Gary Oldman says roles in ‘Batman’ and ‘Harry Potter’ movies ‘saved’ him as a dad

Veteran actor Gary Oldman is praising his appearances in the blockbuster franchises of “Harry Potter” and Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy for saving him in his darkest hour.

The 65-year-old actor — who played Sirius Black in the “Harry Potter” films and Det. Jim Gordon in the “Batman” movies — recently opened up about how those big-time roles helped him professionally and personally.

“At 42 years old I woke up divorced and I had custody of [my] boys,” Oldman said on “The Drew Barrymore Show” last week. “[T]hat was hard because there was a shift in the industry where a lot of productions were being [filmed] in Hungary, Budapest, Prague, Australia, you know, all of these places. So, I turned down a lot of work.”

As Barrymore explained, production moved to these locations for “tax reasons” that would benefit movie studios’ budgets.

“Thank God for ‘Harry Potter,’” Oldman continued. “I tell you, the two — ‘Batman’ and ‘Harry Potter’ — really, they saved me, because it meant that I could do the least amount of work for the most amount of money and then be home with the kids.”

The Oscar winner noted that it was really important to him to make sure that his two younger children didn’t feel like they were “being brought up by a nanny.” He was so committed to this that he flew back and forth from London to L.A. 27 times while filming 2005’s “Batman Begins,” just to optimize his time with his kids.

“I was really not there for [my] first boy and then I got the opportunity to have these other two kids and I thought, ‘I’ve now been given a real gift to be the dad I imagined I wanted to be or could be with the first boy, Alfie, I’ve got a chance to repair this and switch it around,’” the “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” actor said of his parenting woes with son Alfie Oldman, whom he shares with actor Lesley Manville.

Oldman also spoke to other changes he made in his life since the birth of his first child that changed his perspective on life. “I’m almost 27 years sober so everything I have today is … really through sobriety,” he said.

Even with a slew of Academy Award and Emmy nominations and widespread respect from his peers, Oldman still thinks his greatest accomplishment is that his children are good.

“My kids are not geniuses, but they’re really, really nice people,” he said. “I think [that we need] more nice people in the world. We’ve got geniuses, we’ve done enough of them. We need really kind people. Good heart and not mean-spirited. I think they saved my life.”