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​Gary Oldman Wins Best Actor Award At The Golden Globes

​Gary Oldman Wins Best Actor Award At The Golden Globes

The actor’s performance as Winston Churchill saw him truly suffer for his art, and now he’s finally been recognised

Tom Wood

Tom Wood

Well, he's only gone and done it. Gary Oldman has won the Best Actor in a Motion Picture award at tonight's 75th Golden Globe awards.

He won the award for his performance in Darkest Hour, in which he stars as Winston Churchill as he navigates one of the most difficult times in recent British history.

Days after becoming Prime Minister Churchill was forced to consider the idea that Hitler's Nazi armies might triumph in the Second World War, and faced making the decision to fight on instead of surrendering and negotiating a peace deal.

Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill.
Perfect World Pictures

Needless to say, he didn't negotiate and Britain came through the war victorious.

Oldman's performance has received rave reviews and much has been made of his dramatic transformation into the character of Churchill.

This involved wearing an incredibly heavy body suit that took many hours to get into and out of, which resulted in incredibly long days on set for the actor.

If that weren't enough, he also suffered with nicotine poisoning during filming as a result of smoking so many of Churchill's famous Cuban cigars - they apparently spent up around £15,000 ($20,000) on Romeo Y Julieta stoagies for him to smoke throughout the shoot.

Talk about dedication to your art.

PA

A visibly emotional Oldman made sure to thank his makeup team, among others, in a generous speech, saying: "I'm very proud of Darkest Hour. It shows that words and actions can change the world."

This latest recognition puts Oldman in the box seat to take the top male acting award at the Academy Awards that will take place on 4 March this year.

However, despite finally winning one, he has not always been so fond of the Golden Globes.

In 2009 he took aim at the awards, suggesting that they were a TV ratings vehicle. He continued his attack in 2012 when he spoke about the show at the Empire awards, suggesting that the voting process is crooked.

Backstage at the awards, he said: "Specifically, I'm talking about the Globes, which I think is bent to be honest with you.

"There's always a bit of that involved, people talk about the 'sympathy win' or someone will get something for their body of work rather than that role.

"The Oscars and BAFTAs, the voting and all of that is pretty straightforward. But the Globes, the foreign press, is a whole different thing."

He has also called the Globes 'meaningless' and called for a boycott in the past.

Oldman has always stated that he thinks the Oscars are a bigger prize - let's see how he gets on in the next few months and see if his opinion changes...

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Golden Globes