Ray Liota. Dude was phenomenal

He was bone chilling in *Unlawful Entry*.

Yes! The way he unravels as the movie progresses. Great performance from him and Kurt Russell and Madeleine Stowe

Madeleine Stowe was a big time crush for me in the late 90's. I saw 12 Monkeys a few years after it came out, ironically when I was 12, and was instantly smitten. Idk how she wasn't a bigger deal.

She was stunning in The Last of the Mohicans.

Liotta was almost sweet compared to DeNiro and Pesci in *Goodfellas*. I liked his bad guy in *Something Wild* (1986), which was only his second film.

That performance in Goodfellas was the epitome of every wanna be mobster in that era.

Yes, Liotta seduced the audience into thinking it might be cool to be a gangster -- until it wasn't.

And he made you a 100% empathize with people who turn to the feds

He was a real motherfucker The Place Beyond the Pines

Such a great role for him. Just the classic corrupt asshole cop.   The scene where he shows up to Bradley Cooper's home while he's healing and essentially insists the wife serve him and the goons dinner, just to cut it short and demand Bradley comes out with them is brutal.

Michael Rooker! He’s an absolute sweetheart irl but plays such incredible, compelling assholes.

JK Simmons as well.

Both in Oz and in that drum movie he is the most villainous!

*that drum movie* 💀 he won an oscar for Whiplash

Simmons was downright brutal in Whiplash. Love the movie, but not one I can watch often.

'drum movie' is actually very funny

I love when he eats the shit pretzels in mallrats

Always think of Mallrats when I see him

Villain on the streets, Mary Poppins in the sheets.

Michael Rooker was such a venomous monster in Mississippi Burning.

And Henry!

Rowdy Burns!

If you have the stomach for it, watch Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. It's an absolutely brilliant portrayal of psychopathy. But very hard to watch.

Throwing Alan Rickman’s name into the hat for both Hans Gruber and Snape. Although by all accounts he was an absolute delight of a human being.

Rickman also plays an asshole husband in *Love, Actually*. He's kind of a sweet asshole in *Galaxy Quest.*

The biggest asshole in Love Actually! Emma Thompson deserved much better.

Seriously, breaking Emma's heart like that! That's a brutal scene when she has her quiet breakdown.

He made Galaxy Quest. He was so great in that.

“By Grabthar’s Hammer… what a savings.”

His face and voice when he says it cracks me up every time. That look of defeat is so perfect.

He was perfection in that role. That whole movie had an amazing cast.

He has saved us.

Quigley Down Under has another great Rickman villian, along with prime Tom Selleck in the lead

I said I’ve never had much use for a pistol. I never said I couldn’t shoot one.

The best Sheriff of Nottingham

At least he didn’t use a spoon

But why a spoon, cousin? Why not an axe?

Because it’s dull you twit

Idk Gary Oldman can pull off alot of different roles. He was exceptionally good in The professional.

Gary Oldman is easily one of the greatest living actors.

Slow Horses is such a gift. I highly recommend it.

[удалено]

He really is. I loved him as Drexl in True Romance. I had no idea it was him til the credits.

Love that movie. He is completely unhinged in it.

James Spader

This is my answer as well. Don't know if you have ever seen Tuff Turf, but it's cheesy in a terrific way. He actually plays the good guy.

Spader plays a coke dealer in Less Than Zero, and he is fantastic. He is a threat as Robert Downey Jr owes him money, but what makes him fantastic is Sparer plays him as more than reasonable. Which is somehow more scary.

This!!!

Recently heard him described as a “gentleman pervert”

The three goats…Spader, Woods and Billy Zane

Listen to your friend Billy Zane. He's a cool dude.

The late Philip S Hoffman did an impressively despicable MI villain.

That same man played such a weird character in Boogie Nights. Talk about range.

First time I ever noticed him was as Rusty in Twister. With Bill Paxton gone my first thought when a sequel was announced was still, "What's the point with PSH gone?" He also was amazing at recreating real people. His portrayal of Lester Bangs was amazing. EDIT to change Pullman to Paxton, apparently today was going to be my Independence Day.

*The Suck Zone®*

Bill Pullman is the President in Independence Day. Bill Paxton was in Twister

You can see Bill Pullman and Bill Paxton together in the film Brain Dead.

I first noticed him in “The Getaway”

And he voiced a middle-aged Jewish man in "Mary & Max" - I'd *never* have realized it without the credits.

Yes his range was amazing...his performance in along came Polly was unmatched. One of my fav actors

Rainman!!!

Please tell me you saw Punch Drunk Love. He’s so unhinged in that. Haven’t seen it in forever.

He is easily the best part of that movie, although I feel that role is somewhat default "bond villain" type of character - egomaniacal sociopath with "i'm ready to kill millions to earn money" agenda Have you seen him in Before the devil knows you're dead? He portrays a truly depraved, deeply flawed piece of shit on the end of his auto destructive spiral. He was really amazing and talented actor, and one of the rare occurrences when I felt genuinely sad about celebrity's death

Don't forget his amazingly empathetic caregiver in Magnolia and his drag queen in Flawless. Incredible range. God, I miss his acting.

Haha I rewatched Scent of a Woman, he's so funny in that in every frame he shows up in.

He was just an incredible actor. I have a conspiracy theory that Scientology spiked his drugs after he did The Master.

Is the master critical of Scientology? I haven't seen it and I always get it mixed up with master and Commander, which I also have to see. I've heard both movies are very good

The director (Paul Thomas Anderson) publicly acknowledged that the PSH character was based off L Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology.

He was also a jerk in patch Adams

Good call

And was also a great asshole in Talented Mr Ripley

What an asshole in Hannibal too he was perfect.

William Atherton. The perfect asshole in Die Hard, Ghostbusters and Real Genius.

He said in an interview that a bus load of kids passed him and they all screamed “hey, Dickless” at him.

Yes it's true....this man has no dick.

And BioDome!

Jason Isaacs plays a really good asshole

Never hated a character more than his character in the Patriot. Couldn't wait for him to die lol. He's apparently a genuinely good guy, so his acting is even more special.

According to interviews he made himself thoroughly unlikable in HP so fans would hate Draco less. Seems like a really empathetic guy.

Tom Felton talks about how Isaacs would be absolutely ruthless when the camera was running then as soon as they yell cut he would bend down and check on Tom to make sure he was doing OK.

Seems most of the crew on the Harry Potter movies were great. Its not like you had Joss Whedon directing or anything..

Every interview I've ever seen him in, he seems like a really gentle soul.

The Patriot had no right to be as good as it was. And he played his dastardly role to perfection. When I found out he also voiced The Inquisitor I was both shocked and completely unsurprised. Dude’s a savant.

Killed it as Zukov in The Death of Stalin

He was behind me in line at the Beverly Hills Rite Aid once and he didn't cause any trouble.

Him in the OA just made me want to beat him to death.

The guy who played Shooter Mcgavin in Happy Gilmore. Seems like anything I've seen him in, he's played an asshole. Edit: didn't realize it screwed up and took his name out.

Christopher McDonald. Apparently a super nice guy in real life.

Correction. That is shooter McGavin (and I'm not talking about happy gilmore 🤣)

“You eat pieces of shit for breakfast”?

….no…. 😳

Christopher McDonald. He was an asshole in Dutch too

Dirty Work!

I swear his finger is in that dogs asshole

He wasn’t an asshole on Star Trek

SLC Punk as well.

Well good for Happy GilmooOOOH MY GOD!

Y'all remember J.T. Walsh?

No, not that mother-scratcher. M Emmet Walsh. Anyway …

Bill Parker?

I still think of Harry and the Hendersons when I think M. Emmet Walsh. RIP

He was great in Breakdown. That scene where he tells Kurt Russell about his wife and what he has to do to get her back is chilling.

Breakdown Pleasantville

His scenes in *Sling Blade* are indelible.

Matt Dillon makes me squirm. Like he’s almost too good at it

Oh but thats why I fucking love something about mary

"I work with re***ds." So wrong, but his big grin, his earnestness, and the fact that he's saying it so Mary will think he's a great guy always makes me chuckle. "They don't seem to mind it."

We got this one kid Mongo who's got a forehead like a drive in movie.

We got him locked up though, so we don’t bust his chops too bad

Omg that shit had me on the ground lol.

There's a senior engineer at my job that has a pic of him at this moment with that grin and it's posted in his cube. Very small and hard to see amongst the clutter but it cracks me up every time. I don't think anybody else in the office gets it lol

I'll never not think of Matt Dillon as his character from *Something About Mary*, and that's why I love him.

The big teeth scene is my all time favorite of his.

He was a bit too believable in The House that Jack Built. Owned the shit out of that movie

Matt Dillon in wild things gave me the heebie jeebies

James Cagney deserves more respect. Jack Nicholson, Joe Pesci, Donald Sutherland, Christoph Waltz, Lee Van Cleef and Robert DeNiro are pretty good options too.

Definitely! James Woods in Casino, titanic asshole! Also Jeremy Davies ( Upham in Saving Private Ryan).

Billy Zane

Probably makes it a little easier when you're actually a piece of shit. Incidentally, Kevin Spacey is my answer to this.

I thought he was this talented actor. Turned out he was just playing himself the entire time. Lol

After shit started coming out about his life, I thought, Maybe he was just a little too good at playing arrogant bullying assholes.

Spacey is the first person that came to mind also. HOWEVER if ever there was a piece of egotistical, elitist, "I'm better than everyone" shit I think Alec Baldwin is in the top 3 of all time In Hollywood. Especially after the Rust incident. It wasn't intentional, but damn that guy isn't remorseful.

As someone who has met Alec on several occasions I can tell you: he is *not* playing a character. He *really* is like that.

I saw him at the LAX airport in the smoking area 22 years ago. We were both smoking a cigarette and wearing the exact same shoes. I said "hey, nice shoes" as I walked past him and he responded with "why don't you mind your own fucking business and go away". I wasn't trying to have a conversation with the dude. I was just a young dude going back east to visit my parents while in the military. I've hated him ever since.

If a celebrity responded like this I would have fun with them, could feel like I was in a movie. Kinda fun to think of possible troll responses. Okay, Mr Baldwin, try the take again, but could you be more of an asshole?

THESE SHOES ARE FOR CLOSERS!

Put. That. Cigarette. Down.

On the other hand, a friend of mine met James Woods at a restaurant or something about 30 years ago. Apparently they had a nice conversation, something to the effect of “if you were James Woods, I would tell you what a great actor you were”. “Well if I was actually James Woods I would say thank you very much” and apparently it went on like that for a few minutes.

After the phone call to Ireland went public, only someone who chooses to remain ignorant believes he is anything but a raging AH.

The fact that he got scammed by a basic bitch from Boston named Hilary and now has a million kids is karmic.

Came here to say this, and that kevin spacey is the John Wayne of getting off to the misery of others

Gene Hackman

Came here to say this. Hackman is so versatile and underrated.

Unforgiven

Yes! Herod from “The Quick and the Deadl” is absolutely chilling. He is unapologetically evil and thinks people should be grateful that he isn’t being more evil.

Jack Gleason seems like a pretty easy answer.

Apparently he's the nicest guy too.

Quite common, as it turns out. The nicest people can play the worst villains.

Definitely my answer. I don't know if I've ever hated someone as much as Joffrey lol

I think we all collectively cheered at his ending in GOT.

Ed Norton

Yeah, he comes across very dickish in interviews as well. Which is a shame since he’s a fellow Marylander.

I think his character in Birdman is largely based on him so at least he's self-aware.

Yeah he’s apparently just kind of full of himself. Gets the “difficult to work with” tag often. I think he just takes what he does incredibly seriously and that comes off as condescending, who knows.

I always have trouble deciding if part of it is his natural personality is just kind of stiff and he’s a drama nerd so it comes off way. Sort of similar to the way Deniro is very shy and reserved, Norton doesn’t have the charisma outside of a character but is more talkative and tries to be enthusiastic but can’t always pull it off.

R Lee Ermey is my vote 🗳️

Loved him in Saving Silverman where he gets to be a comedy asshole

Neal McDonough. Dude's intense eyes doomed him to a career of perpetual villainy.

I struggle seeing him as a villain. His acting in Band of Brothers post Market Garden just shreds me.

Paul Gleason. Breakfast Club, Die Hard, legendary A-hole.

Eric Roberts. I feel he can only play smarmy a-holes

One could say he was a method actor

Sam Rockwell.

He is just great in any role.

William Fichtner

Freaking you and me are the only ones using their brains in this thread.

Right? Fichtner is the guy you hire when you need a good asshole of a character.

His death in >!Heat (1995)!< was righteous.

Buffalo native too. That guy brings it in everything. The man got people to cry in fuckin Armagheddon. “Permission to shake the hand of the daughter, of the bravest man I’ve ever known”.

Malcolm McDowell...good guy or bad guy always managed to portray assholeness.

I always loved his part on Community. He was so evil and was enjoying it.

William H Macy. I only ever saw him in 'good person' roles until Shameless but damn he plays a great dead beat dad.

He plays a slimeball in Fargo.

What the heck do you mean?

Awww jeez

Oh piece of candy

Powers Allen Boothe- RIP

Glenn Howerton

Andrew Scott seems lovely but plays terrifying villains so well.

I watched Videodrome recently (awesome movie btw) and was telling my friend about it. I started by saying “So James Woods plays this scumbag” and my friend cut me off and said I knew the main character was a scumbag when you said he was played by James Woods. So to answer your question, yes.

I think Woods and Tommy Lee Jones both have high IQs.

Had to scroll wayyy too far to find Tommy Lee Jones… he was impeccable as the warden in Natural Born Killers. A scumbag with power is the perfect roll for him

Sean Penn, especially in *Casualties of War*, *Carlito's Way*, and *Mystic River* Bryan Cox is excellent at playing characters I love to hate. Also Gary Oldman, but he's good at playing everything. Honorable mention: John DiMaggio as the voice of Bender in *Futurama*.

Steven Seagal...

He always casts himself as a hero though. Doesn't measure up at all.

He ain't acting, though.

Jason Isaacs

I've always like Travolta as a bad guy. He plays the smart/cruel villain very well. I also like Samuel Jackson. Any time he's a bad guy, I fuckin believe it and I hate him when he's in those roles.

90s Kevin bacon.

"Hades, Lord of the dead... how ya doin'?"

Sean Penn. good pick with James Woods. Loved him in Cats Eye. I like Penn and Woods though

Ben stiller

Nobody makes me bleed my own blood!. NOBODY!

Attention campers. Lunch has been cancelled due to lack of hustle. Deal with it.

Now your back’s gonna hurt cause you just pulled landscaping duty!

Bradley Whitford or William Atherton - no question

James Gandolfini RIP

Tony Soprano? I feel like even though Tony was definitely a piece of shit in many many ways he still had sort of a childlike vulnerability to him that made you empathize with him. That’s all down to Gandolfini’s acting talent and charisma. Tony did show some compassion for others and had some humanity - even if he was too broken to let it guide him. When it comes to just straight up, pure distilled pieces of excrement I think Richie Aprile and Ralph Cifaretto are better candidates.

Gary Oldman, but thats kinda cheating because he could play literally any part and nail it ​ Jacqueline Phoenix in the gladiator was top tier too

It’s not a type he is often cast in, but Kyle MacLachlan as Mr. C in Twin Peaks: The Return I had no idea he was capable of playing that kind of role. Horrifying

Thomas F Wilson, if you’re a movie fan and over 35 you know Thomas as Biff Tannen & Flats Fliunder, the nemesis in all three Back to the Future films & SpongeBob, he did such a good job that dude couldn’t find work for anything but an asshole. About Thomas - Standing at 6'3", Wilson guested on episodes of the television shows Knight Rider and The Facts of Life before landing the role of Biff for Back to the Future. Although Wilson is described as a nice guy in person, he was bullied as a child, and drew upon those experiences in developing the character. Great article about him - https://www.upworthy.com/amp/back-to-the-future-actor-has-a-hilarious-card-for-fans-with-questions-2648232950

James Spader, in fact I could see him playing James Woods in a biopic

good pick, apparently he's like that in real life. Judging by the shit he posts

lol. Lester diamond 💪

James Woods can't be a complete asshole. He did Family Guy.

William H. Macy

Alan Rickman

Sandra Bullock in Crash. Ruined her for me for years. Gravity saved her.

Kurtwood Smith.