10 Greatest Over-Acted Performances In Movie History
6. Gary Oldman - Léon: The Professional (1994)
Léon: The Professional is primarily the strange tale of a hitman (Jean Reno) who takes an orphaned twelve year old girl (Natalie Portman) into his home and under his wing.
The girl has become orphaned after her entire family get gunned down by corrupt cop Norman Stansfield (Gary Oldman), a man who loves getting buzzed on pills and listening to a bit of Beethoven. Imagine if Alex de Large grew up to join the law enforcement as his fellow droogs do, but becomes even more sadistic and ten times as maniacal.
The classic scene is indeed Stansfield’s massacre of the family. In the build up he pops a pill of drugs, gurns and grimaces and becomes euphoric at the sound of old Ludwig Van. After blasting down the door he glides through the flat, waving his hands like a conductor in between blasting the poor inhabitants with a shotgun. This whole bloodbath ends with Stansfield whining “He ruined my suit” after getting a bullet hole through the jacket.
It’s Disney villain stuff made all the more outrageous in contrast to Reno’s stoic, understated portrayal of Léon.