Hannibal Lecter: Ultimate Film Baddie

As the late Heath Ledger pans for box-office gold with his portrayal of The Joker in The Dark Knight, I was interested to see another iconic film bad guy making news here in the UK. It seems that no matter how sturdy is the hockey mask, Thomas Harris’ creation, the anti-hero Dr. Hannibal Lecter, is able to escape its grip easily, as evidenced by his appearance as the No.1 movie villain in a survey at LOVEFiLM.com. According to the UK News Headlines site:

Hannibal Lecter has been voted the ultimate movie baddie by film fans.

The flesh-eating serial killer, famously played by Sir Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs, pipped Darth Vader to the title of ultimate big screen villain in a poll of movie buffs.

The survey of more than 2,500 people was conducted by online DVD rental website lovefilm.com to mark the release of new Batman film The Dark Knight for which Heath Ledger’s chilling portrayal of arch villain The Joker is tipped to win a posthumous Oscar.

Sir Anthony’s role as clever cannibal Lecter, who has a penchant for fava beans and chianti, won him a best actor Oscar and attracted nearly one-in-four of the votes (23 per cent).

You will find more of that story here.

Here’s the full rundown of ratings for big-screen bad asses:

1. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), The Silence of the Lambs, 23%
2. Darth Vader (David Prowse), Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back, 20%
3. Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci), Goodfellas, 11%
4. Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), No Country for Old Men, 8%
5. Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman), Die Hard, 7%
6. Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates), Misery, 6%
7. John Doe (Kevin Spacey), Se7en, 5%
8. Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), The Shining, 4%
9. The Joker (Heath Ledger), The Dark Knight, 3%
10. Al Capone (Robert De Niro), The Untouchables, 2%

I would also like to remind Rap Sheet readers that a previous LOVEFiLM survey found Sir Anthony to be the actor most British people would like to see as their prime minister. Considering the trouble our current PM, Gordon Brown, has been having lately and the consequent plummeting of his popularity, perhaps he should try uncorking a bottle of Chianti (or Amarone) and opening up his own tin of fava beans. The most skilled politicians always know how to re-create themselves, don’t they?