3. Awesome- The Green Mile
In one of his earliest dramatic works, Rockwell is memorizing as "Wild Bill" Wharton, the newest inmate on death row's The Green Mile. Rockwell manages to keep his performance balanced with a raunchy sense of humor all the while maintaining a streak of twisted viciousness throughout, eventually leading to a heart-breaking climax at the hands of his character. In his character's first scenes, he pulls a fast one on the prison guards (Tom Hanks and company) by pretending to be doped up from the insane asylum during a transfer. He then manages to drop all of the guards to the ground in a riotous house warming gift of ass-kicking for his new care-takers. His confidence in the character and the commitment to the role made Rockwell a performer worth taking note of. "Wild Bill" becomes the rare bad guy you almost want to root for, played with uncanny brilliance by Rockwell.