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Gary Oldman seemingly paid tribute to his late The Dark Knight co-star Heath Ledger in a recent episode of Slow Horses.
Oldman and Ledger both appeared in Christopher Nolan’s much-loved 2008 Batman film, starring as Officer James Gordon and the villainous Joker respectively.
In one of the film’s most shocking and memorable scenes, Ledger’s Joker asks: “How about a magic trick?” before sticking a pencil into a table. “I’m going to make this pencil disappear,” he says.
When a mobster approaches to confront him, Ledger smashes his head face-first onto the pencil. “Ta-da!” says Joker. “It’s gone.”
Ledger died in 2008, at the age of just 28. Oldman, 67, is currently appearing in the thriller series Slow Horses on Apple TV+, playing curmudgeonly spy chief Jackson Lamb.
As SlashFilm reports, in the recent season 5 episode “Incommunicado”, one of Lamb’s underlings asks him why he has to write messages while his colleague is allowed to speak.
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Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb in ‘Slow Horses’ (Apple TV+)
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Heath Ledger as the Joker in ‘The Dark Knight’ (YouTube/DC)
Lamb replies: “Because she sticks to the salient points, whereas when you talk, I wanna stick a pencil in my eye and head-butt the table,”
The writers of Slow Horses have not publicly commented on the line. The Independent has approached a representative for showrunner Will Smith for comment.
The fifth season of Slow Horses has been widely praised by critics. In a five-star review for The Independent, critic Chris Bennion wrote: “The performances remain superb, the script is as sharp as they come, and the comedy/action balance is handled beautifully. And Lamb really is God’s gift (albeit to television, not women).
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“He is satisfyingly bad-tempered this season – yes, even more so than usual – with every other phrase out of his mouth being ‘F*** off’. In fact, all the inhabitants of Slough House seem especially cretinous and mildewed in these episodes. It works a charm. Elsewhere, Victoria Hamilton provides a winning cameo as a blowhard tabloid columnist, while the descent into dementia of River’s grandfather David (Jonathan Pryce) is heartbreaking.
“With Smith leaving – screenwriter Gaby Chiappe is taking up the reins – it remains to be seen if Slow Horses can maintain its sky-high standards. But look what Chiappe has got to work with – the best group of characters on British TV.”
Last month, Oldman revealed he was overcome with emotion when he received a knighthood from Prince Williams at Windsor Castle.
“I wasn’t nervous but when I got there… It took me a second to find my voice because I was surprised by how emotional I was,” said Oldman.
