with me [laughs], not always with the greatest success." Natalie Portman, who played Mathilda Lando, professed to having been "terrified" during her character's sole interaction with Stansfield. She said, "Working with Gary Oldman was probably the easiest acting experience of my life... I don't think I had to act at all in that scene. I mean, it was really simple, because he really does what he does well." Another pivotal scene is where Stansfield, who has "a talent for sniffing out a lie", interrogates Mathilda's father, played by Michael Badalucco. Stansfield has been paying him to store cocaine in his residence but suspects that he has been stealing some of the drugs for himself. The sniffing and invasion of Badalucco's personal space was improvised by Oldman, resulting in the genuine expression of unease on Badalucco's face during the scene. Oldman also improvised verbally on set. Reception and legacy Léon: The Professional was critically well-received, with many reviewers singling out Oldman's portrayal of Stansfield for praise. Favorable comparisons were made to Jack Torrance, as played by Jack Nicholson in The Shining (1980). In a five-star review of the film, Mark Salisbury of Empire described Oldman's performance as "astonishingly histrionic"; Times Richard Schickel characterized it as "divinely psychotic". Entertainment Weekly, in their annual film overview, honored Oldman with "Best Overacting". His exaggerated approach lent itself to the delivery of noted dialogue such as: "I haven't got time for this Mickey Mouse bullshit!", "Death is... whimsical today", "I take no pleasure in taking life if it's from a person who doesn't care about it", and "Bring me everyone. EV-ERY-ONE!" (a now "classic" scene that was originally intended as a joke by Oldman). George Wales of Total Film argued that "you couldn't ask for a better portrayal of batshit craziness", but allowed that "Stansfield might be a little too [over the top] for some tastes". One such reviewer was the Deseret News Chris Hicks, who described the character as "utterly ridiculous". Janet Maslin of The New York Times referred to a "preposterous role" in which Oldman expresses "misguidedly poetic sentiments". Besson suggested that Stansfield's "ironies" and "campiness" may have been lost on viewers who anticipated a stoic authority figure. He said, "To some people, it was a silly character... but [Stansfield] is the one that everyone on the street wants to talk to me about. Gary made it iconic." Stansfield has appeared in lists