1. Vicomte de Valmont - Dangerous Liaisons
Stephen Fears' Hollywood debut, an adaptation of Christopher Hampton's acclaimed play, cast Malkovich in a very unexpected light indeed, putting on the heavy make-up to play to lurid womaniser Valmont, who teams up with Marquise de Merteuil (Glenn Close) to deflower Cécile de Volanges (Uma Thurman), the fiancee of one of Merteuil's recent lovers. It's a wonderfully vicious mixture of sex, lies and even death, and though it was Glenn Close and Michelle Pfeiffer who earned Academy Award nominations for their work here, Malkovich's gleefully evil turn should unquestionably have joined them. This is Malkovich at his most brilliantly reptilian, milking his naturally intimidating screen presence for all it's worth. Still, the actor of course isn't playing a firmly black-and-white pantomime villain; as Merteuil's grip begins to loose in the tragic final stages of the movie, the actor also gets to demonstrate some more cutting, subtle acting nuances. Brilliant. Click "Next" to see 5 Malkovich performances that truly sucked...