Lost no more

Gary Oldman finally wins his long battle with the bottle

By LOUIS B. HOBSON -- Calgary Sun

HOLLYWOOD -- In his new movie Lost in Space, Gary Oldman is wandering aimlessly through the galaxy.
In real life, Oldman is finally master of his destiny.
In 1995, Oldman finally admitted he was an alcoholic and checked into a rehabilitation clinic in Los Angeles.
The year before, he had filmed The Scarlet Letter in Nova Scotia, an event he sadly doesn't remember.
"I know I was in the film because I've seen it, but I don't really have any memory of making it," he admits.
"I'm a slum kid from London, England, who was raised in a dysfunctional, alcoholic family. I'm ashamed and saddened that I didn't cope better."

Oldman, 50, says he realized 20 years ago he was an alcoholic.
"I knew I was in trouble, but the curse for me was I could do this acting thing better drunk than some people do it sober.
"I was also a private drunk. I didn't do my falling-down routines in pubs. I drank myself into oblivion in the privacy of my hotel rooms or my home."

Demi Moore observed Oldman's tragic behavior on their set of The Scarlet Letter. Having triumphed over her own drug and alcohol addictions, she urged Oldman to confront his demons.
At the time, Oldman was engaged to Isabella Rossellini, who also urged him to seek help. While he was in rehab, Oldman met Donya Florentino. He broke off his engagement with Rossellini and married Florentino a few months later.
It was Oldman's third marriage. He was married to British actress Lesley Manville and Uma Thurman. Oldman has a nine-year-old son, Alfie, from his first marriage.
"It broke my heart Alfie has to grow up in a broken home. My father left our family when I was seven. I knew I was hurting my son as much as I'd been hurt by my father."
Oldman and Florentino have a seven-month-old son named Gulliver Flynn Oldman.
"Gulliver has turned the lights on in my life. We all live in L.A. and I have less excuse now than ever to pack up my bags and head for a movie set. That's one reason I did Lost in Space. It's a movie of mine that Alfie and I can see together."
In Lost in Space, which opens Friday, Oldman plays villain Dr. Zachary Smith. It's his fourth bad guy in as many pictures.
"No more villains. I can't do another one. They helped pay the rent through the rough part of my life, but they've also made me forget why I became an actor in the first place.
"The tragedy is they were the best roles I was being offered. I would love to have played Jack Nicholson's role in As Good As It Gets, but I'm too young and the rest of the stuff I read was crap."
Oldman denies reports he punched out Robert De Niro because they were both interested in the same woman.
"I've only met De Niro once very briefly. The whole story is nonsense, but it's just one of many. There would have to be two of me if even half this stuff they print about me were true.
"One person simply couldn't be in all those places at the same time."