“The ghost of Guinness just sort of loomed so large,’’ Oldman said of Sir Alec, who brilliantly played Smiley on television in a 1979 miniseries of “Tinker’’ and 1982’s “Smiley’s People.’’
Oldman finally exorcised that ghost by likening Smiley to classical roles played again and again by different actors.
“If you’re going to play Hamlet, you’re going to be measured against all the great Hamlets that have come before you. Or Lear, or Willy Loman, or Blanche DuBois, or whoever,’’ Oldman said in an interview for “Tinker,’’ which opens in U.S. theaters Friday. “You’re always going to be somewhat in the shadow of a great performance.’’
No matter how good Guinness was as the frumpy, unfashionable spy whose bland exterior concealed fierce intellect and drive, Oldman figured he was entitled to create his own incarnation of Smiley.
Good thing. Oldman delivers what could be his finest performance in a career that ranges from notorious dark spirits (Sid Vicious in “Sid and Nancy,’’ Lee Harvey Oswald in “JFK,’’ the bloodsucking fiend of “Dracula) to noble souls (Harry Potter’s godfather in the fantasy series, Beethoven in “Immortal Beloved,’’ stalwart policeman Jim Gordon in the current “Batman’’ franchise).
“The career he’s had I truly admire, because it’s such a fantastic collection of characters,’’ said Mark Strong, part of a stellar supporting cast in “Tinker’’ that includes Colin Firth, John Hurt, Tom Hardy, Ciaran Hinds and Toby Jones. “It’ll embarrass him, but he is a hero of mine. A lot of guys my age and younger look up to him, because he takes such risks with the parts that he’s played.’’
“Tinker’’ director Tomas Alfredson calls Oldman the “Swiss Army knife of acting’’ because of his versatility.
Unlike the frenetic energy he infused in many past characters, Oldman had to bring a stillness to Smiley, who is brought out of retirement to unmask a Russian mole in British intelligence at the height of the Cold War.
