Gary Oldman Once Again Highlights the Biggest Sirius Mistake Harry Potter Movies Made

To call the Harry Potter movies iconic would even be an understatement, but they’ve never been without their fair share of problems. Among the biggest ones is the movies’ treatment of all characters who aren’t Hermione Granger — and some of the most beloved book characters suffered massively from such an attitude.

Sirius Black has always been a fan favorite, and his movie version, while wildly different from the books, was great thanks to Gary Oldman ’s acting brilliance. The actor himself, however, heavily dislikes his performance there for one simple reason.

Gary Oldman Hates His Sirius Black Acting

Despite Gary Oldman’s Sirius Black not being even remotely similar to the original book character, most Potterheads have no qualms about it, loving both versions simultaneously. But the actor himself revealed that he found his own portrayal of Black underwhelming at best, raising many eyebrows around the world.

“I think my work is mediocre in it. No, I do. 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 have played it differently,” Oldman shared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast.

The actor later clarified that he didn’t mean to “disparage anyone out there who are fans of Harry Potter and the films and the character who he thinks is much beloved” at the Cannes Festival. According to Oldman, “as any artist or any actor or painter, you are always hypercritical of your own work,” and that’s what he largely meant.

Gary Oldman Highlighted Old Harry Potter Problem

But as we said in the beginning, neglecting most characters has always been the bane of the Harry Potter movies, and Sirius Black was no exception. While Gary Oldman admitted that he hadn’t read the books, it’s wild that no one bothered to tell the actor about his character’s fate; after all, that’s largely the director’s and screenwriter’s job, and the performer is expected to rely on the script in most cases.

When Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Oldman’s first movie as Sirius Black, was in the works, the fifth book had already been released. The character’s entire story was already available, and an insight into his future would have given the actor a crucial advantage over going in blind… And yet somehow, he was kept in the dark — because obviously, secondary characters don’t matter that much, do they?

Sources: Happy Sad Confused via YouTube