Back in May, Gary Oldman suggested that he might retire from acting soon, saying it could be a way to “go out with a bang” if his last role was playing fictional spy Jackson Lamb on Apple TV+’s well-received adaptation of author Mick Harron’s Slow Horses books. This weekend, speaking with The Times (via Deadline), Oldman has once again brought up his desire to retire from acting sooner rather than later: “I’m 65 next year, 70 is around the corner,” he said. “I don’t want to be active when I’m 80. I’d be very happy and honored and privileged to go out as Jackson Lamb—and then hang it up.”
“I’ve had an enviable career,” Oldman also said, “But careers wane, and I do have other things that interest me outside of acting. When you’re young you think you’re going to get round to doing all of them—read that book—then the years go by.” Deadline notes that Oldman still has a few seasons of Slow Horses to go before he can retire, since Apple already has him contracted to make two more seasons, plus he’s going to appear in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer when it comes out next year (though he’s already filmed his appearance as Harry Truman, as far as we know).
So it might be a few years before Oldman can get around to reading that book. Also, we know that it’s just an expression, this idea of never getting around to reading that one book you want to read, but wouldn’t it be fun if there really were one book he’s been sitting on since his acting career took off? Like there’s some dust-covered copy of Pet Sematary sitting on his nightstand, unopened for almost 40 years, and every night he thinks “eh, I’ll get to that tomorrow” but then acting gets in the way? So tragic….