Some of the best villain performances in film and television history have come from actors who dared to act. and break the sometimes somewhat polite varnish; for which they were known. Indeed, what could be more exhilarating for the actor or the spectator than to discover an unexpected performance.
The Hollywood starification system has an unfortunate tendency to become too popular. freeze the actors in the image of their great successes. In fact, it is rare, in the end, those who can play everything, and even rarer those who can play it all. who are given the opportunity to get out of their comfort zone. Here are some great players who have succeeded in achieving this goal. break their good guy image to embody fascinating cinema monsters.
#6 Tom Cruise in Interview with the Vampire
Tom Cruise has a career serving the widow and the orphan and the American dream.The actor saved his life the world a good dozen times. Tom races, pilots, and sails around the world. around the world and his films to fight bad guys and make his smile shine « colgate » at all latitudes. But if Tom Cruise is mainly known for his hero roles in productions as diverse asTop Gun, Last Samuraiï or obviously Mission Impossible, he also has a magnificent ability to à make evil shine.
If films like War of the Worlds, Collateral, Jerry Maguire, Eyes Wide Shut or Magnolia play perfection with the flaws (sometimes real) of the actor, never has Tom been as chilling as in Vampire. When Tom Cruise announced that he would play Lestat the vampire in the adaptation of Interview with the Vampire, the whole world remained doubtful. Even the author of the book, Anne Rice, spoke out to express her dissatisfaction with the situation. this surprising casting. However, when the film came out in 1994, it was a shock.Not only is the film a huge success, but the whole world is amazed by it. by the performance of the actor of Cocktail and Jour de tonnerre. If since then the character has been embodied by 2 other actors (Sam Reid and Stuart Townsend), à To this day, Lestat still has the pale and terrifying features of Tom Cruise.
#5 Patrick Stewart in Green Room
Patrick Stewart has been an essential figure on stage and screen for decades. He has become a huge figure in pop culture by repeatedly playing a hero and a reassuring leader in sagas like Star Trek or X-Men. Thanks to his knowledge and mastery of Shakespearean theater and his Through his numerous theatrical experiences, Stewart was able to bring a sense of nobility and gravitas to his work. &àgrave; these two roles. However, Stewart has also been able to exploit his know-how to adda depth and a truly frightening darkness to the different villains that he was able to embody. The most terrifying of these diabolical beings played by Patrick Stewart is certainly that of Darcy Banker in Green Room.
In Green Room, Stewart plays the horribly realistic leader of a neo-Nazi gang. The way he leads and restrains his pack of sociopaths in the film is simply brilliant. Always on the razor's edge,the character has all the demonic charm of the worst villains in history.Sometimes charming and reassuring, then suddenly terrifying and icy, the actor is always perfectly accurate. For the record, we can also remember thatStewart also plays Avery Bullock, the not very clean, nor really good boss of the animated series American Dad!
#4 Cate Blanchett in Indiana Jones 4 and Thor: Ragnarok
Cate Blanchett is one of the most accomplished performers in modern cinema. She won the won several Oscars and was awarded critically acclaimed. She touched &àgrave; Lots of very different genres, including historical films like Elizabeth, fantasy films like the Lord of the Rings trilogy, > authoritative dramas like Blue Jasmine or even satirical comedies like Don't Look Up. And if Blanchett is mainly known for her largely positive character roles (although complex),she especially seems to have fun when she works for the side. obscure. For example, her performance full of histrionics and excessive delirium by Irina Spalko is clearly one of the rare elements to be revealed. save fromIndiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
In this film,Blanchet gives; her caricatured Russian villain has a joyfully delirious aspect that we didn't really know about her until then.Since then, the actress has also been able to bring all her talent to the yet very one-dimensional stepfather of Cinderella (Disney 2015 version). However, the role of the memorable villain and which marked the public is clearly her performance in the role of Hela in Thor: Ragnarok. With this character, Cate Blanchett was able to go far, very far even. With her gothic version of Hela who balances her punchlines in a comical manner while playing on her menacing aura, Blanchett is having fun and feels like she's playing. each of his appearances. Since then, MCU fans have been asking for more. body and shout the return of this villain who is one of the rare ones to to have really made a mark the saga.
#3 james McAvoy in Split
Despite; the little physical resemblance he has with Patrick Stewart, it is indeed James McAvoy who was chosen to play the young Professor Xavier in the prequel to X -Men, First Class (The Beginning in French). This choice is not due to at random: just like his illustrious predecessor and elder, James McAvoy embodies a certain image of gentleness and of the one who rights wrongs in Hollywood films. Of course, McAvoy has also always shown his strengths. a talent for more chaotic characters, notably in Filth, thus drawing attention to his ability to &àgrave; play a more disturbing role and destructive. However, McAvoy’s true secret skill lies in the horror genre, as demonstrated by his performance as a villain in films like Split, Glass > and the next Speak No Evil. xelsresize85.webp” type=”image/webp”>
Despite the magnetic presence of Anya Taylor-Joy, it is indeed James McAvoy who is the driving force behind M. Night Shyamalan's Split. In the film, McAvoy plays Kevin Wendell Crumb, whose dissociative identity disorder causes him to suffer. led him to develop more than twenty identities. This allows McAvoy effectively plays multiple villains in the same role, ranging from the disturbing Dennis to the menacing Patricia. All this leads to the introduction of the Beast, an identity monstrous which requires an animal and bestial performance (obviously) from McAvoy. This role has clearly changed; the career of the actor, who has since multiplied role stylesand is no longer confined to acting. to the nice boy.
#2 Heath Ledger in Batman
Before The Dark KnightHeath Ledger was best known for his performances as a charming young lead.The actor first appeared in a post-Hercules fantasy hero series, Roar, where he played an idealistic young warrior. Even when his career begins to take off, gets carried away, he always plays the nice young man whose love story takes turns that are more or less complicated or at worst tragic, as in Brokeback Mountain.< /em> However, after his experience on The Patriot, he begins slowly but surely explore another register, that of more unstable or dangerous characters, as in the film Ned Kelly. But his most famous role is and will surely always be that of the Joker. In The Dark Knight, Heath Ledger’s Joker is a pure magnetic threat, destabilizing everyone and upsetting the order of things at large. never.
To say that this is a historic performance is an understatement. Ledger's commitment to this role is total.He who had been cast &àgrave; general surprise and engendered a huge bad buzz knew he had everything to do with it. prove with this role. In the film, it is his turn to frightening, disturbing, cunning trick or strangely funny. It'sa truly astonishing performance that earned the actor received a posthumous Oscar after his premature death. This, associated with &àgrave; the strange and dark performance he delivered in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,emphasizes; how effective Ledger was at subverting his image and creating something more disturbing.
#1 Bryan Cranston in Breaking Bad
For years, Bryan Cranston was perhaps best known for his comedic charactersor at worst down-to-earth. It was difficult to imagine that Malcolm's kindly eccentric dad was hiding inside him a terrible, violent and bloodthirsty gangster, capable of killing people. design a high quality drug in his clandestine laboratory. Then Breaking Bad suddenly appeared and completely redefined Cranston's image in the public eye. As Walter White, the actor was able to create a performance that was perpetually anchored in reality but also always on the edge of criminal drama and gritty comedy, all in a heartbreaking and cruel socio-family drama. More than anything, however,Cranston proved that he was capable of terrifying the public with a look or a simple reply: “ Say my name… »
As Walter White's dark odyssey forces him to take action. every step of the way adopting ever more vicious tactics and ever more cruel choices, Cranston was able to depict the character's descent in a way that was paradoxically ever more attractive to the public.Even when the character ends up becoming the worst monster, the audience never looks away and we remain fascinated. by the beast that is born before our eyes. For once, critics and audiences agreed, and Bryan Cranston ended up winning several Emmy Awards for his performance. Since then, the characters played by the actor are much more varied. Today, the actor himself has already declared that’he doesn't think he'll be able to find a better role than that of Walter White one day.
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