His sterling performance as wartime Winston Churchill has won him a Golden Globe and he’s already tipped for an Oscar next month.
And if these pictures are anything to go by, it seems Gary Oldman was certainly suffering for his art.
His remarkable transformation from 59-year-old actor to Britain’s greatest wartime Prime Minister can finally be revealed.
He revealed it took four hours every morning to transform him into the star of Darkest Hour, all before a gruelling 12-hour shoot.
Vanessa Mi Kyung Lee, make-up artist on the Darkest Hour, helps actor Gary Oldman with his fat suit
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ShareHe is shown putting on a life-like fat suit over a white shirt, with an intricate lacing system to pull the layers of blubber together.
This included shaving his head daily and covering his body in glue.
Detailing the tedious process, he told Australian magazine Best Weekend: ‘On a normal day, my pick up would be 1.45am. Get to the set, they would shave my head, cover my neck in glue and then start the makeup.
‘We would go through that process for 3 hours and 15 minutes, then I would go and get dressed - another 45 minutes.
Left, Oldman with Ms Lee, who helped him transform into Winston Churchill for the Oscar-tipped wartime epic
‘Then set, rehearsal, shoot a 10-12 hour day, then 45 minutes to an hour to remove the make-up.
‘And eventually, 18 hours later, get to bed.’
He said he would sit in silence with his make up team for the first two hours and would tune in to Radio 2 for the remaining two hours.
He said: ‘It was three hours 20 minutes in the make-up, and then getting into the clothes, so it was roughly four hours.
'But I’m not just saying that because I am here but my make-up team listen to this show so we would have two hours of silence and a zen moment to start the make-up and then two hours in he would tune you in. So we used to listen to the show.’
Gary Oldman spent four hours every morning to transform into Churchill and had to wear a fat suit with intricate lacing to pull together layers of blubber
His body was engulfed in a naked fat suit which ran from his ankles to his neck.
It added layers of fat to his back, chest, stomach and legs to make the usually slim star look like Churchill.
And it seems Oldman’s efforts have not gone to waste, as the Darkest Hour grossed £15.2 million in UK cinemas in the first 17 days of its release.
It is up for nine awards at the Baftas on February 18 and six Oscars.
Celia Sandys, one of Winston Churchill’s grandchildren, said she has winced at other portrayals of the famous former PM, but says Oldman did an ‘incredible performance’
Oldman, 59, had to shave his head every day and cover his body in glue to hold his body suit in place as he starred in the film
The 74-year-old author called in to an interview with Gary Oldman on Radio 2 last week.
She told the actor: ‘He was twinkly and he was funny, and he was affectionate. He certainly wasn’t curmudgeonly of character, of course there were moments, and at that period he certainly had such a load to bear.
'But I would like to congratulate Gary for an incredible performance.
‘So often when I’ve watched people playing my grandfather I’ve sort of winced and felt it was over-done, or somehow fell flat but you did a wonderful job. ‘
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