Gary Oldman has called his behaviour on the set of the 1995 romantic tragedy The Scarlet Letter “unprofessional” and apologised to his co-star Demi Moore.
In the film, Oldman played Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale in the adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, starring opposite Moore’s Hester Prynne in a story of forbidden love and its harrowing consequences.
Speaking in an interview with the Radio Times, the Oscar winner recalls how his “intermittent bouts of boozing” during filming left Moore “disappointed in him”.
“I’m in my alcoholic period,” he says, admitting to having a drinking problem at the time. He recalls: “I was in a very dark place. I drank too much in the lunch hour. It was such a destructive thing. I got back on the set to do quite a big scene and I got through it.”
He remembers the guilt and embarrassment the next day, apologising to Moore, saying: “I’m so sorry, you must hate me.”
Moore responded: “I don’t hate you. It’s OK. I’m just disappointed.” The 67-year-old actor, now 28 years sober, says he has “no desire to even take a sip.”
He gave up alcohol in 1997 after coming close to death, he recalls and credits his sobriety with transforming both his life and his career. Since then, he’s earned three Oscar nominations and won Best Actor in 2018 for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in The Darkest Hour.
“The achievement of one guy who could write all that, paint those pictures, take on the Nazis, smoke that many cigars, drink that much in his life – I had great admiration for him,” Oldman said of Churchill.
This week, he returns to the big screen as another complicated figure, American author John Cheever in A24’s Parthenope. Like Oldman, his character battled the bottle for decades before finally getting sober at 65.
Oldman told Radio Times: “I think the worst thing you can do is inspire disappointment.”
