The third Harry Potter movie is creating just as much excitement as the previous two. The Prisoner Of Azkaban includes the exitement of Harry Potter facing Sirius Black who has been blamed for the death of Harry' s parents. It's a role made for Gary Oldman, who reckons he needs the money. Steve Pratt reports.

ACTORS often have special reasons for taking a role - they love the script, they want to work with the director, they've always wanted to appear in a horror movie. That sort of thing.

Gary Oldman, on the other hand, is refreshingly honest about signing up to play enigmatic wizard Sirius Black in the latest film featuring the young wizard, Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban.

"I needed the work," he says. "I haven't worked for a while, a couple of years. So I thought it would be nice to get back to work and earn some money, pay the bills," he says.

Not that he wasn't aware of Harry Potter as he has three children who are fans of J K Rowling's books.

"You can't really move for it, it's everywhere," he says. "You go to Sainsburys and it's Harry Potter socks and Harry Potter toothbrushes and toothpaste. It's like Les Miserables or Cats. We live in a world where that logo is on buses, on stores, it's everywhere.

"The kids wanted to see the movies. One of them has read the books but he's nearly 15, the other two are too small but they like the movies."

Oldman himself had read the first book and when he got the role read the third. "It's a phenomenon, so you're not just making a movie," he says. "It's joining a family of some kind of cinematic dynasty, I suppose. It's interesting to be a part of that. The material was good and the director was interesting."

He's full of praise for Potter creator JK Rowling. "I love the idea that a woman has invented this world and has got kids reading again. I applaud anything that can take a kid away from a PlayStation or a Gameboy. That is a miracle in itself," he says.

The 45-year old London-born actor is no stranger to dark and sinister roles and Sirius Black is no goody-goody. He may have been instrumental in the death of Harry's parents and is now on the run from Azkaban prison.

Oldman remains one of the few British stars to make it big in Hollywood, with roles such in Dracula, Hannibal, Leon and JFK, in which he played assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.

Harry Potter must be one of the most obviously commercial movies he's ever made. "I've got three kids who like Harry Potter, so it's nice to actually be in a movie that they can see as opposed to a job that takes me away for 12 hours a day. It's nice for them to go, 'Oh that's what dad does'."

After failed marriages, along with drink and drug problems, Los Angeles-based Oldman is a changed man. He's mellowing and keen to stay close to his family as much as possible.

"I don't want to travel. I don't want to be in a hotel room away from my family. I want to do a sitcom in Burbank. I want to do Friends," he says.

"It's ten minutes away and I can be home for tea. I'm 45 now, I don't want to go to Morocco to make a film with Oliver Stone. Certain things come along and ten years ago I would have done them, but now I'd rather let someone else do it.

"Harry Potter was the first time I've been away from home in years and it was a long commitment. I was glad to get home. My project for the past few years has been being at home with my kids."

He knows that satisfying every Harry Potter fan won't be easy, especially with so many having formed their own ideas of the characters from reading the books.

"There's a communion between you and the writer, so people will have an idea who Sirius Black is and I might not be everyone's idea of that," he says. "I met a kid, actually, who came to the set who was looking me up and down and said, 'well, I never imagined him to look like that. I thought you'd be a bit paler, your hair is a bit long'. I was obviously a huge disappointment."

Acting doesn't seem to get any easier for Oldman. He still finds it a struggle at times. "It's just in the moment of doing it," he says. "And that applies to a lot of other things, the thought of something fills you with dread. I mean, it's better than digging a hole. I could be in the army, or driving a bus, which is my idea of hell.

"But once you are there, and doing it, in the moment of doing it, that's where the fun and joy is."

Oldman joins another all-star cast which features Michael Gambon as Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore, following the death of actor Richard Harris. David Thewlis joins the magical array of actors playing Hogwarts' teachers, such as Alan Rickman and Maggie Smith.

* Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban (PG) opens in cinemas on Monday.

Published: 27/05/2004