1. Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks will be many people's firm choice for "that extremely likeable actor who has never played an out-and-out baddie". Sure, he has played a gangster (
Road to Perdition), a doggedly determined FBI agent (
Catch Me If You Can), a man of extremely low morals (
Bonfire of the Vanities) and a thief (
The Ladykillers), but none of these characters are thoroughly unlikeable or unambiguously "evil". All of these roles are coloured either by their comic intent, the sympathetic portrayal of the character, or the cold, hard fact that they are just men doing their jobs. Hanks could really surprise us - and rack up a string of acclaim in a fairly stagnant period of his career - by playing a lurid sicko; one can't help but imagine he could be irresistible as the crazed head of a company in a political thriller, say a Tony Gilroy film like
Michael Clayton, though that might require a more subtle, reined-in brand of madness. Still, Hanks hopefully has plenty left to offer and surprise us with, even if recent outings (
Larry Crowne) don't necessarily suggest that. What other actors do you envision playing mad killers? Michael Cera? Hugh Grant perhaps? Let us know in the comments below.