20 Greatest Movie Villains Played By British Actors
3. Amon Goeth - Ralph Fiennes
This is very cruel. You're giving them hope. You shouldn't do that
Film Appearance(s): Schindler's List (1993) SS-Untersturmfuhrer Amon Goeth seems like the stuff of nightmares. A man without mercy or compassion. A man who thinks nothing of ordering the liquidation of an entire Polish ghetto or raping his maid. A man who shoots prisoners from his balcony with nothing but casual indifference. The scariest thing about Second Lieutenant Amon Goeth? He was no nightmare but real. Director Steven Spielberg cast Suffolk-born Ralph Fiennes in the role after watching him in Wuthering Heights. Spielberg saw what he called sexual evil in Fiennes and is thoroughly convincing from start to finish as the amoral German. Ralph Fiennes was Oscar nominated for his performance but lost out to Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive, which, over twenty years later, seems like daylight robbery. The greatest compliment one can pay Fiennes performance is how authentic it is. There is no grandstanding or exaggeration, only the brutal portrayal of an real person. Mila Pferrerberg, a real-life survivor from the Plaszow concentration camp, met Fiennes on-set and in full uniform during filming; she trembled with fear. Did You Know?...Ralph Fiennes put on over 13kg for the role. He did it by drinking lots of Guinness which is nice work if you can get it.
2. Hannibal Lecter - Anthony Hopkins
On a similar note I must confess to you, I'm giving very serious thought...to eating your wife
Film Appearance(s): Silence Of The Lambs (1991) Hannibal (2001) Red Dragon (2002) Peter OToole once said there was no such thing as a small role, only small actors. That proves to be true in the case of Anthony Hopkins portrayal of Dr Hannibal Lecter. Appearing on-screen for only 17 minutes was enough for the character of Hannibal to be burned into the publics consciousness following his appearance in The Silence Of The Lambs. A graduate of the famed Royal Academy Of Dramatic Art, the man from Port Talbot in Wales delivered a mesmerizing turn and made the Lithuanian-born Lecter his own. His portrayal was both chilling and malevolent but also strangely likeable. Few could argue against Hopkins winning the Oscar for Best Actor. The sequels may have substituted psychological horror for gore with Lecter becoming more and more of a caricature but there is no denying that Hannibal is still the best thing about the sequels and is one of cinemas greatest ever villains thanks to Anthony Hopkins performance. Did You Know?...During the films first meeting between Hannibal and Clarice Sterling, Anthony Hopkins' mocking of her Southern accent was improvised. Jodie Foster's horrified reaction was genuine.
