Weaving was amazing playing multiple incarnations of evil in Cloud Atlas. Haskell Moore, Bill Smoke, Nurse Nokes, Old Georgie; a mastery of evil across time.
I’ve never considered Elrond an evil character until the films, but apparently Hugo just can’t help himself. When PJ films his 10 part history of Numenor, we’d better get Weaving in the role of Ar-Pharazon.
It’s kind of an obscure movie, but David Tennant is utterly and completely reprehensible in Secret Smile, where he plays the sociopathic boyfriend of the main female character (at first). He proceeds to get worse and worse, while hiding his horribleness behind the signature cheeky Tennant charm when interacting with anyone he isn’t trying to destroy.
My first thought was Hugh Laurie as House. He played the character without a bit of kindness.
Good one, and made me think of Leonardo DiCaprio’s utterly reprehensible William Candy from Django Unchained.
The first character that came to mind when I saw the thread topic was J. E. Freeman’s Eddie Dane in Miller’s Crossing. He comes off as someone who thinks pretty much everyone deserves to die for some reason, so he might as well help them along.
A few others for your consideration:
Andy Robinson as the beyond-insane killer in Dirty Harry; in fact he leaves such a powerfully disturbing impression that I suspect his career suffered for it
Joe Don Baker as the Mob enforcer ‘Molly’ in Charley Varrick
Robert Carlyle as Begbie in Trainspotting, the sort of person who finds dropping full pint glasses of beer onto peoples’ heads from above is high entertainment.
Before Pan’s Labyrinth, Sergi López was known in Spain for “Pepe Spaniard” roles, abroad for terror ones - part of the reason his character in that movie was so terrorific to us was that we were used to thinking him of “the guy next door”, and he has a “guy next door” kind of face. Thing is, every murderer, sadist, drug pusher, kiddie diddler… is somebody else’s guy’s next door. I’ve seen him on a tiny role in a French comedy where he said more with his face and posture than Hamlet in the whole play, he’s just damn good at any roles without pushing anybody else out of the scene.
Re. Alan Rickman playing “interesting characters”: he can take a character that pretty much anybody else would turn into a cardboard cutout, or one who has been a cutout for centuries, and grab your attention. The Sheriff has been a Villain for soooooo long it’s hard to imagine he had a mother, but Rickman is pretty much the only reason to remember that movie.
Well, was he really evil in Unforgiven? Sure, he beat the crap out of a couple of guys, but only because he thought that was the way to prevent killings – and the beaten guys were about to be the ones starting the killing. I can’t say that beating someone intent on committing murder for hire is really the most despicable thing that’s happened in the West (in movies or real life).
Sam Rockwell as The Green Mile’s ‘Wild Bill’ Wharton.
Jodie Foster as Rynn Jacobs in Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane. She was 14 years olf at the time, and she gave me nightmares.
In fairness to the Dane, everyone he interacts with in Miller’s Crossing pretty much does deserve to die for some reason. Which is why I never saw the Dane as particularly villainous, at least by the standards of a Mafia enforcer. He has immense physical courage, a keen intellect, is good in a fight, and, uniquely among the characters in this film, is staunchly loyal. He’s a great antagonist for Tom Reagan, especially because he’s the only guy who sees through his bullshit, but he’s not particularly despicable. Considering the genre, he’s downright heroic.
Bernie Bernbaum, on the other hand, is a character with absolutely no redeeming characteristics whatsoever. He’s a craven, cowardly, lying, cheating, backstabbing little shit, and having him get shot in the face in the end is one of my top ten Most Cathartic Movie Deaths of all time.
Gary Sinise was excellently evil in “Ransom”, "Snake Eyes and “Reindeer Games.”
Paul Reiser as Burke in Aliens.
I think you’ve made a plausible case, but that line kinda cracks me up. Sorry.
Chiwitel Ejiofor in Serenity
Christopher Lee in just about everything.
I saw him being interviewed once, and he talked about seeing the film in the theater with his mom. When he got eaten, she cheered.
Michael Wincott in, among other things, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and The Crow.
I agree. Like nearly everyone else in The Unforgiven, Little Bill was a mixture of good and evil (which was pretty much the point of the movie). His intentions were good, but he tried to carry them out in a brutal fashion.
Lee van Cleef in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
…And I’m surprised he isn’t on this list. He played a loving father and husband who was just looking for an efficient and economical way to kill 6 million people. That was probably the best thing he’s ever done.
Wayne Pygram as Scorpius in Farscape, we see him largely through the eyes of the crew of Moya, and he seems to especially relish tormenting John Crichton, who is our eyes and ears in the uncharted Territories
Then, they elaborated on Scorpy’s backstory in the episode “Incubator”,and it fundamentally changed the way you view the character, he still seems “evil” on a superficial level, but you understand WHY he is the way he is, and perhaps he’s not Completey irredeemable…
We’re just viewing his behavior through a “human” filter, not a Sebecean/Scarran filter, he may be bad, but the Scarrans are worse…
I thought of that too but didn’t think anyone else had seen it. Whenever anyone tells me that David Tennant can’t play a bad guy* I think of this.
*I know he played Barty Crouch Jr in Harry Potter but that’s practically a panto villain role. It doesn’t count.