Time & Perspective Quote by Balthazar Getty

A villain who can win you over is basically Hollywood admitting it knows exactly how persuasion works. When Balthazar Getty points out that “even the great bad guys in cinema history, they’re likable,” he’s not excusing cruelty; he’s naming a craft principle and a cultural tell. Movies don’t just need antagonists. They need characters you’ll lean toward, even as you know you shouldn’t.

The intent is practical: acting and screenwriting thrive on contradiction. A “great bad guy” isn’t great because he’s the most monstrous; he’s great because he’s legible. The charm, the competence, the humor, the calm under pressure - those traits aren’t decorations. They’re the delivery system for menace. Likability becomes a trapdoor: you laugh, you admire, you relax, and then the story reminds you what that charisma is attached to.

The subtext is more uncomfortable. Audiences often prefer transgressive confidence to ordinary decency, at least for two hours in a dark room. The likable villain flatters the viewer’s self-image: you’re not rooting for evil, you’re appreciating “complexity,” “style,” “honesty.” That’s how cinema lets us test-drive amorality without paying real-world costs.

Context matters here because Getty is speaking from inside the machine. Actors know that pure hate is dead on arrival; it leaves no room for performance. The iconic bad guys endure because they’re built with the same tools as heroes - desire, vulnerability, and a human rhythm - and that’s why they linger after the credits, often longer than the so-called good guys.