Touch of Evil

December 11, 2011 12:27 PM

Touch of Evil A NYT gallery of villainy featuring some of the best rouges of fiction.
posted by cjorgensen (44 comments total)

Glad I red that.
posted by RokkitNite at 12:30 PM on December 11, 2011 [31 favorites]

You made that up.
posted by Grangousier at 12:32 PM on December 11, 2011 [6 favorites]

Quick, somebody touch that up. Some faces are quite flushed.
posted by Anitanola at 12:34 PM on December 11, 2011 [4 favorites]

Knock it off, guys; you're making him blush.
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:35 PM on December 11, 2011 [6 favorites]

Seriously though, I didn't get the references every time, but the Alex one was pretty awesome, how it came together, the moment of realisation. Good stuff!
posted by RokkitNite at 12:35 PM on December 11, 2011 [1 favorite]

Brad Pitt as Brad Dourif. Or is it Jack Nance?
posted by cazoo at 12:43 PM on December 11, 2011 [1 favorite]

Oh, wonderful! Very menacing.
posted by tickingclock at 12:54 PM on December 11, 2011

I had to look some of these up. Nance it is.
posted by theredpen at 12:59 PM on December 11, 2011

Personally I think we need less rouge and more mascara.
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 1:06 PM on December 11, 2011 [1 favorite]

Currently popular actors imitating much better actors in iconic roles? Is that supposed to make us feel better about the quality of movie remakes and reboots today? Or just the NYT Style Editors bragging about all the big names on their Rolodex (and you know it has to be a physical Rolodex)?
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:06 PM on December 11, 2011 [3 favorites]

Henry as the 'villain' is kind of an uncomplicated reading of that film
posted by This, of course, alludes to you at 1:09 PM on December 11, 2011 [4 favorites]

trade chat?
posted by atomicmedia at 1:18 PM on December 11, 2011 [1 favorite]

I think he's a 'movie rogue' in the same way Eraserhead is a horror movie. Makes sense if you caught fifteen minutes of it on HBO at midnight and quickly turned it off, makes no sense if you've ever bothered with it.
posted by griphus at 1:19 PM on December 11, 2011 [2 favorites]

I recognized 6 of them without looking up who was who, which may/may not be pretty good.

Henry as the 'villain' is kind of an uncomplicated reading of that film

I thought so as well, but at the same time, Brad Pitt making weird faces with the hair and everything was pretty amusing.
posted by sparkletone at 1:20 PM on December 11, 2011

Currently popular actors imitating much better actors in iconic roles?

I bet you're a lot of fun at parties.
posted by sparkletone at 1:21 PM on December 11, 2011 [3 favorites]

That was just terrible NYT wankery.
posted by benzenedream at 1:26 PM on December 11, 2011 [2 favorites]

That was just terrible NYT wankery.

An awful, self-indulgent exercise that didn't really bring anything new to the table. They had some celebrities on hand, but no ideas.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 1:29 PM on December 11, 2011

Well I liked the ones I got, some of the photography is nice (Mirror smashing was pretty), but you know I watch a lot of movies and I read a lot of books and I didn't get half of these - are they supposed to be exact versions? Archetypes? Both?
posted by The Whelk at 1:30 PM on December 11, 2011

Brice de not-so Nice.
posted by jrb223 at 1:31 PM on December 11, 2011

I liked the first time NYT did these, with the black and white, but not feeling it now, sorry.
posted by The Whelk at 1:33 PM on December 11, 2011

Was there something about ladybugs in Cuckoo's Nest? She is Nurse Ratchet, right?
posted by cmoj at 1:50 PM on December 11, 2011

are they supposed to be exact versions? Archetypes? Both?

If only they'd provided a list of who's who....
posted by sparkletone at 2:00 PM on December 11, 2011 [1 favorite]

Goodness. After the snarkery at the beginning of the thread... Have these escaped from perfume ads? Someone involved in this should be slapped, but I'm not exactly sure who. Perhaps slappings all round...

That said, George Clooney looks like either Dan Hedaya in Alien Resurrection or Angelo Badalamenti sampling the espresson in Mulholland Drive.
posted by Grangousier at 2:20 PM on December 11, 2011 [1 favorite]

I took Clooney for Ernest Borgnine at first glance.

Yipe!
posted by droplet at 2:35 PM on December 11, 2011 [1 favorite]

Rogues!
posted by cjorgensen at 3:28 PM on December 11, 2011 [1 favorite]

That was just terrible NYT wankery.

An awful, self-indulgent exercise that didn't really bring anything new to the table

The comment or the post?
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 3:56 PM on December 11, 2011

It would have helped identifying roles if they'd used the soundtracks from the movies. Or did they? It all sounded the same.

Also the use of slow-motion backwards motion and other post tricks felt like a cheat, to help the actors pull it off. Particularly weak were the "I will now shout at the camera with my best full-on psycho face" endings.

But Oldman was great as a homicidal dummy. How the heck did he make his eyes do that precise weird mechanical roll?
posted by gorgor_balabala at 4:26 PM on December 11, 2011

Not getting all the snark, thought that most of these were pretty cool. Oldman was seriously the best thought.
posted by octothorpe at 4:31 PM on December 11, 2011

Explanatory Sideshow. Previously.

Was there something about ladybugs in Cuckoo's Nest? She is Nurse Ratchet, right?

I was perplexed by this, because first I was thinking Cuckoo's Nest, and then all the ladybugs made me think of Candyman and these do not go together.
posted by kagredon at 4:38 PM on December 11, 2011

droplet: I took Clooney for Ernest Borgnine at first glance

I saw more shades of another former "Sexiest Man Alive", Bob Hoskins.

I was disappointed in the Brad Pitt one as a bit too 'hammy', and the Kirsten Dunst one (this is my shocked face), but I did enjoy some of them as little cinematic vignettes. So, I'm no cineaste, although I figure I'm above average (for real life, that is, not for Metafilter), but... I *still* can't figure out all of them, even with the guide- which is inexplicably not in the same order as the ones on the original page. Someone want to go ahead and compile the list?


Can't believe someone else hasn't ranted about this, but... c'mon, they call the collection "Touch of Evil"... but then didn't ensure that someone did the Hank Quinlan character from "Touch of Evil"?! What the cock is that shit?! Not only was that movie amazing, but far more than some supernatural b.s. he was the best kind of movie villain, because he was human, sympathetic, smart, funny, and very plausible... and still totally immoral and wholly dangerous to the end*.

* Uh... spoilers. :)
posted by hincandenza at 4:42 PM on December 11, 2011 [1 favorite]

Okay, just after posting, I see kagredon's link was very helpful: like the original "Actors Acting" link, this was meant to be inspired by, but not strict copies of, famous movie roles... but movie roles as archetype.

Uh, except for the ones so iconic that it's silly to pretend they're generalized reductions of famous roles into archetype.

That's kind of muddy of you, NYT.
posted by hincandenza at 4:46 PM on December 11, 2011

With the rapid cuts and extreme close-ups, Michael Shannon (as Gordon Gekko) kind of looked like Leonardo DiCaprio in age makeup. I intended to make a comment here about how Shannon is what DiCaprio will look like in ____ years, so I looked them up on IMDb to fill in the blank.

Turns out that Michael Shannon and Leonardo DiCaprio are the same age (37). Am I the only one stunned by that? I love the guy's work, but I would've pegged Shannon for late 40s at least.
posted by Riki tiki at 4:52 PM on December 11, 2011 [5 favorites]

I mean, the "evil Caretaker" is actually great, if only cause she's walking so carefully to not squish them and cause, hey creepy-ass effect on a budget! But I'm not watching it over and over like I was with Vincent Cassel dancing with a chair.

I felt like it needed to be more specific or more general.
posted by The Whelk at 5:00 PM on December 11, 2011

Leonardo DiCaprio is 37?!?!?!?!?! Wait. How old does that make me? Oh ... oh crap.
posted by zomg at 5:44 PM on December 11, 2011

What is the inspiration for Mia Wasikowska with the axe and the mirrors?
posted by taz at 5:25 AM on December 12, 2011

Repulsion

They're set on redefining "tenuous" for a new generation.
posted by Grangousier at 5:53 AM on December 12, 2011

What are the references? What rogue is Clooney? Napoleon?
posted by crunchland at 6:38 AM on December 12, 2011

crunchland: "What are the references? What rogue is Clooney? Napoleon?"

Captain Bligh. No, I would never have figured it out either.
posted by octothorpe at 7:54 AM on December 12, 2011

My favourite fictional rouge is that guy in The Mascara of the Red Death. Oh, and The Mule. You know, out of The Foundation Trilogy.

He's not fictional but I never much cared for Helmut Kohl, either.
posted by Decani at 9:34 AM on December 12, 2011 [1 favorite]

Decani you are the worst
posted by griphus at 9:50 AM on December 12, 2011 [1 favorite]

griphus, you and Decani play nice and makeup now.
posted by taz at 10:37 AM on December 12, 2011 [1 favorite]

griphus, you and Decani play nice and makeup now.
posted by taz at 6:37 PM on December 12 [1 favorite −] Favorite added!

Perhaps it'd be better if we just gloss over the whole thing.
posted by Decani at 10:41 AM on December 12, 2011

I'd prefer it if you just MAC Ice Parade: Snowglobe Eye Shadows
posted by griphus at 10:45 AM on December 12, 2011

That was bizarre and confusing and I loved it.
posted by book 'em dano at 3:07 PM on December 12, 2011