“The Drew Barrymore Show” to promote his AppleTV+ series, “Slow Horses,” Oldman, 65 – who is father to sons Alfie, Gulliver and Charlie and step-son William – said that he was cast in the “Harry Potter” movies shortly after divorcing his ex-wife, Donya Fiorentino, in 2001.“At 42 years old, I woke up divorced and I had custody of these boys and so that, in itself, was hard because there was a shift in the industry where a lot of productions were being [filmed in], it was Hungary, Budapest, Prague, Australia, you know, all of these places,” he told Drew Barrymore, 48.

Barrymore interjected to explain that global filming locations shifted because of “tax reasons.” As a result, Oldman said he “turned down a lot of work” in order to be with his children.“Thank God for ‘Harry Potter,’” he said. “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.”Oldman played Sirius Black, Harry Potter’s wrongfully imprisoned godfather, in 2004’s “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” 2005’s “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” and 2007’s “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” before Sirius was killed.

The “Batman” he referred to was Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” trilogy, where he played Gotham City Police Department Commissioner Jim Gordon.

He said he flew back and forth from Los Angeles 27 times to be with his children during his off days from “The Dark Knight” trilogy. “I’d fly in for a day, I’d do a shoot a day,” he said.

Siriusly grateful: Gary Oldman said the ‘Harry Potter’ movies ‘saved’ him — here’s why

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