Gary Oldman says he was 'mediocre' in 'Harry Potter' movies

Los Angeles: Oscar-winning actor Gary Oldman says he is not a fan of his performance as Sirius Black in the "Harry Potter" franchise.

During his appearance on the latest episode of the 'Happy Sad Confused' podcast, the British actor said his portrayal of the fan-favourite character was "mediocre".

"I think my work is mediocre in it. No, I do. Maybe if I had read the books like Alan (Rickman, who played Severus Snape), if I had got ahead of the curve, if I had known what’s coming, I honestly think I would have played it differently," Oldman said.

The "Harry Potter" movies were adapted from author JK Rowling's book series of the same title. The franchise titles are “The Philosopher’s Stone”, “The Chamber of Secrets”, “The Prisoner of Azkaban”, “The Goblet of Fire”, “The Order of the Phoenix”, “The Half-Blood Prince” and “The Deathly Hallows – Part 1 & 2”.

Oldman had starred as Sirius Black in “The Prisoner of Azkaban”, “The Goblet of Fire”, “The Order of the Phoenix” and “The Deathly Hallows Part 2".

The 65-year-old actor admitted that he often criticises his performances in the films.

“I’ll tell you what it is. It’s like anything, I think if I sat and watched myself in something and said, 'My God, I’m amazing,' that would be a very sad day, because you want to make the next thing better," Oldman said.

“It’s so subjective. It’s such a personal thing that you’re looking at that other people are not seeing... It’s not to disrespect someone who says to me, ‘Oh, I really love you in that movie,’ and I’m thinking, ‘I’m terrible in that movie. What are they talking about?’ It’s not that. It’s (that) they’re seeing something else," he added.

Recently, Oldman revealed that being part of popular franchises "Harry Potter" and Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight" trilogy "saved" him as a single father.

In Nolan's movies, which featured Christian Bale as superhero The Batman, Oldman had essayed the role of Commissioner Gordon.

"At 42 years old, I woke up, you know, sort of divorced and I had custody of these boys. That, in itself, was … that was hard because there was a shift in the industry where a lot of productions were... in Hungary, Budapest, Prague, Australia, you know, all of these places. So, I turned down a lot of work.

"Thank God for 'Harry Potter'. I tell you, the two — Batman and Harry Potter — really, they saved me, because it meant that I could do the least amount of work for the most amount of money and then be home with the kids," Oldman had said during his appearance on "The Drew Barrymore Show".