10) Sir Ben Kingsley
Profane language is not a signifier of class—as Ben Kingsley proves, an actor who is also a British knight can swear up a storm for a movie role alongside his blasphemous brethren. He made a name for himself in Gandhi and Schindler’s List, but Kingsley’s mad commitment to his performance in Jonathan Glazer’s Sexy Beast is one for the obscenity ages. There are few more divergent performances in movie history than Kingsley as Gandhi and Kingsley as Logan, a range that would prove useful when Iron Man 3 came calling for Sir Ben. There’s some kind of weird pleasure to be had from seeing these respected thespians become foulmouthed douchebags in movies.
A character’s style of speech can exude a specific kind of bravado. It may be foolish to assign a value judgment to this particular style of acting, but there’s little denying the immense pleasure that can be drawn from a line like “I’ve had it with these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane.” Just as confidence can be effective on its own, it can be equally effective when it’s undercut by absurdity. I’m sure an actual linguist would have far more interesting things to say on the subject, but from my perspective, any motherfucker who can deliver dialogue rife with profanity can play any part that’s thrown at them. Shiiiit.
