Gary Oldman circling 'Star Wars' role?

Posted Thursday, February 6, 2014 at 4:47 PM Central

by John Couture

It's one thing for Saoirse Ronan or Jason Flemyng to go public with their Star Wars: Episode VII auditions, but it's something entirely different when Gary Oldman confirms that J.J. Abrams or someone else connected to the Star Wars universe has "inquired" about his availability.

Usually when stars go public with news that the ultra-secretive J.J. has not approved for normal human consumption, their odds of landing said role instantly shrink to zero. Heck, Flemyng actually posted a page from the script - and come to think of it, has anyone heard from Jason Flemyng in the last few months?

But when you are acting royalty such as Oldman, you are given a few free passes, even from J.J. Abrams. Gary Oldman was doing publicity rounds for the upcoming RoboCop and Sky Movies asked him point blank about any potential involvement in Episode VII. While his answer was definitely coy and he stopped short of confirming that he had been cast, he did admit that they've called.

I don't know. To me, that looks like a pretty sure bet that we'll see Gary Oldman in the next Star Wars film. This potential casting literally gives me goose bumps as I have been a huge Oldman fan since pretty much the time I started watching films. He's an amazing actor and I would love to see him bring some nasty clout back to the dark side. Of course, he'd make a fine Jedi too, but I'm really hoping that he's playing a bad guy.

You know, if he is actually cast in the film. I just hope that this interview doesn't prompt Abrams' secrecy cabal to snatch him off the street to silence him. That would be a shame.

Star Wars: Episode VII is still set for a December 18, 2015 release.