06-25-2004, 04:58 PM
Black-hatted villains need shades of gray
By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY
Here's one way to make Hollywood villains more interesting:
Make them less villainous.
The concept may sound self-defeating, but Marvel Studios chief Avi Arad believes "the more that people connect with a bad guy, the more convincing he becomes. If he's human, has feelings, maybe was in love, you'll feel for him. Who makes a connection with a monster?"
There are a few other ingredients experts say make for a fitting evildoer:
⢠Show that your villain wasn't always a monster. "No one is born evil," Arad says. "People might turn evil because of circumstances. But generally, we have a choice of the road we want to take."
Darth Vader, for instance, was once a heroic Jedi who lost his mother. Psycho's Norman Bates was a tormented mama's boy.
"It doesn't work if your villain is just a tyrant with no sympathetic qualities," says Alfred Molina, who plays Doc Ock in Spider-Man 2. "It's like eating ice cream every day for dinner. Eventually it becomes boring."
⢠Reveal their downfall. Magneto, the villain in the X-Men franchise, turned against the human race after being imprisoned with his family at the Nazi death camp in Auschwitz.
"Even in real life, I think a lot of your villains are a victim of circumstance," Arad says. "Perhaps they could have chosen two paths, and did not take the high road. The closer you get your movie to feeling like real life, the more effective your character is."
â¢Give your villaincharming characteristics. Class trumps crass any day, says Michael Brody, critic for the film Web site CinemaBlend.com. One of his favorite bad guys is Hans Gruber, the killer played by Alan Rickman in 1988's Die Hard.
"A good movie villain should have a certain hypnotic charm," he says. "Gruber is a charismatic, intelligent gentleman. The viewer warms to his presence, and, when he takes another victim, we slap ourselves in the face for thinking that he was not such a bad guy after all. But he is."
And humor always helps offset horror. One of Spider-Man director Sam Raimi's favorite villains is the Nazi Toht in Raiders of the Lost Ark. In one scene, Toht, played by Ronald Lacey, tries to force a medallion from Karen Allen's character, who refuses to surrender it.
"He's heating up this poker, getting ready to stab her with it, and says in this great voice, 'Why won't you give it to me now?' " Raimi recalls, bursting out in laughter. "It's just so funny because of what he plans to do to her. Those villains who can be droll and ominous at the same time are the best."
By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY
Here's one way to make Hollywood villains more interesting:
Make them less villainous.
The concept may sound self-defeating, but Marvel Studios chief Avi Arad believes "the more that people connect with a bad guy, the more convincing he becomes. If he's human, has feelings, maybe was in love, you'll feel for him. Who makes a connection with a monster?"
There are a few other ingredients experts say make for a fitting evildoer:
⢠Show that your villain wasn't always a monster. "No one is born evil," Arad says. "People might turn evil because of circumstances. But generally, we have a choice of the road we want to take."
Darth Vader, for instance, was once a heroic Jedi who lost his mother. Psycho's Norman Bates was a tormented mama's boy.
"It doesn't work if your villain is just a tyrant with no sympathetic qualities," says Alfred Molina, who plays Doc Ock in Spider-Man 2. "It's like eating ice cream every day for dinner. Eventually it becomes boring."
⢠Reveal their downfall. Magneto, the villain in the X-Men franchise, turned against the human race after being imprisoned with his family at the Nazi death camp in Auschwitz.
"Even in real life, I think a lot of your villains are a victim of circumstance," Arad says. "Perhaps they could have chosen two paths, and did not take the high road. The closer you get your movie to feeling like real life, the more effective your character is."
â¢Give your villaincharming characteristics. Class trumps crass any day, says Michael Brody, critic for the film Web site CinemaBlend.com. One of his favorite bad guys is Hans Gruber, the killer played by Alan Rickman in 1988's Die Hard.
"A good movie villain should have a certain hypnotic charm," he says. "Gruber is a charismatic, intelligent gentleman. The viewer warms to his presence, and, when he takes another victim, we slap ourselves in the face for thinking that he was not such a bad guy after all. But he is."
And humor always helps offset horror. One of Spider-Man director Sam Raimi's favorite villains is the Nazi Toht in Raiders of the Lost Ark. In one scene, Toht, played by Ronald Lacey, tries to force a medallion from Karen Allen's character, who refuses to surrender it.
"He's heating up this poker, getting ready to stab her with it, and says in this great voice, 'Why won't you give it to me now?' " Raimi recalls, bursting out in laughter. "It's just so funny because of what he plans to do to her. Those villains who can be droll and ominous at the same time are the best."