The cover of the current GQ promised to tell us "The Biggest Movie Jerks of All Time". Inside, the article has a somewhat more PG-13 title, "The Dickhead Dozen".
The first guy to come to my mind, however, was totally missing from the list. That would be: William Atherton. In the eighties, he owned movie jerkdom.
- He played the officious
Walter Peck in Ghostbusters, memorably being
called "dickless" by Bill Murray.
- He played Richard Thornburg in Die Hard and Die Hard
2; in the latter,
Bonnie Bedelia referred to him as "Dick", leaving no doubt
about what she really meant by that.
- Last but not least, he played Professor Jerry Hathaway in Real Genius, Val Kilmer's nemesis. When Kilmer calls him an "unbelievable bastard," he coolly replies: "Count on it."
In fact, in some cases, it's rumored he may not have officially been hired at all; he just showed up on sets, being a jerk, making up his own jerk lines. It was easier just to let him be in the movie.
The GQ list is woefully and inexplicably incomplete by being Athertonless. In fact, he belongs at the very top.
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