11 Perfect Times Actors Went Incredibly Dark

3. Kevin Costner - Mr. Brooks

Kevin Costner has never received the praise his career deserves, because way too many people remember Waterworld as being way more disastrous than it ever was.

He's always been one of those dependably sympathetic heroes - the kind you want to see reconnect with the ghost of his father or to recapture his lost sporting excellence or to not needlessly kill himself in a tornado to turn his son into Superman. He boasts this sort of intangible fatherly essence that makes him delightfully relatable, like Tom Hanks.

But with Mr Brooks, Costner swung to the dark side. And while the film was largely overlooked, Costner's Earl Brooks is a genius creation. He's a normal, everyday guy, respected in his community and the head of a loving family who just happens to be a serial killer who keeps bloody souvenirs. Like Dexter if he was a proper family man.

The role plays on every other pillar of his career, using the audience's expectations against them and it's all surprisingly effective.