Tim Roth has been appearing on our screens for more than thirty years. He was
one of Tarantino’s first alter egos; he appeared in indie British films, and has
become a great character actor and supporting player in many movies (and even
some TV shows). Here are Tim Roth’s best performances ranked:
9Twin Peaks: The Return (2017)
Released thirty years after the second season, Twin Peaks: The Return showed what
David Lynch could do with cable money and no creative intervention, creating this
unique piece of television that, like the original series, marched to the beat of its
own drum. In this sequel, Roth plays Hutch, a hitman who, with his partner, Jennifer
Jason Leigh, gets to create all kinds of chaos and misdeeds. It’s a fun performance
by Roth, who asked Lynch to put him in more episodes, as he was having a blast in
this world and with this character, in the perfect conclusion for this franchise.
Pulp Fiction needs no introduction, and Roth plays Pumpkin, half of the couple that
wants to rob a diner at the start and end of the movie. He and his lover, Honey
Bunny (Amanda Plummer), think they have everything figured out, until they meet
Jules (Samuel L. Jackson), who is one of the customers, and everything changes.
Roth’s performance as the low-level robber is electric. You believe he thinks he’s
smart for thinking of this robbery, while showing all his bravado and love for his
Honey Bunny. Once he’s confronted by a truly bad man, Roth is able to show us
how his character’s bravery is abandoning him as he understands he’s now playing
with the big boys, deciding it’s better to leave with his lover in this incredible
movie, that should’ve won the Best Picture Oscar.
7The Cook, the Thief, his Wife & Her Lover (1989)
The Cook, the Thief, his Wife & Her Lover is a unique movie directed by one-ina-million director Peter Greenaway. The movie uses themes such as greed,
decadence, and even gluttony to tell a story that is as sad as it is disgusting. Roth
plays Mitchell, one of the criminal associates of the title thief (Michael Gambon). It’s
a small role, but one that showed that Roth could play in any kind of actor
playground, as the tone, style, and colors of this movie are like no other.
6Rob Roy (1995)
Rob Roy tells the story of the title character (Liam Neeson) as he becomes a Robin
Hood-esque hero in Scotland’s highlands in the 1700s. Roth plays the film’s villain,
Archibald Cunningham, in a performance that earned him his only Academy Award
nomination. His character is the worst of the worst; someone who can kill dogs in
the morning and sexually assault women in the afternoon, and Roth relishes being
such a bad guy. His performance is cocky, arrogant, and evil. His character has
never heard a “no” in his life, because of his family’s money and power. Roth
created a great villain (with no historic accuracy) so that Neeson’s Roy had a great
nemesis to fight against.
5Selma (2014)
Selma is one of the best movies to honor Black History Month. It’s a great film
about one of the most important moments in United States history; the march led
by Martin Luther King Jr. from Selma to Montgomery. Roth plays another villain, a
real one, this time, Alabama Governor George Wallace. Wallace was heavily against
Martin Luther King Jr. and what he stood for. Roth plays him with no grace notes,
as bad as he was. Director Ava DuVernay herself said it best: “He played the heck
out of George Wallace.”
4Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1990)
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead tells the story of two side characters
from Hamlet, creating a comedy about life, death, predestination, and free will, with
incredibly witty dialogue throughout. This story started as a play; the film was
directed by the original playwright, Tom Stoppard, and as such, is a great script for
an actor to exercise all their acting muscles. Roth plays Gildenstern to Gary
Oldman’s Rosencrantz, in a role cast first to Daniel Day-Lewis, who had to drop out.
A character in a tragi-comedy, who has to both be funny and existential is right up
Roth’s alley, and he nails his performance.
3Four Rooms (1995)
