It isn’t easy to think of anyone other than Johnny Depp playing the iconic Tim Burton character Edward Scissorhands. Burton’s delightfully derranged recluse with bladed digits and a knack for trimming topiaries is an integral part of cinema for people within my age range (I’m 44), but did you know that Gary Oldman almost played the raven-haired Lothario? While speaking about his overarching career with The Hollywood Reporter, THR’s Scott Rozborogh asked Oldman about the time he nearly joined the cast of Burton’s 1990 dark fantasy fairytale.
“It would have been in the late ’80s,” Oldman said about when the Scissorhands role was on the table. “I was on Tim Burton’s list for the role of Edward Scissorhands. It was a small list. My agent thought I had a really good chance of getting it. They said to me, “Read the script.” They sent the script over, and I basically said, “I don’t get it.”
You have to remember at this point in time you’re not looking at Tim Burton’s whole body of work. I read this quirky, strange little script, and I didn’t get it. The Avon lady and the kid with the scissor hands. It just didn’t register with me. I said to the agent, “I just don’t understand this. It’s not my cup of tea.”
It turns out that Oldman never met with Burton about taking on the role. However, he did see the movie when it was released in theaters. “With that opening shot — all those brightly colored houses, and then the camera pans up to the castle-like thing on the hill — within two minutes I went, “I get it!”
In addition to discussing what could have been for Edward Scissorhands, Oldman said he might have been approached about playing Scarecrow for Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, but ultimately landed the role as Jim Gordon. The villainous role eventually went to Cillian Murphy. Oldman points out that Batman Begins was Murphy’s first time working with Nolan, and wonders if Oppenheimer would have happened without Murphy joining the Batman cast.
What do you think about a young Gary Oldman possibly playing Edward Scissorhands? Despite Oldman’s chameleon-like nature, I can’t wrap my brain around it. Depp as Scissorhands is too burned into my mind for me to consider anyone else in the role. I’ll tell you what, if someone dares to remake Edward Scissorhands, good luck to you, friend!
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