How to Play a Villain

Tim Curry is one of those actors that has done tons of villains. I don't think I've ever seen him play a good guy, though he was in that gray area as Long John Silver, with the Muppets. And he did do an audiobook I heard once. 

One of his villains is Hexus, from FernGully. In the bonus features, he was talking about his song, "Toxic Love." He said it was a lot of fun because he rarely gets to be that bad. 

That made me laugh. Well, if that gets it out of your system. 

Some actors say that villains are fun to play. But I wonder about actors that do mostly villains. Especially if they're typecast, and don't prefer those roles. A good actor becomes the character. I don't meant to say that playing villains makes someone a bad person. But it must be some kind of strain. 

But for example, in Les Miserables Anne Hathaway plays Fantine, who is definitely a tragic character. She's only in part of the movie. And because she didn't have to stay in character for too long, she said she just "stayed down" during that whole time. That stuck with me. Even when not filming, she lived as though she felt like Fantine. Damn, some acting roles must really wear you down, in unexpected ways. 

Sometimes if an actor plays a bully, they'll talk about how bad they feel being so mean to the other character (like in Wicked). 

Anyway, like I said, I wonder how that affects actors who do mostly (or all) villains. I suppose there are a number of reasons this might happen. Like they're just typecast that way. Or maybe they have a roguish personality. 

And as a follow-up, what if you have to write a villain in a story? I try to have more depth in my characters, and not just have people as "good" or "evil." But I do have some pretty evil villains. I think the one I've worked with the most is Dahlia, from Evva's story. And I have to admit, she's rather fascinating to write for. 

I'm a little concerned for myself.