Gary Gary quite contrary

"Greatness is the orphan of urgency, Laine. Greatness only emerges when we need it most -- in time of war or calamity. I can't ask somebody to be a Kennedy or a Lincoln. They were men created by their times. What I -- what I can ask for -- is the promise of greatness. And that, madam senator, you don't have."

The comments attached to Nathaniel's excellent post on Oscar-nominationless actors brought Gary Oldman into my headspace once again. I love his magnificent performance in the 2000 masterpiece, The Contender, and surely would've nominated him for the supporting award and given it to him. Oldman is one of the top three working film actors (Geoffrey Rush and Oldman's Contender co-star Jeff Bridges are the other two) and I was reminded again during the latest Harry Potter of his limitless capacity for invention. Watch him deliver the scariest pep talk ever in The Contender, or mug with Matt LeBlanc on "Friends," or spin apart in Sid & Nancy or opine on the symbiotic relationship between life and destruction in The Fifth Element. The man can play anyone. A limitless range, but with a charisma that sustains.