It's now fifteen years since Gary Oldman directed a film. Indeed, he's only directed a single picture: 1997's outstanding, brutal "Nil By Mouth," and for whatever reason, has yet to mount a follow-up, although he's recently begun talking about a possible project involving a sex addict. Has his recent success, and long-overdue Oscar nomination, with "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" helped to give the kind of heat needed to get a sophomore feature mounted? Or is he destined to be our era's Charles Laughton, a British actor who makes one outstanding feature, then never directs again?
We certainly hope it's the former, and there's an indicator that they may indeed be the case, as word's come in that Oldman's getting to flex his directing muscles again, although perhaps not on the kind of project you might assume he'd be working on. Pitchfork report that Oldman will direct the live stream of the April 27th show at Webster Hall, NYC by erstwhile White Stripes frontman Jack White, who's about to unleash his debut solo album "Blunderbuss," which hits stores on April 24th.
It's part of YouTube's "American Express Unstaged" series, and Oldman's following in some prestigious footsteps: the scheme's already seen Terry Gilliam film an Arcade Fire show, Spike Lee helm a John Legend & The Roots gig, David Lynch do Duran Duran, and Todd Haynes shoot My Morning Jacket. It's pretty hallowed company, and a testament to Oldman's skills behind the camera. Hopefully this is the first step in a return to full-blown directing for the actor. You'll be able to watch the show live at 9PM Eastern on April 27th. In the meantime, you can watch the video for White's single "Sixteen Saltines," as featured in our Videodrome feature last week.
