Summary
- Performers like Daryl Hannah, Jon Hamm, and Jesse Plemons excel at being chilling villains despite their previous heroic roles.
- Their ability to subvert expectations and bring a new level of darkness to their characters showcases their versatility on-screen.
- From Elle Driver in Kill Bill to Reverend Wayne in The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, these actors prove that heroes can make the most memorable villains.
Some of the actors who prove how versatile they are by stunning audiences with a different set of skills than they've previously showcased.
One of the most memorable of these kinds of shifts comes when a performer usually associated with heroic roles tackles a villainous character. Sometimes, they can undercut the innocent softer characters or archetypes they've honed in the past with a harsher and dark performance. Others can completely subvert their past cinematic identities, allowing the performers to dig into something more gruesome, frightening, or tragic. Here are the best Hollywood performers who do well in leading heroic roles, but are more memorable when they play chilling villains in movies and shows.
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10 Daryl Hannah
From Splash's Mermaid Love Interest To Kill Bill's Most Vengeful Killer
Some of Hollywood's most unexpectedly effective scary villain performances can come from actors who typically use their skills for lighter fare. Daryl Hannah is a great example of this dichotomy, especially when looking at her early career. While she'd shown her range in films like sci-fi like Blade Runner and horror films like The Fury, Daryl Hannah truly made a name for herself in romantic comedies like Splash and Summer Lovers. She also showcased her dramatic chops in Steel Magnolias and Wall Street. However, her most memorable performance saw her abandon any softness for Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill films.
Serving as a direct contrast to Uma Thurman's Beatrix Kiddo/The Bride, Elle Driver is a maniacal and ruthless killer who stands out among the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad for her personal enmity of Beatrix. Elle is a cruel character that Hannah brings a spirited vigor to, a heartless killer who openly mocks Beatrix over the death of their shared sensei. It's a vicious performance that Hannah milks for all its worth. Hannah's performance is such a memorable creation that prospective sequels to Kill Bill would have likely included Elle in some capacity, as reported by Indiewire.
Kill Bill: Vol. 1
- Release Date
- October 10, 2003
- Runtime
- 111 minutes
- Director
- Quentin Tarantino
Cast
The Bride
Lucy LiuO-Ren Ishii
WHERE TO WATCH
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 follows an assassin as she seeks revenge after being betrayed by her former employer, Bill, and fellow assassins. Released in 2003, the film initiates a violent journey of vengeance directed by Quentin Tarantino and stars Uma Thurman as the central character known as The Bride.
- Writers
- Quentin Tarantino
9 Jon Hamm
How Jon Hamm Has Used His Charms For Evil
Jon Hamm is one of Hollywood's most deceptively versatile performers. Although his biggest claim to fame is the AMC drama Mad Men, the performer has also showcased an impressive amount of comedic timing in shows like 30 Rock and films like Tag. However, Hamm's also able to turn that charm over into something more toxic, using it to fuel characters who may be quick to grin, but are quicker to stab someone in the back. This extends to his varied performance in Good Omens, but has been used even better elsewhere.
In The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Hamm's Reverend Richard Wayne is the overarching villain of the comedy series. Wayne was the one who kidnapped Kimmy and three other women as part of his apocalypse cult, and his impact is felt throughout the show. Hamm undercuts the comedy with an unpredictable menace that adds a threatening element to the show when he appears. He did something similar in Baby Driver but without an overtly comedic tone to ease the tension. Instead, Buddy goes from disarming and charming to a cold-blooded killer almost instantly, highlighting how frightening Hamm can be.
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Baby Driver
- Release Date
- June 28, 2017
- Runtime
- 113 minutes
- Director
- Edgar Wright
Cast
WHERE TO WATCH
After being coerced into working for a crime boss, getaway driver Baby is determined to escape his life of thievery and violence to make a life with his girlfriend Debora, However, when he finds himself taking part in a heist doomed to fail, things start looking desperate.
- Writers
- Edgar Wright
8 Jesse Plemons
An Innocent Face Can Hide Horrifying Intention
Jesse Plemons had been a working actor for years when he gained notoriety as Landry Clarke in Friday Night Lights. The show highlighted his dramatic and comedic skills alike. Since then, Plemons has had plenty of opportunities to showcase his skills in films like The Power Of The Dog, which earned him an Academy Award nomination. However, some of his most memorable performances have instead mined Plemon's ability to play deceptively kind but secretly awful characters.
His appearance on Breaking Bad underscored this well, with his seemingly benign Todd debuting in season 5 and revealing himself to be a casually murderous criminal. He almost seems bored when killing children, turning him into one of the show's most shocking antagonists late in the series. Shows like Black Mirror let Plemons mine a more important rage as a cruel videogame designer, highlighting a different but equally scary kind of villain. Civil War is Jesse Plemons' best villainous performance, fusing the casual cruelty, murderous edge, and dark side that elevates all his villainous characters.
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Civil War
- Release Date
- April 12, 2024
- Runtime
- 109 Minutes
- Director
- Alex Garland
Cast
Kirsten DunstLee
Wagner MouraJoel
WHERE TO WATCH
Civil War is a 2024 action thriller from writer and director Alex Garland. Starring Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, and Stephen McKinley Henderson, Civil War takes place in the near future and shows the United States entering a new Civil War after California and Texas attempt to separate from the country.
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7 James McAvoy
McAvoy Is A Master At Creating Uneasy Tension
James McAvoy has played a lot of different roles over the years, ranging from the tragic romantic leads of Atonement to big broad superhero films like X-Men: Days of Future Past. McAovy has also always showcased a talent for more chaotic characters, with his performance in Filth drawing attention to how well he plays a more unhinged and destructive role. However, McAvoy's true secret skill lies in horror, with his villainous turns in films like Split, Glass, and the Speak No Evil highlighting his versatility as a performer.
James McAvoy is the engine that fuels Split, M. Night Shyamalan's stealth sequel to Unbreakable. In the film, McAvoy plays Kevin Wendell Crumb, whose dissociative identity disorder has resulted in him developing over twenty identities. This allows McAvoy to effectively play multiple villains in the same part, ranging from the unsettling Dennis and the menacing Patricia. This all builds to the introduction of the Beast, a monstrous identity that requires an almost inhuman performance from McAvoy. It's a masterful and varied performance and sets the bar high for Speak No Evil.
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Speak No Evil
- Release Date
- September 13, 2024
- Runtime
- 110 Minutes
- Director
- James Watkins
Cast
James McAvoy
Mackenzie Davis
WHERE TO WATCH
Speak No Evil is a 2024 horror-thriller film by writer-director James Watkins. A remake of the 2022 movie Speak No Evil follows a family who head to the country for a much-needed vacation - but the situation quickly deteriorates, thrusting them into a horrific nightmare.
- Writers
- James Watkins
6 Cate Blanchett
There's A Good Reason MCU Fans Wanted More Hela
Cate Blanchett is one of modern film's most accomplished performers. She's won multiple Academy Awards and received critical acclaim for a wide variety of roles, including historical films like Elizabeth and The Aviator, fantasy films like The Lord of the Rings trilogy, complex drams like Blue Jasmine, and satirical comedies like Don't Look Up. Blanchett has been particularly memorable when she takes on a villainous role. The cartoonishly over-the-top Irina Spalko is one of the few enjoyable elements of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
In the film, Blanchett gives the Russian villain a gleefully broad element that's missing from many of her more nuanced performances. That more dramatic approach underscores her roles in Hanna and Cinderella, where she helped bring unexpected depth to potentially one-note characters. The best showcase of her skills is Hela in Thor: Ragnarok, which saw her go big in action scenes, comically underplay her threatening aura, and occasionally delve into more dramatic moments. There's a reason fans were ecstatic to see Hela return in What If...? season 2 adds more depth to the character.
Thor: Ragnarok
- Runtime
- 2h 10m
- Director
- Taika Waititi
- Writers
- Christopher Yost, Craig Kyle, Stephany Folsom
- Sequel(s)
- Thor: Love and Thunder
- Franchise(s)
- Marvel Cinematic Universe
Thor: Ragnarok is the third Thor solo film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the first directed by Taika Waititi. In the sequel, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) finds himself stranded on Sakaar, ruled by the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum). Soon he teams with Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) to return to Asgard and defeat his sister Hela.
5 Bryan Cranston
Walter White Only Works Because Of Bryan Cranston's Performance
For years, Bryan Cranston was perhaps best known for his more comedic and down-to-earth characters. Shows like Malcolm In The Middle and films like Drive reinforced this, with Cranston often portraying more innocent or kindly characters. Then Breaking Bad redefined Cranston in the eyes of the public. As Walter White, Cranston was able to infuse the crime drama with occasional bursts of pathetic comedy or heartbreaking pain. More than anything though, Cranston proved capable of terrifying people in-universe and in real life.
As White's dark journey forced him to embrace vicious tactics and horrible choices, Cranston was able to portray the character's descent with a compelling draw that kept audiences from looking away. By the end of the show, Cranston's snarls and proclamations were unsettling in the best way possible, perfectly underscoring the character's descent into villainy. The industry as a whole agreed, with Cranston eventually winning several Emmy Awards for his performance. Cranston's performance utilized his typically affable persona to vicious (and terrific) effect.
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Breaking Bad
- Release Date
- 2008 - 2013-00-00
- Network
- AMC
- Showrunner
- Vince Gilligan
Cast
Walter White
Jesse Pinkman
WHERE TO WATCH
Breaking Bad, created by Vince Gilligan, follows a chemistry teacher turned drug kingpin named Walter White (Bryan Cranston) as he attempts to provide for his family following a fatal diagnosis. With nothing left to fear, White ascends to power in the world of drugs and crime, transforming the simple family man into someone known only as Heisenberg.
- Directors
- Vince Gilligan, Michelle Maclaren
- Writers
- Peter Gould, Gennifer Hutchison, Vince Gilligan, George Mastras, Moira Walley-Beckett, Sam Catlin, Thomas Schnauz
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4 Jake Gyllenhaal
Peeling Back Layers To Find Darkness
Jake Gyllenhaal spent years as a leading man on the big-screen, anchoring everything from tense dramas like Prisoners, yearning romances like Brokeback Mountain, and spectacles like The Day After Tomorrow. This variest and evolving career is still going strong two decades later, with his action-packed Road House remake proving to be a hit for Prime Video. However, the performer is also a deceptively great villain, whose charming exterior can be undercut by a vicious streak.
His most high-profile villain role so far has been Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home. Initially introduced as a hero, Mysterio quickly proves to be a vindictive and quick-tempered killer who has no qualms about trying to murder Peter Parker. However, the performance pales in comparison to Gyllenhaal's work in Nightcrawler, an intense thriller where he plays a particularly dark reporter seeking fame. The character is a masterclass in falsified charm, with the film's best moments seeing Gyllenhaal peel back the darker layers of the character.
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Nightcrawler
- Release Date
- October 31, 2014
- Runtime
- 117 Minutes
- Director
- Dan Gilroy
WHERE TO WATCH
Written and directed by Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler follows petty thief Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) after he learns of a potentially lucrative job opportunity selling footage of violent events to local media outlets. Lou becomes a "stringer" - a freelance journalist who captures and records footage for news stations - and finds that the profession sucks him into the most dangerous parts of Los Angeles. Drawn deeper into his dark obsession, Lou becomes increasingly fixated with violence and crime.
- Writers
- Dan Gilroy
3 Patrick Stewart
Bringing Shakespearean Gravitas To Surprisingly Twisted Performances
Patrick Stewart has been a mainstay of the stage and screen for decades, but blew up in the pop-culture consciousness with his performances as Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Charles Xavier in the Fox X-Men films. Stewart brings a sense of noble gravitas to both roles, grounding the potentially over-the-top genre roles with a deeply felt humanity. However, Stewart has used that skill to add frightening depth to villains, even beyond the dramatic stakes he shows off in BBC adaptations of Hamlet or Macbeth.
In The Green Room, Stewart is the horrifyingly grounded leader of a Neo-Nazi gang. His efforts to corral and contain the band highlight a brutal edge that Stewart fleshes out with effective vigor. It adds a heavy level of menace to a painfully physical threat. On the other end of the tonal spectrum (but no less impressive) is Stewart's recurring role as Avery Bullock in American Dad!. Leaning into the commitment and gravitas he brings to every role, Stewart plays the chaotic Bullock with a darkly wacky confidence that benefits the show's wild tone that often goes unrelentingly dark.
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Green Room
- Release Date
- April 15, 2016
- Runtime
- 95 minutes
- Director
- Jeremy Saulnier
Cast
Anton Yelchin
Imogen Poots
WHERE TO WATCH
Green Room is a horror thriller that stars Patrick Stewart as a calculatingly devious club owner who is forced to deal with a group of punk rockers who witness a crime they shouldn't have. Unable to find the breakaway success they hoped for, The Ain't Rights end their tour at a strange, run-down club in the middle of the woods in Oregon. When the band bears witness to a crime in the club's backroom, they find themselves prisoners to the club's dangerous owner who intends to keep his business a secret - no matter who has to pay the price.
- Writers
- Jeremy Saulnier
2 Heath Ledger
The G.O.A.T Joker
Before The Dark Knight, Heath Ledger was best known for the charming performances he delivered in films like 10 Things I Hate About You, Knight's Tale, and Brokeback Mountain. The performer brought his understated charm to all three roles, highlighting his effectiveness as a romantic lead across genres. However, his most famous role is and always will be the Joker. In The Dark Knight, Heath Ledger's Joker is a pure magnetic menace, throwing off everyone and upsetting the status quo on several levels.
To say it's a historic performance is an understatement, and it's all elevated by Heath Ledger's committed performance. He's scary, unnerving, tricky, and deceptively funny. It's a truly staggering performance that won the actor a posthumous Academy Award after his untimely death. This, coupled with the effectively seedy performance he delivered in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus underscores how effective Ledger was at subverting his typical talents to create something frightening and unforgettable.
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The Dark Knight
- Release Date
- July 16, 2008
- Runtime
- 152 minutes
- Director
- Christopher Nolan
Cast
Bruce Wayne
Joker
WHERE TO WATCH
The Dark Knight, directed by Christopher Nolan, is the second installment in the Batman trilogy starring Christian Bale as Batman. Released in 2008, the film follows Batman’s alliance with Jim Gordon and Harvey Dent as they combat the organized crime that threatens Gotham, facing the menacing Joker.
- Writers
- Christopher Nolan, Bob Kane, Jonathan Nolan, David S. Goyer
1 Jack Nicholson
A Great Cinematic Lead, But A Legendary Cinematic Villain
Jack Nicholson is one of the most accomplished actors in Hollywood history, with the performer showcasing a truly staggering wealth of skills across an illustrious career. Films like Something's Gotta Give and As Good As It Gets highlight his charms. Dramas like One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Easy Rider, and Chinatown speak to his versatility as a leading man and ing player alike. However, Jack Nicholson has always been best utilized as a villain, something that some of his most famous performances all have in common.
Nicholson has played plenty of villains, some standing out more than others Jack Torrence is the tragic driving force behind The Shining, unnerving and sympathetic as he slowly turns from man to monster. There's less of a transformation in his performance as Joker in Batman, but Nicholson infuses his natural charms with a broad borderline campy performance as the Clown Prince of Crime. His most versatile villain is Frank Costello in The Departed, a performance that showcases his charm and sense of menace. Nicholson might be a great leading man, but he's a legendary cinematic villain.
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The Shining
- Release Date
- June 13, 1980
- Runtime
- 146 minutes
- Director
- Stanley Kubrick
Cast
Danny Lloyd
WHERE TO WATCH
- Writers
- Diane Johnson, Stanley Kubrick
Source: Indiewire
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