Can Gary Oldman bring his own spin to an iconic historical war figure?

History often has a way of repeating itself – and that’s particularly true when it comes to the film industry and its love for the biopic.

That’s the situation Gary Oldman found himself in when contacted to play Winston Churchill in Joe Wright’s Darkest Hour, set to release on 11th January.

After turning down three calls to play the famed leader within a year, Oldman finally relented.

“The first thing is you don’t want to play it,” he said. “The prospect of doing it is really scary, and then those are often the ones that are worthwhile, the ones that give you a little bit of fear and sleepless nights. I had an idea in my head – being British – of who Churchill was. But some of that is influenced by people that have played him. So I pushed that all to one side and found a great deal of archive footage of him – and from that you start to build.”

“I needed to see Churchill looking back at me in the mirror to have the chutzpah to get up there and do him justice. There’s a lot of Churchill and there’s some me – we found a good balance.”

Also starring: Kristin Scott Thomas, Ben Mendelsohn and Lily James
Rating: PG13
Running time: 125 mins

ALSO SHOWING

Goodbye Christopher Robin (PG): Starring Domhnall Gleeson and Margot Robbie, this biopic centres around A A Milne and the creation of his famous Winnie The Pooh stories.

The Commuter (PG15): After meeting a strange woman on the train home from the office, a businessman becomes embroiled in a dangerous conspiracy. Starring Liam Neeson.

WORDS Camille Hogg