{"id":686843,"date":"2026-01-10T13:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T13:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/686843\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T13:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T13:52:11","slug":"the-movie-gary-oldman-only-made-to-pay-for-nil-by-mouth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/686843\/","title":{"rendered":"The movie Gary Oldman only made to pay for ‘Nil by Mouth’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Gary<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ YouTube Still)<\/p>\n

Sat 10 January 2026 7:30, UK <\/p>\n

Gary Oldman<\/a> made his first and only directorial effort, Nil By Mouth, in 1997, a brutal and bleak tale of addiction and domestic violence made in the British social realist tradition, with Ray Winstone and Kathy Burke playing a dysfunctional couple in a gritty and affecting drama that demonstrated genuine talent behind the camera.<\/p>\n

While the film won several Baftas, Oldman has struggled to find financing<\/a> for other projects since, probably because his work isn\u2019t exactly that mainstream-friendly. Talking to theartsdesk.com, the actor once revealed his reluctance to compromise his artistry for budget\u2019s sake.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Explaining, \u201cI\u2019m lucky enough to be able to earn a living as an actor. I don\u2019t have to direct films at all costs. I\u2019ve seen too often what happens when the budget suddenly gets tight. They tear pages out of the script and change the story \u2013 rarely for the better. I don\u2019t want to work like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, Oldman shifted his attention back to acting, knowing that securing tens of millions to bring ideas to life just isn\u2019t doable for him. Nil By Mouth was made on a budget of $9million, but it\u2019s rare that you can get a good movie made for that price these days, especially if you expect to make a sizable profit. Of course, it\u2019s possible, but Oldman knows financing isn\u2019t easy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In fact, he had to take on a role in a movie he wasn\u2019t interested in just to secure the funding for Nil By Mouth, and taking one look at the poster, it\u2019s not hard to guess that he wasn\u2019t there for any reason other than money. Lost in Space, directed by Stephen Hopkins, took influence from the Swiss Family Robinson-inspired TV show Space Family Robinson, but God was it bad. <\/p>\n

With acclaimed stars like William Hurt and Heather Graham also lending themselves to the film, Oldman could\u2019ve been in worse company, but Lost in Space wasn\u2019t exactly a challenging piece of art. I mean, just look at the character Blarp. The actor played Dr Zachary Smith, and it felt like a real step down from his previous endeavours in the likes of True Romance and Leon: The Professional. <\/p>\n

Discussing Lost in Space, Oldman referred to the film as not his \u201ccup of tea,\u201d admitting that it wasn\u2019t very \u201cstretching.\u201d He added, \u201cActing at its lowest level is not intellectual, it\u2019s a sensation, it\u2019s a feeling. I\u2019ve lost the fire for it, I think. Whatever it is that possesses me to get out there and act, write or direct, if I don\u2019t do that, then my heart will stop beating because that is who I am. However, I haven\u2019t acted for a year since Lost in Space, and I\u2019m not chomping at the bit to get back to it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

It seems like Lost in Space really messed with Oldman\u2019s passion for acting, because it was hardly a fulfilling project to be a part of. The actor found much more personal fulfilment in working on his directorial debut, a harrowing movie that even set a world record<\/a> for the movie featuring the most uses of the word \u201ccunt.\u201d For a long time, it held the record for the most uses of \u201cfuck\u201d, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Who says swearing is unintelligent? Oldman\u2019s expletive-filled script won him the Bafta for \u2018Best Original Screenplay\u2019. He could\u2019ve been the next Ken Loach or Mike Leigh, but instead, Oldman put down the pen and got back to acting, although he has since avoided movies as bad as Lost in Space. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Related Topics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ YouTube Still) Sat 10 January 2026 7:30, UK Gary Oldman made his first and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":686844,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3935],"tags":[191985,77,20603,3943,16,15],"class_list":["post-686843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-1990s","tag-entertainment","tag-gary-oldman","tag-movies","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115871137677326056","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=686843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686843\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/686844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=686843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=686843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=686843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}