This was one of the hardest lists I've ever had to do. I got alot of help from Matt, Shawn, Aaron, Kip, and many others in Radford. Thanks.
To be a villain in a story, you've got to be a threat that the 'good guys' have to deal with. There are plenty of great evil characters that aren't really the villains in the story of the film. Hannibal Lecter for instance, was never a villain (except in the first part of Red Dragon), but throughout Red Dragon and Silence he was just a character, a bad guy, yes, but not the villain of the story. And in Hannibal he was the hero. Just because the character is bad, doesn't make them a villain. Also, there are many stories that have no villain. In Bram Stoker's Dracula for example, each side is justified. The 'good guys' want to rid the world of vampires, because they fear them, and Dracula just wants to reunite with his lost love. The films on this list have defined villains, that may or may not be scary or threatening, but they are in the context of the films and stories they are in.
As it is with most of my lists, there are plenty that I wish I could've put in the top 10, but were just not as good as the ones above. They are listed in alphabetical order.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Michael Biehn: Tombstone and The Abyss
And I'd like to also hand out several SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS:
1. Christopher Walken: True Romance, The Prophecy, Batman Returns, and Last Man Standing, just to name a few. Everything he's in he's creepy and threatening, even when he's in comedic roles.
2. Gary Oldman: Leon: The Professional, True Romance, Murder In the First, Air Force One, and even The Fifth Element. I think it's the passion and intensity he puts behind his performances that makes him such a force to be reckoned with.
3. Jack Nicholson: Besides Batman, A Few Good Men, and The Witches of Eastwick, he was in one film that is notably absent from the top 10, The Shining. This would more than likely have been my #2 villain, had it not been for the fact that the house was the villain in the story. I tried to argue with my friends that the house made him that way, but it acted it all out through him, and that makes Jack Torrence the villainous force in the film. But they were right (dammit!), so I figured I'd give it a 'special' award to point out that I still kinda think he was a villain, and also that I left it off the top 10 for a reason.
All three of these actors portray villains the way most other actors dream of. The evil in their characters can come forth without them doing a thing. That's why I gave them special recognition in the Art of Being Villainous.
And before I go, I want to also point out that many evil characters from horror films were not included, and that's why I had made a Top 10 Horror Film Horrors list. That list includes horror creatures, which don't fit on this one.
Clancy Brown: Highlander
Vincent D'Onofrio: Strange Days
Dennis Hopper: Blue Velvet and Speed
Jason Isaacs: The Patriot
Denis Leary: Judgement Night
Christopher Lloyd: Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Sarah Michelle Gellar: Cruel Intentions
Jack Nicholson: Batman
Robert Patrick: T2: Judgement Day
Tim Roth: Planet of the Apes
Arnold Schwarzenneger: The Terminater
Kevin Spacey: Se7en
Kiefer Sutherland: The Lost Boys and Eye For An Eye
John Travolta: Face/Off
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