Interesting Movie Characters

[ChatNoir]

Who are some of the movie characters that you find fascinating? And Why?

[Kit06]

I think the Baggage Boy is facinating, he has been in so many movies; where he is doing roughly the same things, nonetheless people are still casting him, and producing his movies. :laugh:

I think the Joker from the Dark Knight is a great character. He didn't care about anything except for causing havok.

[Harb40]

Who are some of the movie characters that you find fascinating? And Why?

Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood) from Gran Torino. I know many Korea and WWII vets like him. They still hold hatred for those they fought against. But Walt sees that not all Asians/Orientals are the same.

[Uber]

Ace Venture... how did he start his job... why did he leave the police force? Many, many answers need for this character.

[Harb40]

Jacques from Angel Town (1990)

Selective prejudice. A frenchman battles a gang. Epic struggle of right and wrong.

[cecil_evans]

Who are some of the movie characters that you find fascinating? And Why?

usually any part played by Johnny Depp. but, today i saw Public Enemies, and while it was successful in telling the Dillinger story, Depp's part was pretty flat. Christian Bale's characterization of Melvin Purvis was much better.

otherwise, you want an interesting character, check out Yojimbo. Toshiro Mifune's (not MifuneAkira) aging, lone samurai is one of the best ever. this is the movie that Fistful of Dollars was based on. Clint learned all his licks from Mifune. look in the foreign film section.

[Daninsky]

Irena from Cat People (Simone Simon), DeWitt Bodeen created a psychologically complex character in his script. She's a truly caring person, a real sugar and spice and all things nice character who couldn't hurt anybody, but then gradually her repressed sexual nature breaks it's course until finally manifesting itself in form of a violent panther.
From there on she changes drastically and even visibly delights in torturing her rival (Jane Randolph) in the iconic pool scene.
The fascination of this character lies for one with the open sexual nature of the characters violent side but also in how Bodeen avoided to fall for the usual trap of simply painting a stark raving maniac.

Alice from Resident Evil, why?
Well she's a beautiful, kickass heroine, one can't help but love that. :)

All the characters in High Sierra, even the unlikable one's because they all stay true to their character. But most of all Roy Earle (Humphrey Bogart), the icon of a lost golden age of gangsters. He's morally absolut integer and only stands on the wrong side of the law because it just so happens to be what he does. He might try to buy Velma's (Joan Leslie) love but in the end his respect for women wins out and he defends Marie (Ida Lupino) right up to his death; which is a heart breaking moment in the movie because despite better knowledge one always secretly hopes for a happy end for the two of them.

Hannibal Lector, because like Roy Earle he's a man of absolut integrity. If you manage to win his respect he would die for you, if you loose his respect he won't hesitate to kill you (he rather cuts off his own hand before hurting agent Starling, but Will Graham almost payed with his live when he tried to outwit Lector). Secretly he is the good guy, the one constant in a always changing world. Sure he eats people, but preferrably the unplasant ones and those that disturb his harmony.

[Bezzer]

Jules and Vincent from Pulp Fiction...Most of Tarantino's characters are brilliant, but these two have an iconic status and rightfully so!
Excellent pairing of Travolta and Jackson, brilliant dialogue, cool as they come...Classic!

[geoff-uk]

Not seen all of it but, Harry Callahan from Dirty Harry. ;)

[Dulci]

I'll toss in Charles Foster Kane. Talk about a complex character! They just don't write em like that anymore (well, to be more precise, they just don't make movies about characters written like that anymore.)

[frosty_frost09]

I'd probably go with the characters from The Seven Samurai. Kurosawa wrote a dossier on each one of the seven samurai in the movie and went into every possible detail (even stuff they never mention in the movie) such as speaking manner, clothing, foods they like and dislike, etc.

[Mustachio26]

In my opinion, the Coen brothers have a real knack for writing interesting characters. Most notably, for me, being Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski. Although now that I think of it, most characters from that movie all have their own neat and intruiging quircks about them.

[ChatNoir]

What a collection of characters! Please keep them coming!

Here is a list of characters that occur to me at the moment:

Peter Dinklage - Station Agent
It’s unusual to see a person with dwarfism as a leading character for sure. But he is extraordinary in the way he makes you realize how unfair you are not being able to see through people’s overt characteristics. Besides, who among us don’t have to cope with a few of our own “inadequacy” issues?

Allan - Play It Again, Sam
Most Woodiesque of all the Woody characters, Allan’s pitiful internal toil makes him a very strange hero.

April Walker - Revolutionary Road
Her ornery and inept quest for something more in life is heartbreaking. Many of us have the same struggle as hers, but I want to believe we have better chances in the 21st century Western society. I feel as if she is an odd human sacrifice for our freedom and right to dream.

Tom Ripley - Talented Mr. Ripley
Has any other villain managed to extract this much sympathy from me? It’s amazing that I am utterly unable to judge him.

Virginia Woolf - The Hours
Of course I just love that intense gaze of Nicole Kidman. But more than anything else, I love her insecurity and self-doubt. (Of course I’m talking about the character in the movie. I don’t know how real VW was like, except she sounds to me calm and confident in her writings.)

[Vesobe]

Let's see now...

Beaugart's Sam Spade. How many times is a role so well done it comes to personify an entire genre?

Walken's Gabriel in the Prophecy. Awe inspiring.

Spacey's Kaiser Soze in The Usual Suspect. See above.

Wall-E. Without a doubt, one of the greatest near-mute-characters ever.

And of course, Groucho Marx.

[IceAxe]

Alex - A Clockwork Orange
The most sinister smile I've ever seen.

Everett - O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Damn, we're in a tight spot!

[thebiz]

Tom Stall (A history of Violence) - Two very different sides of a coin.

Charlie Meadows aka "MadMan Mundt" (Barton Fink) - The angelic/satanic everyman wrestler who's just looking to get ahead. Yea, the Coen Bros make some interesting characters.

[Daninsky]

Walken's Gabriel in the Prophecy. Awe inspiring.

Totally agree, but I thought all the main characters of that movie to be compelling written, love the quote from the start about Angels having one wing drenched in blood.
Sure it is the Walken's performance as Gabriel that lifts this movie to cult status but it is Thomas's struggle to come to terms with his faith what drives the story.
And the movie features the most charismatic devil since Angel Heart.

Speaking of which, did we already have Harry Angel?
Great character, a tormented soul on the run from his past, to bad there's always one person you can't run away from.

[macwemyss]

Jason Bourne from the Bourne trilogy played by Matt Damon. Damon was the perfect actor to cast for this part, he perfectly captures the air of mystery and killer instinct needed to play such a complex character.

Trevor Reznik from The Machinist played by Christian Bale. Bale lost over 60 lbs for this role and it really payed off in his haunting performance as the skeletal machine operator whose mind steadily begins to unravel after a traumatic incident.

Patrick Bateman from American Psycho played by Christian Bale. Another very interesting character portrayed extremely well by Christian Bale. By day he is a suave and cocky young businessman, by night a perverted serial killer with a penchant for hacking his victims to pieces with a chainsaw and storing their body parts in a freezer. Interesting, yes?

Robert Ford from The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford played by Casey Affleck. An excellent performance by the talented young actor in a very difficult role. He gives just the right mix of cockiness, awkwardness and insanity to seem convincing as the man who killed Jesse James. I would recommend this film for the murder scene alone.