The hero of a movie is the one who gets all the glory, but many actors claim to prefer playing the villain. It’s certainly true that many villains have stolen the movie from the hero when played in memorable ways, and one actor who would know is Anthony Hopkins. Perhaps surprisingly, the actor follows the simplest rule when portraying antagonists, and it makes so much sense.
Anthony Hopkins has played some of the most incredible roles in movie history, but it’s a safe bet that when the heat death of the universe occurs in a few billion years, the one performance the human race will most remember will be his Oscar-winning turn as Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs. He recently told Business Insider that the trick to playing the bad guy is to simply play them in the opposite way that people expect. He said…
If you're playing a villain, play the opposite. Always choose the opposite side. If you're playing somebody who's really evil, play them very pleasantly.
We can certainly see Anthony Hopkins' performance as Hannibal Lecter taking that idea to heart. While “Hannibal the Cannibal” is a vile human being in every measurable way, Hopkins plays him as calm, polite, and exceedingly pleasant. Of course, all that is clearly masking the viciousness of the character, but then, that’s the point. The performance is so perfect that even Hopkins believes trying to do it again was a mistake.
Hopkins tells BI that he also used this formula for his new film. In Locked, IT's Pennwise portrayer Bill Skarsgard plays a man who tries to steal a car, only to discover he’s been intentionally trapped inside by the vehicle’s owner, a man named William, played by Hopkins. The character then proceeds to torture the would-be car thief, but he’s incredibly calm and pleasant about the whole thing.
Playing villains as purely evil is what we’re used to seeing, and while it certainly makes sense in a lot of cases, the idea that the “villain is the hero of their own story” would make a purely evil character not actually make sense. There’s no reason that a villain can’t be perfectly pleasant.
And looking back at not only Hannibal Lectuer but also other memorable villains in cinema history, it’s easy to see other actors potentially following this same rule. Alan Rickman’s Hans Gruber in Die Hard is very pleasant. He treats the hostage situation he orchestrates as a simple business transaction. Norman Bates in Psycho, perhaps the greatest movie villain of all time, seems ordinary to a fault, which is what makes his reveal as a monster all the more shocking.
With so many blockbuster movies dominated by heroes, there are just as many opportunities for villains to stand out. Perhaps Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom will use this philosophy in his upcoming Marvel movie appearances.
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