# Actors who embrace the evil of their character **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 1, 2014, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660 "2014-01-01T21:00:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/41 "2014-01-02T12:51:12Z")
Ralph Fiennes took Amon Goeth in **Schindler’s List** to this level. The one scene that stands out for me is the, uh, “shooting people from the balcony” scene, where you see that he gained a lot of weight for the role and has a gut, you see the character pissing in the bathroom, he flicks the spent cartridges from his gun onto his girlfriend like a bratty child… he’s just _gross_ in that scene. Without that, he could be simple a very beautiful, cruel villain who was still attractive in a twisted way, but that scene took him into “viscerally repellant” territory. ---
**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/42 "2014-01-02T13:20:07Z")
Robert Mitchum in “Cape Fear” Michael Madsen in “Resevoir Dogs” ---
**Author:** ![montag01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@montag01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/montag01)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/43 "2014-01-02T13:30:10Z")
Tim Roth definitely embraces the nastiness of his character in Rob Roy. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/44 "2014-01-02T13:30:21Z")
I haven’t seen the new Thor movie but Tom Hiddleston’s Loki is phenomenal and complex - likable while being utterly, ruthlessly amoral. Not as cartoony as the character could have been. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/45 "2014-01-02T13:37:56Z")
Jack Gleeson as King Joffrey in Game of Thrones. ---
**Author:** ![toast\_pakora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@toast\_pakora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toast_pakora)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/46 "2014-01-02T13:48:30Z")
Benedict Cumberbatch’s character in \*Atonement \*was so thoroughly repellent that I hadn’t managed to watch him in anything else until Sherlock. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/47 "2014-01-02T14:15:18Z")
Also from Game of Thrones, Alfie Allen does a very good job of portraying how a sort of regular dude can get caught up in the situation and be party to some really evil stuff as Theon Greyjoy. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/48 "2014-01-02T14:19:45Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > Louise Fletcher in _One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest_ played Nurse Ratched without a hint of warmth. Good one. > [@FriarTed](#): > > Malcolm “Alex De Large & Caligula” McDowell Another good one. Though _Caligula_ is the only movie I’ve ever walked out on, so I haven’t seen the whole thing (obviously). > [@Leaper](#): > > This thread reminds me of something C. Thomas Howell said to [the Onion AV Club](http://www.avclub.com/article/c-thomas-howell-on-ithe-outsidersi-blackface-and-h-92458) about his character of George Foyet, one of the most memorable serial killers from the TV show _Criminal Minds_. When he was in a movie with Rutger Hauer, he asked how Rutger played such great bad guys. The reply was: “I don’t play bad guys.” > > That informed Howell’s performance as Foyet. He thinks that absent that advice, he would’ve overacted, been too broad. By not playing him as a bad person, he thinks, he made the character better. Interesting! ---
**Author:** ![AnthonyElite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@AnthonyElite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnthonyElite)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/49 "2014-01-02T14:21:16Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Jack Gleeson as King Joffrey in Game of Thrones. Fully agree - you can almost believe he would enjoy the rotten, twisted things the character was doing in real life. I think he is the only truly evil character on the show/books so far. Everyone else has degrees of evil and situations that make them evil. Jack Gleeson also pulls off that arrogant sneer, that “beneath me, scum” attitude that really makes you hate him. ---
**Author:** ![CT\_Damsel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CT\_Damsel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CT_Damsel)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/50 "2014-01-02T14:26:59Z")
Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Eleanor Shaw Iselin (the mother) in “The Manchurian Candidate.” She was the essence of evil. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/51 "2014-01-02T14:47:17Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Clancy Brown as Kurgan in Highlander . Clancy Brown as Brother Justin in _ **Carnivale** _. 😃 > [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Jack Gleeson as King Joffrey in Game of Thrones. Which is a tribute to his acting ability; RL everything I’ve heard is that he’s humble, warm, friendly, and generally a great guy. A friend of my flight instructor wound up hanging out with (and getting smashed with, heh) him in Pittsburgh somehow or other. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/52 "2014-01-02T14:51:37Z")
> [@AnthonyElite](#): > > Fully agree - you can almost believe he would enjoy the rotten, twisted things the character was doing in real life. > > I think he is the only truly evil character on the show/books so far. Everyone else has degrees of evil and situations that make them evil. > > Jack Gleeson also pulls off that arrogant sneer, that “beneath me, scum” attitude that really makes you hate him. I think Ramsay Snow and Gregor Clegane are similarly “truly evil”. ---
**Author:** ![jrsone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jrsone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jrsone)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/53 "2014-01-02T14:55:33Z")
Denzel Washington in Training Day. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/54 "2014-01-02T15:48:07Z")
> [@AnthonyElite](#): > > Fully agree - you can almost believe he would enjoy the rotten, twisted things the character was doing in real life. > > I think he is the only truly evil character on the show/books so far. Everyone else has degrees of evil and situations that make them evil. > > Jack Gleeson also pulls off that arrogant sneer, that “beneath me, scum” attitude that really makes you hate him. I agree with this, and this young man is a really great actor. I just hope he doesn’t get type-cast too badly. But, that is always a potential issue when you have such a high-visibility role for so many years. ---
**Author:** ![Bellhorn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Bellhorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bellhorn)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/55 "2014-01-02T16:11:10Z")
Joe Pesci, in **Goodfellas** and **Casino**. I love how he portrays his characters as feeling that all the evil things they do are perfectly justified and just normal everyday events. And speaking of Casino, James Woods always seems to get off on playing a vile piece of humanity. About 25 years ago, I suggested to a friend, that he go see the movie\*\* Salvador\*\*, particularly for Woods’ performance (he was a good guy in that one). My friend said he could never watch Woods in a movie again, after his nasty portrayal as Nazi in **Holocaust**. Special mention to Dwight Yokum in **Slingblade.** If I ever saw Yokum walking my way, I’d crossover to the other side of the street. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/56 "2014-01-02T16:19:03Z")
> [@Bellhorn](#): > > Joe Pesci, in **Goodfellas** and **Casino**. I love how he portrays his characters as feeling that all the evil things they do are perfectly justified and just normal everyday events. > > And speaking of Casino, James Woods always seems to get off on playing a vile piece of humanity. About 25 years ago, I suggested to a friend, that he go see the movie\*\* Salvador\*\*, particularly for Woods’ performance (he was a good guy in that one). My friend said he could never watch Woods in a movie again, after his nasty portrayal as Nazi in **Holocaust**. > > Special mention to Dwight Yokum in **Slingblade.** If I ever saw Yokum walking my way, I’d crossover to the other side of the street. James Woods WASN’T a Nazi in the miniseries _ **Holocaust** _. He played a nice man, a Jewish artist who dies in a concentration camp. Michael Moriarty was the main Nazi in that series. ---
**Author:** ![Bellhorn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Bellhorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bellhorn)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/57 "2014-01-02T16:28:04Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > James Woods WASN’T a Nazi in the miniseries _ **Holocaust** _. He played a nice man, a Jewish artist who dies in a concentration camp. Ha! Ha! I never knew that! I missed Holocaust when it ran on TV and never saw it. My friend must have confused Woods and Moriarity 25+ years ago, and I just picked up on his confusion. Classic! ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/58 "2014-01-02T17:38:44Z")
Most of the examples are Movie characters, but what about Larry Hagman as JR Ewing in _Dallas_? ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/59 "2014-01-02T17:53:41Z")
How about Gene Hackman? His roles in \*Unforgiven \*and _The Firm_ spring immediately to mind ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/60 "2014-01-02T17:59:32Z")
Kinda surprised to see no mention yet of Christoph Waltz as Col. Landa in **Inglourious Basterds**. I also loved Aaron Eckhart’s character in **In The Company Of Men**. Utterly immoral and repellant. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660.md?page=4)