Villains: Now in 3D!
It's hard to write a good villain. A villain should be interesting, powerful, complex, and maybe even a little bit sympathetic. We may disagree with them--hate them--but we should at least understand them.
The best advice I've heard for writing villains is to make sure the villain has their own agenda. They're not just out to cause trouble for the hero-- that's incidental, or a bonus. They have their eyes on a prize and want it the same way our hero has wants. The same way all of us want.
But let's go even further: your villain should want something based on what they truly believe. What is your villain's world-view?
Take the example of Christof in The Truman Show. What follows is the climactic scene from the movie, when Truman has made his way by boat to the edge of his artificial world as Christof tried everything he could, behind the scenes, to prevent Truman's escape. Christof then speaks to Truman from above, Godlike. (Note: this is transcribed from the film, not copied from a script.)
Truman gasps in shock.
CHRISTOF
You can speak. I can hear you.
TRUMAN
Who are you?
CHRISTOF
I am the creator of a television show that gives
hope and joy and inspiration to millions.
TRUMAN
And who am I?
CHRISTOF
You're the star.
TRUMAN
Was nothing real?
CHRISTOF
YOU were real. That's what made you so good to watch. Listen to me, Truman. There's no more truth out there than there is in the world I created for you. Same lies. The same deceit. But in my world, you have nothing to fear. I know you better than you know yourself.
TRUMAN
You never had a camera in my head!
CHRISTOF
You're afraid. That's why you can't leave. It's okay, Truman. I understand. I have been watching you your whole life. I was watching when you were born. I was watching when you took your first step. I watched you on your first day of school.
(chuckles)
The episode when you lost your first tooth. You can't leave, Truman. You belong here... With me. Talk to me. Say something.
(beat)
Well, say something, goddamnit! You're on television! You're live to the whole world!
TRUMAN
In case I don't see ya... good afternoon, good evening and goodnight.
Truman bows. Then walks through the door into the real world, and the unknown.
Now, the obvious way to play this villain would be to have Christof doing whatever it takes to keep Truman from leaving because losing Truman means losing his show/cash cow. Instead, it seems Christof genuinely believes that Truman's life in the safety of the bubble is preferable to a life of discovery, risk, and autonomy. Christof's world-view? He is God, and the safe, organized, sheltered life he has created for Truman is better than the real one. This guy actually believes Truman might be convinced, and say "Okay, sure, let's keep faking my life". Much more interesting than the money-hungry version would've been.
And look how this climactic moment also sums up the theme of the film: freedom, with all its risks, beats a safe prison any day.
Sharing time: what are your favourite examples of villains with a strong world-view?
The best advice I've heard for writing villains is to make sure the villain has their own agenda. They're not just out to cause trouble for the hero-- that's incidental, or a bonus. They have their eyes on a prize and want it the same way our hero has wants. The same way all of us want.
But let's go even further: your villain should want something based on what they truly believe. What is your villain's world-view?
Take the example of Christof in The Truman Show. What follows is the climactic scene from the movie, when Truman has made his way by boat to the edge of his artificial world as Christof tried everything he could, behind the scenes, to prevent Truman's escape. Christof then speaks to Truman from above, Godlike. (Note: this is transcribed from the film, not copied from a script.)
CHRISTOF
I wanna talk to him.
(to Truman)
Truman.
(to Truman)
Truman.
Truman gasps in shock.
CHRISTOF
You can speak. I can hear you.
TRUMAN
Who are you?
CHRISTOF
I am the creator of a television show that gives
hope and joy and inspiration to millions.
TRUMAN
And who am I?
CHRISTOF
You're the star.
TRUMAN
Was nothing real?
CHRISTOF
YOU were real. That's what made you so good to watch. Listen to me, Truman. There's no more truth out there than there is in the world I created for you. Same lies. The same deceit. But in my world, you have nothing to fear. I know you better than you know yourself.
TRUMAN
You never had a camera in my head!
CHRISTOF
You're afraid. That's why you can't leave. It's okay, Truman. I understand. I have been watching you your whole life. I was watching when you were born. I was watching when you took your first step. I watched you on your first day of school.
(chuckles)
The episode when you lost your first tooth. You can't leave, Truman. You belong here... With me. Talk to me. Say something.
(beat)
Well, say something, goddamnit! You're on television! You're live to the whole world!
TRUMAN
In case I don't see ya... good afternoon, good evening and goodnight.
Truman bows. Then walks through the door into the real world, and the unknown.
Now, the obvious way to play this villain would be to have Christof doing whatever it takes to keep Truman from leaving because losing Truman means losing his show/cash cow. Instead, it seems Christof genuinely believes that Truman's life in the safety of the bubble is preferable to a life of discovery, risk, and autonomy. Christof's world-view? He is God, and the safe, organized, sheltered life he has created for Truman is better than the real one. This guy actually believes Truman might be convinced, and say "Okay, sure, let's keep faking my life". Much more interesting than the money-hungry version would've been.
And look how this climactic moment also sums up the theme of the film: freedom, with all its risks, beats a safe prison any day.
Sharing time: what are your favourite examples of villains with a strong world-view?
posted by Jennica at 9:17 a.m.
10 Comments:
not sure it counts as a world-view, but i loved the story verbal tells in 'the usual suspects,' about keyser soze who, rather than capitulate to the men who have taken his family hostage, kills them instead.
it's extreme but its something i've always thought about when imagining that scenario. and it gave a certain avoir dupois to the character for me.
John Malkovich in In The Line of Fire is one of the best villians ever. A lot of writers just get incredibly lazy and make their villian evil to the point of cartoon, like Keyser Soze. But Malkovich was articulate, honorable and respected the hero. He also had flaws which made him seem real.
When I'm rewriting, I imagine the villain as being the hero of his or her own movie. They don't wake up and say, "Time to be fuckin' evil." As far as they're concerned, they're the good guys. That may be closer to the mentality of the killers, thieves and bombers in prison.
Another dazzling post, Jennica.
I've been thinking all week about this post and I can't seem to think of any movies. Not just about this post, but any movies ever. I suck.
I'll throw out an obvious one: Magnito from X-Men. I think that one's pretty self-explanitory. Also: The Wicked Witch of the West.
Sorry I couldn't come up with anything more interesting!
What about all those rich, snobby, holier than thou villians of the great 80's classics? Hardy Jenns in Some Kind of Wonderful, Steff in Pretty in Pink ("that girl was, is and always will be nada") and the slightly older twist on the theme, James Court in Say Anything. This list could go on, almost all teen angst riddled movies of the 80's seemed to have one of these guys in them.
I hated and loved each and everyone of them. I knew what it felt like to try and pretend to be something I am not and to sometimes be a bitch in the process. Plus you always knew that they were going to lose in the end, usually while some delightly sentimental song crooned us into the credits. Ahhh the 80's.
GREAT examples!
I love Keyser Soze/Verbal Kint too, though Usual Suspects is a weird example, isn't it? The villain is terrifying but doesn't really exist...
Joe, I'm curious as to why you feel Soze's cartoony & lazy... I think if he turned out to be "real" I would agree, but given that he's pretty much fictional-- doesn't Chris McQuarrie get points for originality? Or: did you mean that some writers get lazy and just rip off Keyser Soze?
In the Line of Fire-- just fantastic.
Magneto, for sure. (Goddamn it: that guy's world-view is so strong and he's got such good reasons for believing what he does that there are moments I'm almost with him.)
The John Hughes & Camerom Crowe villains-- yes! Remember when it was really fun to hate the bad guys?
Some other examples that come to mind:
--the Tommy Lee Jones character in The Fugitive. He's not the villain, but he's definitely our visible antagonist. And he's such an asshole, but really, if you look at the story objectively, he's the GOOD guy. He's the US Marshal chasing down an escaped murderer!
--Jeremy Irons in Die Hard With a Vengeance. VERY cartoony, but it sure is fun to watch him. And his "world-view" keeps changing... is he doing this out of revenge? Is it a political statement? Or is it about all that money?
--Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) in Blade Runner. Like Magneto, his reasons for his actions (simply wanting to live beyond his predetermined expiration date) are so relatable that we have moments in which we question our loyalty to the hero. And, like Christof in Truman Show, Batty expresses the theme of Blade Runner beautifully-- what does it mean to be alive?
Roy Batty in Blade Runner is a terrific choice, Jennica. In Europe, they saw Rutger Hauer as the hero and Harrison Ford as the bad guy. The fact that neither character is conviniently good or evil says a lot about how complex that film is.
I'm just not a fan of The Usual Suspects. I think it's a cool twist ending with 90 minutes of material in front of it that does not work. Keyser Soze is a cartoon Devil who was evil to the point of being supernatural. Just my opinion. I know people who love that movie even more than Pulp Fiction, which for me, is probably the best screenplay ever written, so go figure.
However, what about Kevin Spacey as John Doe in Se7en? He's only on screen for about ten minutes, but what a shadow that character casts. Not only does the villian outsmart the heroes and "win", but he out philosophizes them as well. How many movies have the balls to do that?
I look forward to reading your villian.
Love Se7en (though hate words with num3ers stuck inside them!). That has got to be one of the all-time great 3rd act crises.
I'm not sure I can think of a more horrifying moment than Spacey telling Pitt that his now-decapitated wife was also pregnant.
Okay, one equally horrifying moment: the "curbing" in American History X. I'm not a huge fan of the movie, but I've always thought it was brave that the film starts with a hero who commits an abominable (unforgiveable) act... and then dares me to root for his transformation.
Falling Down - the hero is the villain!
I think that villians who see themselves as ultimately serving a greater good (Magneto in "X-men", Max von Sydow in "Minorty Report") started to appear more often then not in the 90's, particularly in storylines in the future, where money doesn't 'exist'. They were often seen spouting some Socratic philosophy while they beat the living daylights out of a cop. It seems like an easier way to build a villain with some integrity by giving them a different world view to enforce, often that of the establishment.
That's why Hans Gruber in "Die Hard" was such a refreshing change, here was a man that was clearly educated, and even wore the facade of a revolutionary, but was a pure and simple thief. So yeah, he gets my vote.
More great examples... Tim, I got sucked into Falling Down on TV again recently. I'd forgotten about that one. Love that Duvall character as well.
And Clayton, really interesting point-- hadn't thought of that "money isn't an issue" thing. Huh.
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