Oscar-winning actor Gary Oldman is at the centre of a furious row over claims he suffered a ‘nervous breakdown’ and walked off the set of a movie about Welsh poet Dylan Thomas.
The allegations against one of Britain’s biggest stars, whose films have earned £8.5billion at the global box office, are made by Hollywood director Susan Seidelman in her new memoir.
Ms Seidelman, 71, who shot to fame directing Madonna in the 1985 hit Desperately Seeking Susan, claims the £3million 1991 film Dylan collapsed after Oldman quit, leaving 60 cast and crew ‘out in the cold, without a job’.
Oldman, 66, is one of Britain’s most successful actors, winning an Oscar for portraying Winston Churchill in 2017’s Darkest Hour.
His other triumphs include Air Force One, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Dark Knight. He played Sirius Black in the Harry Potter films and stars in the Apple+ streaming hit Slow Horses.
Gary Oldman (left) and Uma Thurman (right) attend the Final Analysis premiere in LA
Gary Oldman (pictured) has found himself at the centre of a furious row over claims he suffered a ‘nervous breakdown’ and walked off the set of a movie about Welsh poet Dylan Thomas
In her autobiography Desperately Seeking Something, Ms Seidelman says that Dylan – written by her partner Jonathan Brett and with Oldman’s then-wife Uma Thurman playing Dylan’s wife Caitlin – fell apart after a promising start.
Oldman had ‘transformed’ himself into the poet and his performance was lively and authentic, she writes.
But working hours on the set in Wales were long and for the first nine days there was little time off.
Ms Seidelman says: ‘On the morning of the tenth day, Gary had a nervous breakdown in his make-up trailer. He started crying and couldn’t stop.
‘He said he couldn’t continue filming and needed to be driven back to a hotel in London, three hours away. Immediately! And that was what happened.
‘A car came and drove Gary away. Jonathan called me from the film set in shock to tell me Gary was on his way back to London.
‘Gary’s breakdown came as a total surprise to everyone. Whatever was going on could not be fixed.
‘Gary’s doctor said he was suffering nervous exhaustion and after two weeks spent unsuccessfully trying to get Gary to return, the film officially shut down.
‘The cast and crew were told to go home.’ The film was never made.
Shortly afterwards, Oldman went on to play President Kennedy’s assassin Lee Harvey Oswald in Oliver Stone’s blockbuster JFK.
Last night Oldman’s long-time manager Douglas Urbanski blasted Ms Seidelman’s claims, saying: ‘Clearly, her perception and memory is distorted.’
Director Susan Seidelman (pictured) claims Oldman ‘transformed’ himself into the poet but suffered a ‘nervous breakdown in his make-up trailer’ and had to leave set
Mr Urbanski, who produced Darkest Hour, said an actor could not simply walk off a film. The decision to release an actor involved contracts, lawyers, insurance companies, financiers and distributors, he said.
‘Gary was released and there was no legal action brought against him,’ he said. ‘This is because the decision to halt the thing was made elsewhere on the food chain. Clearly such a big decision did not rest on any Oldman aspect alone.
‘My recollection is that there were serious script issues from the beginning which were never resolved. I seem to also recall that the director may have been a concern and not up to it.
‘Gary remained hireable and insurable. He immediately went on to other leading roles in major films. So the insurance companies saw nothing to worry about.’
He added: ‘Gary has never walked off any film. He is universally admired for his extreme dedication to professionalism.’
