The Man Who Pretended To Be Gary Oldman and Fooled Hollywood
While modern cinema’s most elite performers, from Benedict Cumberbatch to Ryan Gosling, have long sought the creative guidance of the legendary Gary Oldman, one anonymous trickster once took this admiration to a bizarre extreme.
During the competitive casting phase for the 1999 Andy Kaufman biopic, Man on the Moon, the industry was blindsided by a high-stakes deception that nearly altered film history.
While heavyweights like Edward Norton and Kevin Spacey were formally vying for the lead, an unidentified impersonator launched a sophisticated campaign to steal the role by pretending to be Oldman himself.
The ruse began with a series of phone calls to the film’s producer and co-star, Danny DeVito, where the impostor convincingly mimicked Oldman’s voice to inquire about the screenplay.
To further cement the illusion, the individual contacted director Miloš Forman and casting director Francine Maisler, claiming he had parted ways with his representation and required direct contact.
This elaborate setup actually led to the submission of a filmed audition, which many industry veterans reportedly accepted as a legitimate screen test from the Academy Award winner.
The deception only unraveled through a stroke of pure luck and a chance social encounter. Oldman’s actual manager, Douglas Urbanski, was alerted to the situation when DeVito reached out to verify a London phone number for an actor who didn’t even reside in the city at the time.
“I said Gary didn’t call Danny, and he doesn’t live in London,” Urbanski recalled, realizing that a complete stranger had been conducting business as his client for weeks. The final confirmation came when the real Oldman happened to meet the movie’s co-writer, Larry Karaszewski, while their children were playing together.
During their conversation, Karaszewski mentioned how much he enjoyed Oldman’s recent screen test, to which the actor responded with total confusion. “Gary Oldman, the real one, calls me at home last Friday and said, ‘Boy, do I have a strange story to tell you,’” Urbanski shared, recounting the moment the industry professionals realized they had been duped by a highly talented “chancer.”
The role eventually went to Jim Carrey, whose own tenure on the production became the stuff of Hollywood legend due to his extreme commitment to method acting. During filming, Carrey famously refused to break character, often arriving on set as Kaufman’s abrasive alter-ego, Tony Clifton.
Co-stars like Paul Giamatti have since shared stories of the “chaos” Carrey brought to the set, which included carrying Limburger cheese in his pockets to ensure he smelled as repulsive as the character he was portraying.
As for the real Gary Oldman, the actor continues to be a dominant force in the entertainment landscape with his celebrated role as Jackson Lamb in the Apple TV+ series Slow Horses.
The sixth season, which has already completed filming, is expected to premiere in the fall of this year and will adapt two books from Mick Herron’s espionage series. He is also set to return to the big screen this July, as his 1997 sci-fi classic The Fifth Element returns to theaters for a special anniversary re-release.
He is also lending his voice and motion-capture talents to the highly anticipated video game Squadron 42, where he portrays Admiral Ernst Bishop. Despite his busy schedule, Oldman recently returned to the stage for a limited run of Krapp’s Last Tape, proving that the “actor’s actor” remains as committed to his craft.
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