The 59-year-old actor opens up about the lengths he went to in order to achieve his Oscar-nominated performance as Winston Churchill.
Gary Oldman got nicotine poisoning while shooting The Darkest Hour, but he’s not complaining.
ET’s Nancy O’Dell and Kevin Fraizier spoke with the 59-year-old actor at the 90th Annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday, where he opened up about the great lengths he went to in order to achieve his Oscar-nominated performance as Winston Churchill.
“I had nicotine poisoning for the entire shoot. So it was very, very easy to put the [cigars] down,” Oldman revealed of how he quit smoking after blowing through a reported $30,000 worth of cigars during filming. “Once we were done, I actually haven’t smoked a cigar since.”
“There’s no way of avoiding it, really. They don’t make the fake cigars, they don’t burn the same way,” he added. “But I must say, I was smoking the original Churchill cigars, which I think were about $50 for one.”
Oldman’s commitment to the role is one of the reasons fans and critics are still talking about the movie, months after it was released.
“It’s lovely. It’s really nothing to complain about,” he said of his busy awards season. “People, for the most part, love you. The work is recognized.”
“We’ve been going since the end of August, so I’m looking forward to getting my life back and not having a schedule where I’ve got to be somewhere and I’ve got to dress up,” he said, before paying sweet tribute to his wife, Gisele Schmidt. "I’ve got to thank my wife more than anyone, because unlike the men, you can’t wear the same thing twice. For someone who doesn’t like the spotlight and doesn’t like to be photographed, it’s been very challenging for her.”
See more on Oldman in the video below.
RELATED CONTENT:
