If someone asks you to immediately name the most famous and charismatic villains in the history of cinema, then most will surely immediately come to mind such vivid images as Heath Ledger's Joker, Voldemort performed by Ralph Fiennes, Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter and some other antagonists who are simply impossible to forget. Their memorability is a sign of considerable talent and the result of painstaking work on the role and the actor's complete immersion in the image of his character.
It often happens that negative characters are remembered to us much stronger than positive ones, and cause admiration mixed with disgust. The performers of the role do not try to somehow whitewash or romanticize their character - no, that would be too easy; they show him for who he is, but that's what captivates. And if the viewer feels hatred and other quite natural negative emotions for the on-screen villain, then the actor has completely coped with his task.
Heath Ledger - Joker
In the 2008 film The Dark Knight, Heath Ledger managed to create a real icon of the villain - it is not surprising that, in terms of his popularity, this character surpassed even Batman. Incredibly charismatic, dangerous, insane - the Joker still remains the standard antagonist in cinema.
Ledger independently sketched the image, as well as went into seclusion from the world for 43 days to prepare for the role and develop the psychology of the Joker - he even started a diary where he wrote down the thoughts of the villain, and did not leave his role until the end of filming. By the way, many associate the tragic death of the actor with this fateful role, which could shake his psyche. For the embodiment of the image of the Joker, Heath Ledger received not only worldwide recognition, but also the Oscar posthumously.
Joaquin Phoenix - Emperor Commodus
Now Joaquin Phoenix is also associated by many with the role of the Joker, his vision of which he presented in 2019, but in his filmography there is an antagonist who gave him worldwide fame. Before playing the role of Commodus in the film "Gladiator", the actor starred mainly in low-budget films and TV shows, but the image of the Roman emperor became a breakthrough for him in big cinema. The audience hated his character, who, with just a smirk, managed to evoke a persistent disgust, and film critics predicted that the actor would be stuck in the role of notorious villains for a long time.
On set to get into character Phoenix asked to be confronted - this would help to capture the desired emotion of aggression and hatred. And some moments - for example, the expressive phrase “Am I not merciful ?!”, which was remembered by many viewers, was a complete improvisation.
Jack Gleeson – Joffrey Baratheon
In an interview, the young Irish actor mentioned that when creating the image of Joffrey, he was inspired by the role of Joaquin Phoenix in the movie Gladiator. Their characters-rulers are indeed similar in such traits as dishonesty, greed and cruelty.
Jack immediately got used to the image of a bloodthirsty and capricious king. However, the role played a cruel joke with him: many fans have come to associate Gleason with his character, attributing negative qualities to himself, although in reality Jack is his complete opposite, he is not averse to talking with fans, loves animals and does charity work. Anyway, in 2014 the actor had to put an end to his career. And only 6 years later it became known that he would return to the cinema and play in the BBC sitcom Out of Your Mind.
Javier Bardem - Anton Chigurh
Spanish actor Javier Bardem is a real talent for playing villains. Played by him, Anton Chigurh, the main antagonist of Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men and the Coen brothers' adaptation of the same name, entered the history of the film industry as one of the most striking images of hired killers. For this role, the actor was awarded an Oscar.
Chigurh was so remembered by the audience that after the release of the film, he often tops the ratings of the best movie villains, and his remarks have long been disassembled into quotes. By type, Bardem perfectly matched the book antagonist, perfectly conveying his inner essence. The audience was delighted with "pure inevitable evil", the habit of deciding the fate of the victim by tossing a coin and Chigurh-Bardem's hard penetrating gaze.
Christoph Waltz - Hans Landa
Initially, the role of SD Standartenführer Hans Landa could have gone to Leonardo DiCaprio, but it was decided that a German actor should play the Nazi officer in order to be authentic. So the main antagonist of the film "Inglourious Basterds" embodied on the screen Christoph Waltzto whom this role brought wide acclaim. For her, he was awarded several significant awards, including the Oscar.
The character was remembered by the audience and definitely entered the history of cinema. This is a cold-blooded and prudent antagonist, achieving success in his work with special tough methods. In addition, a distinctive feature of the movie hero is knowledge of several languages, due to which at certain moments it can abruptly switch from one to another.
Ralph Fiennes - Voldemort
The main villain of the magical world, Voldemort, is well known not only to Potter fans - he had a significant impact on the entire popular culture, memes and parodies are made with him, and his actions and character are still the subject of discussion. Of course, this is a considerable merit of the talented actor who played this role.
But initially, Ralph Fiennes was not particularly interested in the project and doubted to the last whether he should participate in the filming, but his sister Martha convinced him. But now the actor doesn't want anyone else to play this characteras he admitted in an interview. And indeed: it is now almost impossible to imagine someone else in this role.
Sir Christopher Lee - Saruman
One of the most famous British actors of the XNUMXth century, Christopher Lee, played only villains for many years of his career, and after The Lord of the Rings he returned to this role, playing Count Dooku in Star Wars. His dream was to play GandalfHowever, at the time of filming, due to his age, it was difficult for him to embody this character, while the role of Saruman did not involve horseback riding and battle. And this is very handy - his evil wizard turned out to be an extremely memorable way.
Hugo Weaving - Agent Smith
Black glasses, perfect formal suit, intercom earpiece, countless clones - who doesn't remember the central antagonist of The Matrix? The character is a computer program and artificial intelligence out of control. He initially protected the Matrix, but later became a virus for her, but continued his confrontation with Neo.
The actor Hugo Weaving, who perfectly embodied the image of Agent Smith in the trilogy on the screen could not return to the role in the new film "The Matrix: Resurrection" due to a busy work schedule. He will be replaced by Mindhunter star Jonathan Groff.
Gary Oldman - Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
Thanks to his unusual appearance and charisma, Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg from the movie "The Fifth Element" has become one of the most popular villains in the history of cinema. The audience also remembered the scene of his dialogue with the priest Vito Cornelius, and many of his quotes like "If you want to do something well, do it yourself" are now known to almost everyone.
Zorg is indecently rich, extraordinary, smart, has a typical "villainous" sense of humor, wants to destroy the world, and his character is quite contradictory. If we add to this Gary Oldman's signature charm, which has in its "track record" a lot of played negative characters, then it turns out an almost perfect antagonist.
Anthony Hopkins - Hannibal Lecter
On the American Film Institute's Top XNUMX Villains list, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, brilliantly played by Anthony Hopkins, It ranked first. This role brought the actor an Oscar and became one of the most famous in his career.
Hannibal performed by Hopkins perfectly matches the book image: he is not just a murderer, but an intelligent and aristocratic villain-intellectual, subtly versed in human psychology. To get used to the character, the actor studied the dossiers of various famous serial killers and even visited prisons and trials, and the unblinking gaze, with which he seems to be looking at the viewer directly into the soul, he “peeped” in the video of the interrogations of Charlie Manson.
Imelda Staunton - Dolores Umbridge
Finally, let's dilute our selection with a female character, which many people definitely hate. Professor Dolores Umbridge earned public dislike in books - himself Stephen King called her "the greatest villain since Hannibal Lecter". When it came to film adaptation, the actress Imelda Staunton skillfully played her so that the audience's character caused contempt and discontent even at a subconscious level.
Probably, the fact is that Umbridge is too realistic a villain: such teachers, directors or superiors, we are quite we can meet in real life. This is a habitual evil, which is very difficult to fight. She has no tragic background, and the motives are repulsive. All this leads to the emergence of jokes among the fan base like: "There is an absolute villain in Harry Potter, and it's not Voldemort".
Read on:
Joffrey, Ramsay, Dresser and Umbridge
The rest - Kindergarten
In my opinion, they forgot the role of Stan, the corrupt cop from the movie Leon, played by Gary Oldman.