Villains/Antagonists

[Tim Whitcomb]

Excellent thread Erich!

Spielberg was asked how he made so many successful movies in a row and he gave credit to Hitchcock - when pressed further he said "it's really one of the best kept secrets in Hollywood" - hitchcock was surrounded by studio writers but when he selected scripts he always had one question "Tell me about the Villain" :)

Think of all your favorite movies (and blockbusters) and I assure you (with a few exceptions) I'll bet that film has an incredible villain:)

To that end my favorite villains are always ones I tend to empathize with on some level - versus the purely evil cookie cutter villains who's evil is unmotivated beyond that thes script requires a bad guy - tell us "how" he/she "became" evil is always a good place to start

Charlize Therons Witch comes to mind as this summers most amazing Villain - I also Think it's no mistake that my tepid reactin to Prometheus was that there was "no clear villain"

Good luck inventing your super villain!!

[Erich Ocean]

Wow, lots of greats stuff here. Thanks guys, and keep it coming!

Definitely going to re-watch Rob Roy, I haven't seen that in years.

[Michael Dalton]

I think great villains are the ones that drive the emotions of protagonists and enhance their characters. David Fincher's Seven was great film for this. Pitt's character is literally driven mad by it. Shutter Island in a way is similar but the antagonist is in Dicaprio's mind. When the stories are structured this way, it is very fulfilling and emotional for the audience.

[Mark Britton]

One of the things that keeps coming back to me when thinking about 'villains' is that the person or personality that I buy into most as a villain is a person that is not all 'bad' or 'evil'...it's only one aspect of their personality. The sort of person you maybe ran into during your life experiences that you had a bad feeling about, but didn't really KNOW was a cheating scumbag, or violent abuser. They were personable, friendly, and perhaps even respected. Someone likes them. Someone loves them. There were questionable moments, but nothing that broke the surface, leaving you wondering if it was just you thinking they were a miserable excuse for a human being, or if there really was something there. Then something happens that pulls the mask aside and you are suddenly and unavoidably confronted with what they've done (or do), and it becomes a reflection of who you are on if you accept/overlook it and continue on...or if you part ways with the person, call the cops, or what have you.

So some of what it takes to have a villain is to have a not-villain. You need to have someone that sees, judges and (perhaps) acts.

I don't think that it's so hard to imagine a compelling 'villain'...I feel like it's difficult to have one that doesn't devolve into a cliche in a movie because of the format. Limited time to develop the villain's story arc, and seriously...it's a movie right? There's gotta be a villain, and unless you like to confuse your audience, there's only so many characters you can put in front of them, so one of them has gotta be IT, right?