What would the heroes we love–James Bond, Ethan Hunt, Sherlock Holmes, and James West (YES, I said James West) be without the villains who made them shine–Goldfinger, Owen Davies, Professor Moriarity, and Dr. Loveless?
The video below is one of countless lists compiled of the greatest movie villains of all time. Many of my choices were on the list, including Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men (that was a seriously creepy, weird film), Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes in Misery (I grab my knee caps every time I think of her), Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz, Daniel Day-Lewis as Bill the Butcher Cutting in Gangs of New York, and Heath Ledger as The Joker in The Dark Knight.
There are a few I’d add to the list. Javier Bardem–proving he is a masterful at portraying complicated, creepy villains–for his role as Silva in the most recent James Bond film, Skyfall. Daniel Day-Lewis for his role as Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood (I don’t care if he was the protagonist, that guy was definitely a villain). Sean Penn as Mickey Cohen in Gangster Squad (Shivering, just thinking about the opening scene). Leonardo Dicaprio as Calvin Candie in Django Unchained.
Who are your favorite villains of all time? Why do we love to hate them?
Publicity photo from Django Unchained.
I don’t really like books or movies with pure, evil villains. I like when I can sympathize or find something likable in the foe or even a bit humorous. I think of the characters Tim Curry has played over the years– the bumbling villain, for example. If they’re too evil, it makes me tense inside!
I prefer my villains–like my heroes– to be a bit complicated. Bardem accomplishes that in his portrayal of Silva in Skyfall. Sean Penn as Mickey Cohen…purely evil. But he, and everyone else in the film, was phenomenal.
Alan Rickman. He’s been evil in so many movies, but there are a couple of them that I found him somewhat likeable anyway – Robin Hood:Prince of Thieves and Harry Potter. When I read the first Harry Potter book, before it became a movie, I visualized Alan Rickman as Snape as I read Rowling’s description of him, and was very pleased when he was cast in that role.
He also played a good guy (Colonel Christopher Brandon) in Sense and Sensibility, and at that time I still thought of him as evil (from Die Hard) but he pulled it off and I found myself rooting for him.
Good pick, Bree! Hans Gruber is one of the best movie bad guys. And he does gravitate toward those roles. It would be weird to see him play a good guy. I’d suspect he was up to something the whole movie.