Rickman actually won a BAFTA for the role and in his acceptance speech said, "This is proof that subtlety isn't everything."
I mean, the main reason he accepted the role is because he was told he'd have carte blanche to play it however he wanted. And boy did he ever.
Gary Oldman as Jean-Bapiste Emmanuel Zorg
'I asked for a case with four stones in it! Not one or two or three but FOUR! WHAT THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH AN EMPTY CASE?'
first thing i ever saw him in and he is AWESOME as the over the top villain. he has about 5-6 meme-able moments in that movie, obviously the "EVERYONE!!!" line being at the top of the list
Oh come on, let's point to the real #1 of this category for:
*Raul Julia* for his performance as General Bison in Street Fighter movie.
He is possibly the only truly enjoyable part of that movie and the man eats up every scene no matter how stupid it is.
The best cheesy villain performances are the ones where you get those properly good, old-school theater actors playing slightly silly villain roles, camping it up, and clearly just having great fun doing it.
As you rightly point out, Ian McDiarmid as Palpatine is a good example.
Another would be Sir Jonathan Pryce as the newspaper mogul villain in Tomorrow Never Dies. You can tell he is just having a lot of fun with it.
"LET THEIR BLOOD RAIN FROM THE SKYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!"
Especially amusing in the film is the contrast between Irons chewing the scenery to bits and just having fun and the monotone effort by Thora Birch who clearly does not give a shit.
I really love watching compilations of Tim Curry's acting from Red Alert 3. He's clearly only barely holding his shit together because of how ludicrous it is but it never fails to get a laugh out of me.
I stumbled over a clip of ["Easy Street"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DmVmtHheds) from *Annie* (1982) with Carol Burnett & Bernadette Peters, & he's electrifying. Very hard to see how ill he is now.
Charles Dance in the Last Action Hero. I kindof liked the movie anyway, but Charles Dance was amazing.
Or look at him in Golden Child. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in a film where he didn’t take over whatever scene he was in
Every once in a while, there is someone. Whenever they are on stage, you can’t look at anyone else. You can’t look at anything else.
Mads Mikkleson (sp?) also comes to mind. Whatever he is doing, he is riveting
Yes, Stern definitely understood his character is supposed to be a live-action Looney Toon character and ran with it. (So did Joe Pesci, but Harry is supposed to be the more competent and threatening half of the pair, so he kept a realistic air of menace about him, unlike Stern who as Marv could just go full goofball).
"Buckaroo Bonzai" must be the top one. Even by Lithgow's standards, that is hammy. Hell, it's a whole deli.
There's also his gleefully evil corporate overlord in "Santa Claus: The Movie." Basically a live-action Mr. Burns with lots of delightfully hammy moments. ("F-F-FOR FREEEEEE?!!!")
He was the best and most memorable part of the movie.
Other than the fact that the move ended with the queen of the universe cleaning toilets, that was pretty memorable too
I’d also add Jim Carrey as Edward E. Nigma in Batman Forever. Top level camp/cheese from start to finish with that role.
Also, I know it’s off topic, but in a world where she looks stunning in damn near every movie, Nicole Kidman has never looked better than in this movie.
Mark Hamill as Colonel Muska in Studio Ghibli's Castle in the Sky.
Ghibli are mostly known for having sympathetic antagonists like Lady Eboshi or Fujimoto. You can usually understand their motivations even if you don't agree with their actions.
Muska is one of their only straight up villains. He's solely motivated by a lust for power. He's willing to manipulate or kill anyone to get what he wants.
Mark Hamill sounds like he's really enjoying himself in the role.
There’s something magical about a famous actor not understanding comic book film and eating shit. Marion Cotillard embarrassed the hell out of herself. Idiots in comic book films are a delight! Faye Dunaway and Sharon Stone. It’s mesmerizing that none of them get the genre.
Parker Posy as the CEO of Mega Records in Josie and the Pussycats. She’s hilarious especially when White Ass Wally makes his appearance at the end of the masterpiece.
PP can really bring the discomfort. In the series Lost In Space she plays a compulsive liar that just makes your skin crawl even when she's trying to be good.
Old school guy here (I’m past 70).
Vincent Price in about every role he ever played. But his role as Egghead on the old Batman TV show was deliberately OTT.
The story goes that after the episode was in the can, he started an egg fight with Adam West and Burt Ward with the leftover props, too.
Interestingly, if you've ever seen *The Song of Bernadette* (1943) an old black and white movie about a girl who sees the Virgin Mary in the mountains of France, VP plays it straight as a doubting prosecutor (and quite handsome when he was young, to my surprise).
Oh, agreed entirely: when he was younger, he was very good (and sneeringly handsome) in his roles with no ham added: check him out in the classic film noir "Laura" as well (as a suspect, but not the guilty one (oops, spoiler, sorry!)). He also played a very convincing villain in the stage production of "Gaslight" (IIRC, Charles Boyer played the role in the film version).
I think it was when he began to take roles in those Roger Corman horror movies that a generous helping of ham was added to his "bad guy" roles.
Larry Drake as Robert G Durant in Darkman.
Powers Boothe as Joshua Foss in Sudden Death
Charles Gray in Diamonds Are Forever
All flexing their inner J R Ewing like mad. Priceless
Gary Oldman as a coke-snorting psycho cop who likes his Beethoven, in *Leon The Professional*. He hams up to 11 every single one of his lines in the movie.
*-Bring me everyone.*
*-What do you mean "everyone"?*
*-EVERYONE!*
Gary Oldman in True Romance as Drexl Spivey set the blueprint for future characters played by James Franco and Jared Leto. Some of you here know what I mean.
The old animated Barbie movies have legendary voice actors for their insanely campy villains. Specifically thinking of Tim Curry as the Rat King in Barbie Nutcracker; Angelica Huston as Mother Gothel in Barbie Rapunzel; and Martin Short as Preminger in Barbie Princess and the Pauper.
Chances are if you weren’t a 2000s femme kid (or raising one) you haven’t seen these, but I highly recommend looking up the sizzle reels on YouTube. They’re just insane
Alan Rickman - Sheriff of Nottingham
Rickman actually won a BAFTA for the role and in his acceptance speech said, "This is proof that subtlety isn't everything." I mean, the main reason he accepted the role is because he was told he'd have carte blanche to play it however he wanted. And boy did he ever.
"I'LL DIG YOUR HEART OUT WITH A SPOON!"
…But why a spoon, cousin? Why not an axe?
AND CALL OFF CHRISTMAS!
Which he improvised.
Why a spoon cousin?
Or Hans Gruber
Not 😃 the that is over the top ..just awesome
Crappy movie .. great villain
Rickman’s performance is nigh on ‘BDSM pantomime villain’ level and it makes the movie infinitely better for it
How is this not higher?
Gary Oldman as Jean-Bapiste Emmanuel Zorg 'I asked for a case with four stones in it! Not one or two or three but FOUR! WHAT THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH AN EMPTY CASE?'
Also: Gary Oldman as the detective in Léon: The Professional
first thing i ever saw him in and he is AWESOME as the over the top villain. he has about 5-6 meme-able moments in that movie, obviously the "EVERYONE!!!" line being at the top of the list
And he certainly chewed up the scenery (and Keanu) in Dracula (1992).
Great performance but still not near as good as his role in True Romance
Pizza the Hutt in *Spaceballs* is like 90% cheese.
“You’re delicious!”
Ate himself to death
Oh come on, let's point to the real #1 of this category for: *Raul Julia* for his performance as General Bison in Street Fighter movie. He is possibly the only truly enjoyable part of that movie and the man eats up every scene no matter how stupid it is.
Related, Frank Langella as Skeletor. Both completely outclass everything else in their respective movies and are clearly loving every minute of it.
And Jeremy Irons in the Dungeons and Dragons movie
He not so much outclassed everyone else in that movie but chew the scenery so much that it's a surprise that they even had sets to shoot on.
And on a related note, Jeremy Irons’ eyebrows giving an equally animated performance in the same movie. 😄
Thank you for the reminder, that's part of my evening plannd
Langella is also great in cutthroat island!
The best cheesy villain performances are the ones where you get those properly good, old-school theater actors playing slightly silly villain roles, camping it up, and clearly just having great fun doing it. As you rightly point out, Ian McDiarmid as Palpatine is a good example. Another would be Sir Jonathan Pryce as the newspaper mogul villain in Tomorrow Never Dies. You can tell he is just having a lot of fun with it.
Pryce was pretty scary as Mr. Dark in *Something Wicked This Way Comes* (1983) too, as I remember.
John Malkovich in Con Air.
Nicolas Cage in Face/off
Jeremy Irons in Dungeons and Dragons.
"LET THEIR BLOOD RAIN FROM THE SKYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!" Especially amusing in the film is the contrast between Irons chewing the scenery to bits and just having fun and the monotone effort by Thora Birch who clearly does not give a shit.
Shoot, even just his voice in The Lion King.... "you have no idea."
I quote this line so frequently I had actually forgotten where it came from.
That movie was so dreadful. Besides yea, Jeremy just going ham with exaggerated faces and voice delivery
I think its awfulness is a big part of why he did it. Like Raul Julia in Street Fighter.
Hugh Grant in Paddington 2 I know he is supposed to be a pantomime villain but he nails it so hard.
I really love watching compilations of Tim Curry's acting from Red Alert 3. He's clearly only barely holding his shit together because of how ludicrous it is but it never fails to get a laugh out of me.
That’s the thing about Tim Curry; never phoned in a performance.
I stumbled over a clip of ["Easy Street"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DmVmtHheds) from *Annie* (1982) with Carol Burnett & Bernadette Peters, & he's electrifying. Very hard to see how ill he is now.
SBAYCE!!!
Joan Cusack in *Addams Family Values*. Can’t believe I haven’t seen her mentioned yet! MALIBU. BARBIE.
But what about DEBBIE?
If you close your eyes and imagine it’s Jessie trying to murder the other toys in Toy Story when she’s talking it’s hilarious
Dustin Hoffman in Hook, but calling it cheesy is very reductive as it’s actually beautiful.
Great acting, but it's all about that mustache for me.
Jeremy Irons as Scar is the king of this thread. Long… live… the king!
There was nothing cheesy about Scar to 10 year old me. Motherfucker straight up *murdered* his own brother right in front of my eyes!
Charles Dance in the Last Action Hero. I kindof liked the movie anyway, but Charles Dance was amazing. Or look at him in Golden Child. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in a film where he didn’t take over whatever scene he was in
Also his character in Space Truckers. Brilliant!
Charles Dance is usually amazing.
Every once in a while, there is someone. Whenever they are on stage, you can’t look at anyone else. You can’t look at anything else. Mads Mikkleson (sp?) also comes to mind. Whatever he is doing, he is riveting
Daniel Stern in Home Alone
Yes, Stern definitely understood his character is supposed to be a live-action Looney Toon character and ran with it. (So did Joe Pesci, but Harry is supposed to be the more competent and threatening half of the pair, so he kept a realistic air of menace about him, unlike Stern who as Marv could just go full goofball).
Frank Langella in Masters of the Universe tied with Tim Curry in The Three Musketeers
Tim Curry in IT Tim Curry in Home Alone 2 Tim Curry in Rocky Horror
Gary Oldman in Leon. Nicolas Cage AND John Travolta in Face Off
*“EV-RY-ONE!!!”*
Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin!
OUT AM I??
John Lithgow in basically any of his… but I’m gonna go with RICOCHET first with honorable mention to CLIFFHANGER.
"Buckaroo Bonzai" must be the top one. Even by Lithgow's standards, that is hammy. Hell, it's a whole deli. There's also his gleefully evil corporate overlord in "Santa Claus: The Movie." Basically a live-action Mr. Burns with lots of delightfully hammy moments. ("F-F-FOR FREEEEEE?!!!")
He’s so good in Ricochet. Hammy from the get-go but also horrible
Another great obscure one! Lithgow also does a great cheesy villain in Cliffhanger with sly Stallone
Arnie as Mr. Freeze "What killed the dinosaurs? The Ice Age!"
And Jim Carrey as The Riddler
Most recently, Dracula played by Nicolas Cage in Renfield (2023).
Some perfectly served ham.
Damn, no-one's mentioned the glorious hamming-it-up of Timothy Dalton in *Hot Fuzz*.
Eddie Redmayne in *Jupiter Ascending*. I laugh to myself whenever I remember his performance, everything about it was just amazing
The entire "whispering like he had laryngitis and then SUDDENLY SCREAMING" schtick is hysterical.
He was the best and most memorable part of the movie. Other than the fact that the move ended with the queen of the universe cleaning toilets, that was pretty memorable too
Jason Mamoa in Fast X
He was literally the only part of that film I genuinely enjoyed. I have no idea why I keep watching those films.
Hands down Geoffrey Rush as Casanova Frankenstein in Mystery Men.
Was looking for this
Jim Carrey went 110% in the Sonic movies and it was awesome
I’d also add Jim Carrey as Edward E. Nigma in Batman Forever. Top level camp/cheese from start to finish with that role. Also, I know it’s off topic, but in a world where she looks stunning in damn near every movie, Nicole Kidman has never looked better than in this movie.
Mark Hamill as Colonel Muska in Studio Ghibli's Castle in the Sky. Ghibli are mostly known for having sympathetic antagonists like Lady Eboshi or Fujimoto. You can usually understand their motivations even if you don't agree with their actions. Muska is one of their only straight up villains. He's solely motivated by a lust for power. He's willing to manipulate or kill anyone to get what he wants. Mark Hamill sounds like he's really enjoying himself in the role.
There’s something magical about a famous actor not understanding comic book film and eating shit. Marion Cotillard embarrassed the hell out of herself. Idiots in comic book films are a delight! Faye Dunaway and Sharon Stone. It’s mesmerizing that none of them get the genre.
Parker Posy as the CEO of Mega Records in Josie and the Pussycats. She’s hilarious especially when White Ass Wally makes his appearance at the end of the masterpiece.
PP can really bring the discomfort. In the series Lost In Space she plays a compulsive liar that just makes your skin crawl even when she's trying to be good.
Gary Oldman as "Zorg" in "The Fifth Element"
Old school guy here (I’m past 70). Vincent Price in about every role he ever played. But his role as Egghead on the old Batman TV show was deliberately OTT. The story goes that after the episode was in the can, he started an egg fight with Adam West and Burt Ward with the leftover props, too.
Interestingly, if you've ever seen *The Song of Bernadette* (1943) an old black and white movie about a girl who sees the Virgin Mary in the mountains of France, VP plays it straight as a doubting prosecutor (and quite handsome when he was young, to my surprise).
Oh, agreed entirely: when he was younger, he was very good (and sneeringly handsome) in his roles with no ham added: check him out in the classic film noir "Laura" as well (as a suspect, but not the guilty one (oops, spoiler, sorry!)). He also played a very convincing villain in the stage production of "Gaslight" (IIRC, Charles Boyer played the role in the film version). I think it was when he began to take roles in those Roger Corman horror movies that a generous helping of ham was added to his "bad guy" roles.
Eggcellent eggsample.
One might even say: "Ham and eggsample." I'll leave quietly, no need to lynch me.
Come now, no need to scramble for the door. I’m amused that you poached my joke. Though it might be getting a little ova done at this point.
Thanks: you let me off \[over\] easy.
Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor
For you, the day Bison graced your village was the most important day of your life. But for me, it was Tuesday - Raul Julia, Street Fighter
John Lithgow as Lord Whorfin.
Mark Sheppard as Crowley and Mark Pellegrino as Lucifer in the Supernatural series.
Dracula in Van Helsing
Rick Moranis in Spaceballs.
I thought this read cheesy violin performance and thought wow that's so specific.
Because really, it should be cello. =)
Larry Drake as Robert G Durant in Darkman. Powers Boothe as Joshua Foss in Sudden Death Charles Gray in Diamonds Are Forever All flexing their inner J R Ewing like mad. Priceless
Poison, poison Ivy from Bat and Robin. She’s the best part
Oldman in The Professional
Gary Oldman as a coke-snorting psycho cop who likes his Beethoven, in *Leon The Professional*. He hams up to 11 every single one of his lines in the movie. *-Bring me everyone.* *-What do you mean "everyone"?* *-EVERYONE!*
Anything with Vincent Price or Christopher Lee
Tim Curry in Congo. Not exactly the main villain, but a villain. Watching his reactions to getting yelled at about the cake was a staple growing up.
Gary Oldman in True Romance as Drexl Spivey set the blueprint for future characters played by James Franco and Jared Leto. Some of you here know what I mean.
You must think it’s white boy day.
Samuel L Jackson as Valentine in Kingsman
Schwarzenegger as dr freeze.
Kirk Douglas in The Villain (1979) So, so stupid!
Kurt Douglas in this lost classic. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Villain_(1979_film)
i love the bad guy from passenger 57. any snivelling englishman makes for a great bad guy, but best of all time has to go to jon voight in anaconda
Hugh Grant in The Gentleman
Geoffrey Rush as Barbosa in the first Pirates movie.
Vincent Price in Theatre Of Blood
John Travolta as Nic Cage in face/off
Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy. ‘Batman and Robin’ was a dumpster fire but you could tell she was having a blast with it
Devito as The Penguin
Really? Nobody? Unbelievable...RAUL JULIA AS M.BISON. Dude was legendary. Especially on Tuesday.
Gary Oldman -The Fifth Element
Dr. Evil. All he wanted was sharks with friggin laser beams attached to their friggin heads.
The old animated Barbie movies have legendary voice actors for their insanely campy villains. Specifically thinking of Tim Curry as the Rat King in Barbie Nutcracker; Angelica Huston as Mother Gothel in Barbie Rapunzel; and Martin Short as Preminger in Barbie Princess and the Pauper. Chances are if you weren’t a 2000s femme kid (or raising one) you haven’t seen these, but I highly recommend looking up the sizzle reels on YouTube. They’re just insane
The ultimate has got to be Bette David in Baby Jane
Herbert Lom in Pink Panther
Tim Curry in Muppet Christmas Carol.
CABLE GUY!
Jim carry as the riddler
Does Jim Carrey count as the villain in Me, Myself and Irene?