20 Most Controversial Film Performances Of All Time

By Shaun Lappin / March 7, 2013

9. Dennis Hopper (Blue Velvet)

When Dennis Hopper read the part of Frank Booth he exclaimed wildly to director/writer David Lynch, "You have to let me play Frank! Because I am Frank!". A worrying sentiment, but none the less one of his greatest performances, one which depicted him a sexual predator, a freak of nature and at a complete and utter bastard. To say Frank Booth is an antagonist is a huge understatement - he is a warped version of Dennis Hopper; a heavy drug user, a sexual beast and a complete an utter nut job. What is more worrying though, is that all the words were already on the page and written by Lynch - that wild stuff was all there and Hopper seemingly only had to turn up and act nuts, something that evidently came natural to him.