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

[Dale_Sams]

@blondebear

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

Good God…Exorcist 3 has Scott*, Superpriest Nicol Williamson, Brad Dourif…and its amazing.

“I KNOWWWWW…PAIN!!! And I KNOWWWWW…FEAR!!!”

[bobkitty]

Pretty much the last 20 years of Jeremy Irons’s career.

[kayaker]

@SaharaTea

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.

I was going to say Scent of a Woman, for which Pacino got Best Actor.

[Icarus]

Streep

Streep

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[WordMan]

@The_Stainless_Steel_Rat

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.”)

“Laugh-a while you can, Monkey Boy!!”

I love this movie. Why? Because it’s Perfect.

Otherwise, yeah, Hans Gruber in Die Hard. Alan Rickman just jumped off the screen.

[The_Other_Waldo_Pepper]

@The_Stainless_Steel_Rat

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.

I believe the German term for it is “Christoph Waltz”.

[Novelty_Bobble]

@Brown_Eyed_Girl

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.

Can’t disagree with any but the last. Walken’s appearance in Pulp Fiction is fairly gentle and low-key. Certainly it is mannered, but it is Walken…that’s always an element of any role he takes, but it isn’t scenery-chewing I don’t think. True Romance? far more so I’d suggest.

[ftg]

Joe Morton who plays Olivia’s father on Scandal.

The first of his “daddy rants” sounds really good. Great performance. The second one makes you think “Didn’t I just hear this exact same speech before?” The 50th one makes you scream “Enough! Stop giving the same rant over and over. We’ve heard it all before. Do it some other way for once.”

[lost4life]

No love for Calculon?

[quiltguy]

Nancy Kelly and Eileen Heckart TAKE. THE. CAKE. for scenery chewing, all-time division, in “The Bad Seed.” Kelly comes out ahead only because she had more screen time. :rolleyes:

[Sir_T-Cups]

Sir Antony Hopkins in pretty much every scene of his in Westworld.

Also, James Spader as Ultron in “Age of”

[Machine_Elf]

@ftg

Joe Morton who plays Olivia’s father on Scandal.

The first of his “daddy rants” sounds really good. Great performance. The second one makes you think “Didn’t I just hear this exact same speech before?” The 50th one makes you scream “Enough! Stop giving the same rant over and over. We’ve heard it all before. Do it some other way for once.”

Pretty much every character on that show takes turns delivering melodramatic rants like you describe. It’s starting to get tiresome.

[Catamount]

Peter Ustinov in Quo Vadis. Even the camera lenses had bite marks in them afterNero’s artist speech.

[mbh]

Nicol Williamson in Excalibur.

Laurence Olivier in Richard III.

Ian Mckellan in Richard III.

R Lee Ermy in Full Metal Jacket.

[The_Other_Waldo_Pepper]

Jack Cassidy got nominated for a couple of Emmys before he got asked to play a COLUMBO villain over and over – and, like I happened to mention not all that long ago, his scenery-chewing is actually the key to his alibi:

@The_Other_Waldo_Pepper

The plot in a COLUMBO episode – “Publish or Perish” – had Jack Cassidy, the man with the most punchable face ever seen, establish his alibi by smashing his car into someone else’s before getting locked up for drunkenness.

He hams it up like mad, since the point is for (a) the bartender to remember the irritating loudmouth who was boozing it up and for (b) it to be plausible that he was so drunk that, when asked where he was during the murder, apparently doesn’t even recall smashing into that vehicle – because the best alibi is one the insult-slinger clearly didn’t set up, to the point where he honestly doesn’t seem to realize he has it.

(Come to think of it, COLUMBO villains are probably a natural for this – given how William Shatner and Nicol Williamson have come up, and Ricardo Montalban has been, uh, referenced indirectly. I mean, have you seen Patrick McGoohan when he’s really going for it? He’s not just chewing scenery; he’s relishing it.)

[Steophan]

Nicolas Cage in every film he’s ever been in.

[Dendarii_Dame]

Rowan Atkinson in all the Blackadder series.

[teela_brown]

@Barkis_is_Willin

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

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.

[bobkitty]

@mbh

R Lee Ermy in Full Metal Jacket.

Clearly you haven’t spent much time around Marines. That’s their default.

[Gatopescado]

Madeline Kahn!