Gary Oldman to play Winston Churchill in "Darkest Hour"

[Britannic]

EXCLUSIVE: He shall fight on the beaches. Gary Oldman is in talks to play Winston Churchill in Brit production powerhouse Working Title’s Darkest Hour. Joe Wright is directing the epic drama, which takes place in 1940 as Churchill becomes Prime Minister in the midst of World War II and faces a moment of truth. Anthony McCarten, who wrote Working Title’s award-winning The Theory Of Everything, writes and produces here alongside Lisa Bruce and Working Title co-chiefs Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner.

The heavyweight filmmaking talent assembling here puts this Churchill project at the very top of the tree. Oldman seems an inspired choice to play Britain’s greatest wartime leader. The actor has a string of memorable performances in his illustrious career, not least as John Le Carre’s iconic intelligence agent George Smiley in Working Title’s big screen adaptation of classic novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. While Oldman’s Smiley was a masterpiece of subtlety and hidden emotions, the actor can do explosive too. Just witness his unhinged NY cop in Luc Besson’s Leon or his memorably baroque, romantic performance in Dracula for Francis Ford Coppola.

Production is set to start in July.

Days into his new job as Prime Minister as Britain was getting pounded and on the verge of losing to Germany, Churchill was under pressure to make a deal with Hitler that would have established Britain as a puppet state of the Third Reich. His army stranded in Dunkirk, Churchill instead summoned the courage to fight on. The film is about his decisions, and the actions and immortal speeches in those critical days that defined his place in history and changed the destiny of the world. The prospect of having an actor the calibre of Oldman recreating Churchill’s iconic speeches, when he galvanized a country in the face of appeasement of Nazi Germany, is tantalizing.

The pic has been a passion project for McCarten, whose The Theory Of Everything grossed $125 million worldwide on a $15 million budget and won numerous awards, including the Best Actor Oscar for Eddie Redmayne.

As ever, Oldman has a number of films in the can and the pipelines. Ariel Vromen’s Criminal, where he stars opposite Ryan Reynolds and Kevin Costner comes out this weekend domestically via Lionsgate. Oldman has also completed Peter Chelsom’s The Space Between Us with Carla Gugino and Asa Butterfield.

Oldman is repped by longtime partner Douglas Urbanski’s Douglas Management Group, Agency for the Performing Arts and Special Artists Agency.

http://deadline.com/2016/04/gary-ol...r-two-anthony-mccarten-joe-wright-1201737667/

 

[Gort Baringa]

I expect that Oldman will completely 'nail' his portrayal of the greatest personage of the 20th Century!

Yes he was fantastic as the drug-infused bad cop in Leon, and also as the United States politician with Joan Allen as the main character. He has also played composer Beethoven in Immortal Beloved.

I am looking forward to this film!

 

[Boom]

Definitely keeping an eye on this one. This could be Oldman's "King's Speech" if they play it right.

Hopefully they nail the prosthetics. Last thing we need is another "J. Edgar" monstrosity. At least I assume they'll use prosthetics. Churchill was a pretty hefty guy, and Oldman is anything but.

 

[Boom]

Bumpity bump.

Anyone want to attempt a manip of Oldman as the Bulldog? Lord knows the man will nail the performance, but I'm having a hard time with Oldman capturing Churchill's physicality.

 

[Schlosser85]

Well that's a bizarre casting choice.

 

[Britannic]

http://twitter.com/GO4Everyone/status/733388745383235584

 

[Boom]

Really curious to see what they do with him visually.

Glad that Oldman is confirmed. He needs more roles like this.

 

[Britannic]

Really curious to see what they do with him visually.

Glad Oldman's confirmed. He needs more roles like this.

It will be really interesting to see, probably the most important aspect of the character's success. Some good acting can only help it t:
According to a casting site, extras needed in mid July-August in London, so probably two more months until we see something.

 

[Boom]

Oh it's definitely important. The "British Bulldog" and all.

Just have a profoundly difficult time picturing a fat Gary Oldman.

 

[Thundercrack85]

So, the Gathering Storm sequel?

 

[Schlosser85]

That already had a sequel years ago, Into the Storm, a BBC TV movie with Brendan Gleeson as Churchill.

 

[Thundercrack85]

That already had a sequel years ago, Into the Storm, a BBC TV movie with Brendan Gleeson as Churchill.

Watching it now!

 

[Britannic]

Just have a profoundly difficult time picturing a fat Gary Oldman.

t: Haha yes, quite funny that one of the slimmest British actors playing two of the chubbiest Brits (George and Winston)

 

[Schlosser85]

The whole thing used to be on youtube, but I don't know if it still is. I stumbled across it at random one day, and sucker for history that I am, ended up watching the whole thing.

Gleeson was a slightly weird casting choice but overall did pretty well.

 

[Thundercrack85]

The whole thing used to be on youtube, but I don't know if it still is. I stumbled across it at random one day, and sucker for history that I am, ended up watching the whole thing.

Gleeson was a slightly weird casting choice but overall did pretty well.

Finney is still the definitive Churchill for me, though he's the only person I have seen in a film focused entirely on Churchill.

FDR needs a biopic. There was a very good television movie I saw. It was him struggling with polio. But I was thinking more... World War II heavy. And you know, a budget goes a long way.

 

[Schlosser85]

Sunrise at Campobello with Ralph Bellamy? (who also reprised the role in the tv miniseries The Winds of War and its follow-up War and Remembrance)

 

[Boom]

Focus Features is reteaming with Working Title Films and Joe Wright on Darkest Hour, which will now hit U.S. theaters on November 24, 2017 with Universal Pictures International launching overseas on December 29, 2017. Production begins this fall. Darkest Hour marks Wright’s fourth feature with Working Title and Focus after Pride & Prejudice, Atonement and Anna Karenina. Wright also directed the Focus thriller Hanna starring Saoirse Ronan.

Wright will direct Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill in the film penned by Theory Of Everything‘s Anthony McCarten. He is producing as well with Lisa Bruce and Working Title co-chairs Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner. Also on tap for Darkest Hour is John Hurt as Neville Chamberlain (who Churchill succeeded as Prime Minister), Lily James as Churchill’s personal secretary, Ben Mendelsohn as King George VI, and Kristen Scott Thomas as Churchill’s wife Clementine.

Darkest Hour‘s plot is described as follows: Within days of becoming Prime Minister of Great Britain, Winston Churchill must face one of his most turbulent and defining trials: exploring a negotiated peace treaty with Nazi Germany, or standing firm to fight for the ideals, liberty and freedom of a nation. As the unstoppable Nazi forces roll across Western Europe and the threat of invasion is imminent, and with an unprepared public, a skeptical King, and his own party plotting against him, Churchill must withstand his darkest hour, rally a nation, and attempt to change the course of world history.

Wright’s canon with Focus Features and Working Title has amassed two Oscars, two Golden Globe Awards, and four BAFTA wins.

No word yet whether Darkest Hour will go wide or limited. Pic will encounter Fox’s Murder On The Orient Express, Disney/Pixar’s Coco and Universal’s romance title Let It Snow.

http://deadline.com/2016/09/darkest-hour-joe-wright-focus-features-gary-oldman-1201813774/


What say we? Gary Oldman's Oscar Tour?

 

[Pink Ranger]

I'm glad this is less of a biopic and more of a biopic+speculative history. Those are always my favorite kind of films.

 

[Doctor Jones]

Yeah, I prefer real life story movies where it covers an event that really encapsulates who they are really are. I wasn't huge on Lincoln, but I prefer that approach. To be fair, Churchhill's life would make a very cinematically epic film. He had an incredible life.

 

[Boom]

I think I'm the only one on this board that absolutely adores Lincoln.

 

[Pink Ranger]

I think I'm the only one on this board that absolutely adores Lincoln.

I liked it, but didn't adore it (assuming you're meaning the film and not the historical figure).

 

[Boom]

I meant the film. I genuinely love it. It's right up there with Spielberg's best, as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Mysteryman]

I think I'm the only one on this board that absolutely adores Lincoln.

No, there are at least two of us.

 

[Boom]

Get hyped.

 

[David H.]

Holy S**t.