Oscar voters have always had a soft spot for villains. In the 90-plus years since The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences starting handing out awards, its members have honored the likes of Anthony Hopkins and Javier Bardem for playing remorseless killers, Michael Douglas and Daniel Day-Lewis for playing pathologically greedy tycoons, and Heath Ledger and Joaquin Phoenix for playing Jokers. Just last year, the Academy gave its Best Picture Oscar to
Parasite, a movie about a band of con artists manipulating a family of self-centered swells.
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There are commonalities, though, between the
kinds of bad guys and gals the Academy prefers. Hannibal Lecter and Anton Chigurh are almost supernatural forces of pure evil. There’s a tragic dimension to the ruthlessness of Gordon Gekko and Daniel Plainview. The Joker is both evil