I had a look at some of his books. Quite rigorous. I don’t see it as being accessible for most high school kids although I’m sympathetic to teachers learning it at that level.
Jake Gyllenhaal comes to mind as someone that plays psychopathic and/or broken people a bit **too** well. There is something very viscerally unsettling about his performance as Louis Bloom (Nightcrawler) and Mysterio (Spiderman). It’s the callousness, rage and complete lack of humanity right underneath that charming facade. Even when he’s just playing sympathetic broken characters, he plays the “unhinged” part too well.
Gary Oldman is very similar but I find him more impressive because of the range of roles he’s played (good, bad, grey characters).
Tony Starr’s homelander is another one that stands out. He’s just an empty void on the inside that can never be satisfied. He craves nothing but admiration and his only strategy is to force it, but that never satisfies him because it was forced. He cannot love.
Javier Bardem’s Anton Chigurh is almost supernatural; a force of nature. Same with Anthony Hopkins’s Lecter.
Daniel Day Lewis in there will be blood is cold. Just cold.
Who are some other actors that you think portray the dark side of human nature too well? Do you think you actually have to have that level of darkness in you to play it well, or can you just mimic it without connecting with it at a deep level?