What/Who are the best "Chewing the Scenery" Films/Actors?

In case anyone isn’t familiar with the term, “Chewing the Scenery” is defined as: Displaying excessive emotion or acting in an exaggerated manner while performing; to be melodramatic; to be flamboyant. Normally this is considered to be a Bad Thing, worthy of criticism and ridicule, but on occasion there is a need for it and actors (and by this I mean good actors, not some refugee from a SyFy monster movie) use it to enhance the movie.

Reason I mention it is I just watched “Buckaroo Banzai”, where John Lithgow, who has won more than a few awards for his undeniable acting ability, simply owns the movie with his way over-the-top portrayal of alien-possessed Dr. Emil Lizardo (“Sealed with a curse as sharp as a knife; doomed is your soul and dammed is your life.”)

The other one that come immediately to mind is Brian Blessed as the Hawk King Vultan in “Flash Gordon”. In an otherwise barely competent acting troop, Blessed not only chewed the scenery, he probably chewed the director’s chair and part of the building, but damn, he’s the only reason to watch the movie. ("Oh well, who wants to live forever? DIVE!!)

So what have I missed? Again, it has to be actors that have done competent work before or after and their overacting enhance the movie instead of dragging it down.

A number of the actors who’ve played the Doctor, with Tom Baker and David Tennant leading the way.

I think Samuel L. Jackson is an Oscar-caliber actor.

I say this because I’ve seen him play a calm, low-key guy.

Well, you realize that Christopher Lloyd was in that one, right?

At that, I’m pretty sure Gene Wilder had two settings: ‘regular’ and ‘atomic’.

Al Pacino’s performance in The Devil’s Advocate is crazy over the top, and I love every second of it. I would say the same for Scarface. I guess one could argue that most of his work now is scenery-chewing, but those are my favorites.

Chris Tucker as Ruby Rhod in The Fifth Element.

Daniel Day Lewis in pretty much anything. Especially Gangs and TWWB. Love him in both of those, but man he’s intense.

The best example of scenery chewing recently was the UK TV series * Vicious*, where Ian McKellan, Derek Jacobi, and Frances de la Tour compete to see who can chew the most.

Khaaaaaaannnnnnnn!!!

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Lenny Henry in “Chef!” - for example https://tune.pk/video/3547187/salt-from-the-bbc-show-chef

Shatner can do subtle, affecting acting, but he can certainly chew scenery.

Anthony Hopkins in “Silence of the Lambs”. Most people are surprised to learn that he was only on screen for 16 minutes total, but he’s been a serious ham in other films, as well.

Jack Nicholson improved nearly every movie he was in over his career, but was most memorable when he was at his most manic.

Richard E. Grant as Withnail in Withnail & I.

Kenneth Branaugh as Prof. Lockhart in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

In both cases, their ultra-exaggerated, dial-it-up-to-eleven acting styles perfectly fit the characters they were portraying.

The original scenery chewer, Gloria Swanson, of course, in Sunset Boulevard.

Faye Dunaway in Mommie Dearest.

Shirley MacLaine in Terms of Endearment.

Gary Oldman in True Romance.

Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood.

Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet.

Christopher Walken in Pulp Fiction.

Let’s not forget Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross; he upstaged Al Pacino, Alan Arkin, Kevin Spacey, Jack Lemmon and Ed Harris ffs.

Charlton Heston.

McKellan and Jacobi can be subdued as well, though.

Robert De Niro does it in virtually every movie.

Gloria Swanson was not the first, nor was Sunset Boulevard the first film in which she did it. Donald Crisp did it in Broken Blossoms in 1919, for example, and Swanson did it in an early talkie called Indiscreet. Joan Crawford was a master of it, and so was Barbara Stanwyk, but Crawford’s career reaches back to the silents.

Lucille Ball started out as a dramatic actress, and could chew scenery with the best. She has quite a list of credits before she found comedy.

On a good day, with the wind behind him, Geoffrey Rush can make you forget that there is anyone else in the cast, let alone sharing a set / stage with him.

Geoffrey Rush, especially in Pirates or Mystery Men for example, is great at it when he wants to be.

Alan Rickman, the only reason to see Kevin Costner’s “Robin Hood”.

First actor that comes to mind is George C. Scott in Dr. Strangelove.