Gary Oldman has revealed just how difficult it was to film the iconic "Dementor's Kiss" scene from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
In an interview with Josh Horowitz, Oldman discussed his career to date, including his roles in True Romance, Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, and his most recent turn in the Apple TV Plus spy drama, Slow Horses.
Partway through, they also discussed the Harry Potter saga, wherein Gary Oldman played The Boy Who Lived's godfather, Sirius Black. In particular, Oldman revisited filming the "Dementor's Kiss" scene, wherein the Dementors from Azkaban attempted to extract Sirius Black's soul at Black Lake before Harry managed to fend them off with the Patronus charm.
Oldman called the scene "the most difficult thing I ever had to do" and explained just how the sequence was put together "It was just me laying down, but Harry Potter, it took forever, it was slow, and you'd be on a scene for week", he said.
"What they did was, they built this lake inside the studio and they cooled it down and they froze this lake. And I had to just lie there, for a week, day in, day out, doing nothing."
He went on to say that he'd been given a hot water bottle to lie on top of, continuing: "Day three, you go, 'my neck is killing me', and they put a little pillow underneath you. The hardest thing I had to do was lie next to a frozen lake!"
In the same interview, Oldman also called his acting in the franchise "mediocre". When Horowitz asked him why he felt that way, Oldman said he didn't know, but suggested that he may well have played Sirius Black a different way if he'd read the books like his co-star, Alan Rickman.
The Harry Potter saga is currently available to stream on Peacock. UK viewers can stream them on Netflix, Sky TV, and NOW. A Harry Potter TV series is due to readapt J. K. Rowling's books as a new series and is expected to air in 2025 or 2026.
