(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
Sat 18 October 2025 16:15, UK
You wouldn’t think that the words Gary Oldman and “underrated” go together, but the actor insists that there have been movies of his that have flown woefully under the radar.
He might be an Oscar winner, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t appeared in movies that haven’t received much attention – not every single one can be a winner.
Oldman’s career really hit a high note during the 1990s when he stepped into some pretty iconic villainous roles, from iconic vampires to pimps and corrupt DEA agents. After taking on evil roles suspiciously well, Oldman proved his versatility with some more unexpected endeavours, like his terrific directorial debut Nil By Mouth, which showed a deep appreciation for gritty social realist cinema buoyed by stunningly raw performances. The actor, and now director, certainly knew what made for a flawless piece of filmmaking.
Yet, a few years later, he did something that few critics expected. Oldman starred in a direct-to-DVD movie that he also produced. He thinks it’s criminally overlooked, although you’d be forgiven for not having watched it – just look at the poster with the terribly edited baby crawling across a stretch of road, with a picture of Oldman and Skeet Ulrich framed above. It looks like some knock-off male Thelma and Louise tied with Three Men and a Baby. Why would anyone want to watch that? Maybe out of curiosity, perhaps.
The movie did receive a few decent reviews, but overall, it was largely forgotten, much to Oldman’s dismay. Talking to The Film Stage, he said, “A piece of work I’m particularly proud of that no one has ever really seen – because it went straight to DVD – was a little film called Nobody’s Baby. It’s a comedy.”
Interestingly, the film was directed by David Seltzer, who wrote the screenplay for 1976’s The Omen. This was a considerable departure from supernatural horror, but hey, we’re all multi-faceted beings. Nobody’s Baby sees Ulrich play a criminal who ends up unexpectedly caring for a baby he discovers in a car wreckage, whom he soon finds himself rather attached to. When Oldman’s character, his former partner in crime, is reunited with him, the baby throws a significant spanner in the works because, along with a newfound connection to a local waitress, Ulrich’s Billy has become quite the family man.
The movie’s comedic factor fell rather flat for some, and critics were left questioning how someone like Oldman had ended up in a movie like this. Was money running short? How come he produced the film, then? To be fair to the actor, Oldman does look rather unrecognisable in the part, donning extensive facial hair and a bald head largely concealed by a hat, which is a testament to his dedication to shapeshifting into his roles, no matter the size of the film.
Why Nobody’s Baby didn’t get a theatrical release when it literally starred Oldman is a good question. Who knows? It certainly isn’t one of Oldman’s best films, but he insists it’s underrated. You’d think he’d recognise that it’s actually a bad movie, but sometimes it’s easy to get blinded by what’s actually good when you have a hand in creating something. Nobody’s Baby is definitely not a great film, and maybe it’s time that Oldman realised that.
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