10 Actors Who Perfectly Played Both Heroes And Villains

6. Sam Neill - Jurassic Park & Event Horizon

Sam Neill wasn't always an obvious choice to play the lead hero in Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park. Someone more swash-buckling like Harrison Ford might have fit the bill more easily or someone slightly younger may have been more marketable. But what Neill brought to Dr Alan Grant was a solid cynicism and integrity that you might not have got elsewhere.

Sure, there's an element of Ford's grumpiness from Indiana Jones, but Neill's Grant is a more convincing scientist and you can see him forming relationships with his fellow "survivors" more convincingly. He's the warm heart of the film's action and the kind of hat-wearer adventure hero you could imagine in a Golden Era serial.

His unassumingness is sort of why he stands out so markedly as the villain in Event Horizon too. You expect a sort of soft, everyman element to him, but then once he's corrupted by the devilish spirits awoken on the ship, he's horrifyingly effective as a stalking, grotesque monster. The film might not be entirely great, but it gets into your brain because Neill is so damn good.