Gary Oldman delights in person and on screen

A spry and gracious Gary Oldman, 53, jogged down the main aisle at the Uptown Theater last night and warmly thanked the packed house where his latest film, the John Le Carré spy thriller “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” debuted.
Before Oldman came out, the crowd was treated to a montage of his film work, which included 1986’s “Sid and Nancy,” which made him famous. More recently Oldman has played the part of Commissioner Gordon in Christopher Nolan’s Batman series. The third installment of which is in post-production and will be released next summer.
After the montage, SIFF staff announced his name and he came down the aisle wearing a black velvet suit, lavender shirt with dark tie and semi-transparent glasses. He was met with a standing ovation. He thanked moviegoers in general, then more specifically the volunteers, supporters and philanthropists for supporting film and theaters such as the Uptown – which up until five months ago had shut down. This summer SIFF came along and reopened it.
“Without you,” Oldman said, “We wouldn’t have movie theaters or film.”
Then he was presented with a glass sculpture created by Seattle’s own Dale Chihuly, who was in the audience. Oldman looked at the sculpture and said, “This is just stunning.”
Oldman is known for his sometimes eccentric take on roles, such as the nihilistic Sid Vicious in “Sid and Nancy,” the floating title character in “Dracula” and the cloudy-eyed Drexl Spivey in “True Romance.” But in “Tinker,” Oldman is subdued and refined as an upper-echelon veteran in the British Secret Intelligence Service. Asked if playing such a quiet-minded character was harder than a role with more physical and emotional extremes, Oldman replied, “Each role you play sets up its own hurdles.”
Oldman took more questions from the audience before heading to Ballard’s Volterra restaurant where he was to dine with moviegoers who paid for the privilege as part of the SIFF program.