Although I don’t believe in Satan as a real being, he does make a good character. Who do you think portrayed Ol’ Scratch the best? TV or movies. If you want to throw books in there I won’t stop you but thats not what I had in mind. Please say why. Does he come closest to how you think he actually is? Is it the best written or acted?
To me its Ray Wise in the show Reaper. He was charming, personable and funny. Just the kind of guy that could get you to sign a contract for your soul. But in an instant he would change to evil and menacing. I liked the show and was sorry to see it go. He was the best part of it.
My favorite is from a almost-but-not-quite-obnoxiously-Indie movie called Highway 61, about a jazz magician and a manic pixie dream fairy who carry a corpse from Canada to New Orleans, chased all the way by the Devil. Only the Devil may just be a loser who’s convinced he’s the Devil: he grants people their deepest desire in exchange for their soul, which he contracts for by snapping a Polaroid of them and putting a dot of their blood on it. He’s really just a horrible person, in the sense that he says really mean things to people to corrupt them, like when he tells a cute little girl in a Christian Family Band that she’ll never become a musical star because she’s ugly, and she’ll grow up fat and ugly and alone, but he can help her with that…
The Collector’s Satan was portrayed by a number of different actors, since each week, he’d take on a different guise - a little girl, a homeless man, a cab driver played by Blu Mankuma, etc. It was a nifty little conceit, which made a lot of sense, as well as giving a lot of actors a chance to give him a spin (the characterization remained the same - a nice blend of superficial good nature, deep seated evil, and biting sarcasm).
I was also fond of John Glover’s Satan from Brimstone.
These are almost the same character. And the two of them together are my favorite (yes, I can bastardize English that way.) I always thought that if there is an actual Satan, he’s got to be a successful, charming, powerful white dude, at least when he’s on the clock in our culture. The whole point, to me, is that this is someone you’d trust. Someone like your doctor or school principal or therapist, who is genuinely nice and makes you let your guard down and open up to him. Then the moment comes when he reveals what lies beneath, and it’s scary as fuck. Satan = betrayal, and revealing *your *innermost ick as much as his. These guys do that.
Another vote for John Milton in Devil’s Advocate. He makes it seem so smooth, so effortless. Also, he chews the scenery like an industrial-grade meat grinder.
Kevin Lomax: In the Bible you lose.
John Milton: Well, consider the source, son.
First one that comes to mind is DeNiro as Louis Cyphere in Angel Heart. His was the first portrayal that really made an impression on me as the devil incarnate, and how he would present himself to us in a way that he’d blend in with society.
Ray Wise is my pick too. Now, anytime I see him in something else, his character really is Satan. He is in an episode of Sports Night where he could easily be the devil in disguise.
