State Of Grace: Gary Oldman’s finest screen performance?

As a result,State Of Gracedidnt get anything like the attention it deserved.

And just how startlingly magnificent Gary Oldman is as an Irish-American gangster.

Oldman plays Jackie Flannery, brother of crime boss Frank (Ed Harris).

Signing Oldman as Jackie Flannery might have sounded like an odd move from an outsiders perspective.

Penn and Madonnas divorce had hit the headlines just one year earlier.

Joanou probably wanted to crawl under his chair at this point, but Penn, remarkably, simply laughed.

Oldman and Penns intense styles of acting did, however, have some repercussions during the shoot.

More of a slow burn.

Well, Garys done by that point.

And I have a lot of wide shots that theyre in together, so that did cause tension.

Looking back, its easy to see the wisdom in Joanous casting.

Oldmans empathy for Jackie allows us to see the chinks of humanity in this dishevelled, anarchic character.

Hes a very tormented soul, Jackie, Oldman said.

I mean, Jackie should go to drama school!

After seeingState Of Grace,Oliver Stone cast Oldman as gunman Lee Harvey Oswald inJFK(1991).

Stonetold Oldmanthat he saw an intensity and haunted quality in Jackie Flannery things Stone wanted to see in Oswald.

Later in the 90s, Oldman often found himself cast as the villain in Hollywood movies.

Jackie is, as Oldman put it, a tormented soul.

Frightening, beguiling Jackies arguably the finest creation of Oldmans career.

State Of Graceis out on Blu-ray now courtesy of Second Sight.