"The fact that Carradine has brought up Zen philosophy is interesting in and of itself. Not because of his classic stint as the metaphysically-minded Kane from 1972 until 1975, but more because many of the villains that he's portrayed in film over the years have been instilled with an unnerving sense of calm. Carradine's baddies are not maniacally crazed individuals, but rather reserved and introspective, bequeathed with an eerie sense of serenity which ultimately makes them not only creepy, but more resolutely evil, more menacing. "Have you ever met one of those?" he queries about the maniacal, crazed villain. "I mean serial killers tend to be [normal]. Some of the most villainous people that we've ever heard of are sophisticated and charming, you know? I mean, take a guy like Hitler. How the hell could he talk millions of people into taking his terrible, horrible, horrendous trip. There must have been a lot of charisma there. And considering that he was a funny, ugly lookin' little guy, how the f@#k did he do that? When I started playing villains I thought, 'Villains don't think they're villains. They think they're good guys.' So I figured, 'let the story take care of that part.' It will be obvious in the story this guy is bad. He's gonna do something, he's gonna slit some girl's throat or shoot some guy down or cheat somebody at cards or whatever. So he'll do that. But in the meantime, if he's trying to be charming, which they all do, you know, the used car salesman [that's trying to win you over]. And I thought, 'That's the way to go.' And it seems to work.""
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
David Carradine in "IGN Interviews David Carradine", by Spence D., IGN, (13 Apr 2004).
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Villain
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Villain
15 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Villain →
Related Quotes
"Movies don't cause crime any more than prison wardens cause crime. It has been charged against the motion picture ind…"
"Every villain's redemption arc begins with their origin story."
"I’ll tell you a minor secret of playing villains. Mine are usually polite and almost invariably charming. Nobody like…"
"Harvey Dent/Two Face: You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain."
"Heroes and villains should experience conflict emotions well toward the beginning of stories. The heroes, how ever, s…"
"Tony Montana: What you lookin' at? You all a bunch of fuckin' assholes. You know why? You don't have the guts to be w…"
"Jean-Luc Picard: We think we've come so far. Torture of heretics, burning of witches, is all ancient history. Then, b…"
"Actors often say they most enjoy playing villains, and I have to be honest: I feel the same way about drawing them! T…"
"Now I will show myself To have more of the serpent than the dove; That is—more knave than fool."
"Zeno first started that doctrine, that knavery is the best defence against a knave."