Gary Oldman is an actor known for disappearing into his roles, and playing George Smiley, a spymaster known for being able to disappear into the background is a tour de force for him. When I spoke to him on November 16, 2011, I was most interested in asking him about a small but telling moment in his performance, when Smiley uncharacteristically lets his guard down, if only for a split-second. Oldman, a soft-spoken man with elegant manners, demonstrated with his answer to that, and to other questions,  why his performances are such carefully constructed and deeply considered works of both imagination and emotion.