# What/Who are the best "Chewing the Scenery" Films/Actors? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 9, 2017, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359 "2017-02-09T00:12:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359/41 "2017-02-09T17:47:09Z")
Jonathan Harris as Dr. Smith. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359/42 "2017-02-09T18:07:31Z")
Jim Carrey’s career. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359/43 "2017-02-09T18:16:53Z")
**Gerard Butler** can actually be restrained (too much so in _Phantom of the Opera_, IMHO), but he’s definitely over the top in scenery chewing in the wonderfully awful **Gods of Egypt**. To be honest, the movie really calls for Overblown Special Effects and Overdone Acting. It’d be unwatchable otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359/44 "2017-02-09T18:27:48Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > I just rewatched _Gangs of New York_ yesterday, and afterwards read some trivia on IMDB. It said DDL stayed in character all the time he was filming the movie, even when going about his personal life. He went out to dinner with Scorcese and DiCaprio, and the character terrified the waitress, who wouldn’t go near him. He apparently stayed in character while filming _My Left Foot_, to the point of suffering broken ribs from being hunched over for that long – you know, while getting fed in between takes, since he couldn’t do it himself. And for _The Crucible_, he of course didn’t shower during the making of the film – because there was no indoor plumbing in the little 1600s-type house he (a) lived in during the production, after it was (b) built with his own two hands. Though he apparently got plenty of cold water thrown on him when he was living in a jail cell for _In The Name Of The Father_. They say he got so into character as Hamlet that he saw his father’s ghost. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359/45 "2017-02-09T18:59:38Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > They say he got so into character as Hamlet that he saw his father’s ghost. Well, that’s okay, but he’d better not thrust a sword through a curtain. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359/46 "2017-02-09T19:01:47Z")
I’m just saying, we could really clean up this city if they’d just cast him as Batman. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359/47 "2017-02-09T19:41:40Z")
I thought Brad Pitt was scene stealing in Twelve Monkeys. Jude Law is over the top in the current series of The Young Pope. ---
**Author:** ![Celidin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Celidin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celidin)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359/48 "2017-02-09T19:51:45Z")
> [@bobkitty](#): > > Pretty much the last 20 years of Jeremy Irons’s career. in particular Jeremy Irons in the Dungeons and Dragons movie… so very over the top there, it was the best thing about it. Going to put in Christopher Plummer in Star Trek VI… “Cry HAAAVOOC!!! And let slip! The Dogs! Of War!” and so on… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359/49 "2017-02-09T19:53:07Z")
What strikes me as kind of interesting is, David Suchet would spend the majority of a typical POIROT episode doing the opposite of this: he’s subtle and subdued, patient and polite – a quiet sort of chap who chooses his words very carefully. Oh, sure, there’s some warmth in his voice, or a wistful look in his eye, but so what? Until the summation scene, at which point, holy _crap_: he’s theatrical, all showy gestures and loud accusations shot though with emotion; he’s triumphant to the point of sneering, he’s actually kind of insulted that you thought this would fool him, he’s glaring as if he’s genuinely angry; the mask is off, and the man is center stage. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359/50 "2017-02-09T19:56:34Z")
Some great ones have already been mentioned. In fact, Lithgow in _Buckaroo Banazi_ came to my mind just from seeing the title of the thread. He was also great in _Third Rock From the Sun_. **Eli Wallach** is absolutely brilliant in _The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly_; he’s not quite as manic as some of the others here, but he totally owns that movie. And I’ve seen him play very mild-mannered characters, including films from the same era. I almost can’t believe it’s the same guy. _It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World_ was just on TV the other day, and there’s some first-class chewing going on in that; **Jonathan Winters** , **Phil Silvers** , **Dick Shawn** , especially **Ethel Merman** are standouts. Buddy Hackett is admirably restrained. > [@blondebear](#): > > First actor that comes to mind is George C. Scott in Dr. Strangelove. I’ve read that it wasn’t really his choice to play it that way. Kubrick had trouble getting Scott to play his role broadly enough. He apparently asked Scott to do a few takes with a very over-the-top performance to get the feel for it, but promised the actor that he wouldn’t use them. Turned out he did put them in the film and Scott was rather angry about it. I don’t like to see someone manipulated like that, but damn if they didn’t make a masterpiece. ---
**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:** [February 9, 2017, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359/51 "2017-02-09T20:17:42Z")
I’ve only seen Vernon Wells in two movies, but he was utterly over-the-top outstanding in both of them: The mohawk bad guy from **The Road Warrior** , and the main bad guy “Bennet” from **Commando**. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359/52 "2017-02-09T20:21:05Z")
Jimmy Cagney was great at this. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359/53 "2017-02-09T20:32:35Z")
Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan in _The Walking Dead_ ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359/54 "2017-02-09T20:33:49Z")
I know a lot of people here don’t like Nicholas Cage and Kevin Costner, but I think there style of acting works well for the movies they star in. Strangely although I usually like Al;an Rickman as a villain, his acting as the sherriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood was so over the top I hated it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359/55 "2017-02-09T20:56:08Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > I know a lot of people here don’t like Nicholas Cage and Kevin Costner, but I think there style of acting works well for the movies they star in. I’ve pretty much lost interest in Johnny Depp’s schtick at this point, but I have to admit he was amazing the first time Captain Jack Sparrow swaggered through a scene in best making-it-up-as-he-goes-along fashion, often amused and routinely delivering his lines as if somewhere between _“drunken storyteller”_ and _“cocky swindler”_ – or, for that matter, _“dripping with sarcasm”_, or _“hey, wait; is he actually crazy?”_ ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359/56 "2017-02-10T06:18:14Z")
Peter O’Toole as Henry II in _Becket_ and _The Lion in Winter_. But in O’Toole’s defense, Henry was like that. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359/57 "2017-02-10T11:20:43Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > Peter O’Toole as Henry II in _Becket_ and _The Lion in Winter_. But in O’Toole’s defense, Henry was like that. O’Toole got nominated for an Oscar by playing a scenery-chewing actor – excuse me; he’s not an _actor_; he’s a _movie star!_ – in MY FAVORITE YEAR. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359/58 "2017-02-10T15:00:56Z")
You have to admit that Toshiro Mifune chewed a lot of scenery in _The Seven Samurai_. It was necessary that he did so, as he was trying to bluff and braggadocio his way into the rank of samurai. But he was often over the top even by western standards and got a bit wearing at times. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359/59 "2017-02-10T20:41:43Z")
Brad Dourif has been mentioned, but not in connection with _Dune_–which is a motherlode of scenery-chewing. Of course that’s basically what you get with almost anything by David Lynch. Ben Kingsley is fully capable of masticating the décor, as he did to good effect in Harold Pinter’s _Betrayal_. Jeremy Irons basically stood back in deference, in that one. Lost4life mentioned Calculon: Maurice LaMarche is LaMaster of voice work and chews (scenery) magnificently. And in the Classics division, Herbert Lom’s work in the Pink Panther movies deserves mention. He spent a lot of those performances doing the Slow Burn, but he did those slow burns very theatrically. (My first thought on reading the thread title: Nicol Williamson’s Merlin in _Excalibur_, mentioned upthread.) ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359/60 "2017-02-10T21:20:02Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > … > > Ben Kingsley is fully capable of masticating the décor, as he did to good effect in Harold Pinter’s _Betrayal_. … Serial offender - Ben Kingsley in _Sexy Beast_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359.md?page=4)