared to the other illustrious roles over the last few decades — it’s nowhere close to his best. For good reason, he swept the SAG Awards, Golden Globes, BAFTAs, and Academy Awards for Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour.
To be fair, Gary also said, “I’d put it all in a fire and burn it and do it again,” about most of his roles, so he’s a little harsh on his filmography.
Sure, I’m an insufferable millennial Potterhead. But, I’m not going to pretend like Sirius’ 20 minutes and 45 seconds in the entire 19 hours and 39 minutes of the Harry Potter franchise changed any lives.
If Harry Potter or The Dark Knight is your only access to Gary’s career, it’s time for you to rent some new movies.
Stream all eight Harry Potter films on Peacock.