- 2 days ago
Not every actor plays it safe. Some stars embrace controversy, taking on bold, risky, and shocking scenes that spark debate worldwide.
In this video, we look at 10 actors who openly love doing controversial scenes, pushing boundaries for realism, art, and unforgettable performances.
⚠️ Viewer discretion advised — mature themes discussed.
Subscribe to watchmojo.world for more:
• Bold movie moments
• Actor deep dives
• Film industry secrets
In this video, we look at 10 actors who openly love doing controversial scenes, pushing boundaries for realism, art, and unforgettable performances.
⚠️ Viewer discretion advised — mature themes discussed.
Subscribe to watchmojo.world for more:
• Bold movie moments
• Actor deep dives
• Film industry secrets
Category
✨
PeopleTranscript
00:00Hello, nice to meet you. My name is Borat. I am new in town. I just say...
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the best examples...
00:10...of performers that embrace bold, provocative, and or graphic material.
00:15Hello.
00:20Number 10. Harvey Keitel. From his earliest days as a screen actor, Harvey Keitel's
00:25Keitel linked himself to some of the best filmmakers of their generation.
00:28His early partnership with Martin Scorsese...
00:30...and gave him a big break and put him in some seedier roles.
00:33In Taxi Driver, he played the slimy...
00:35...the character's sport that had a gross view of his employees.
00:38You never spend any time with me.
00:40Well, I've got to attend to business, baby.
00:45You miss your land, don't you?
00:47He didn't slow down either with controversial projects...
00:50...ranging from religious epics to Bad Lieutenant.
00:52Championing the work of indie filmmakers, he wasn't...
00:55...fraid to take off his clothes, either.
00:57You being bad girls, huh?
00:58You being bad girls?
00:59You being bad girls?
01:00Huh?
01:01The 1990s saw him in a string of acclaimed movies like The Piano and The Violent...
01:05...debut of Quentin Tarantino.
01:06Needless to say, the man kept up a steady work ethic and seemed ready to...
01:10...try almost anything.
01:11For the past 15 minutes now, you've been droning on about names...
01:15...Toby.
01:16Toby.
01:17Toby.
01:18Toby.
01:19Toby Wong.
01:20Toby.
01:21Toby.
01:22Toby.
01:25He steadily rose to fame after a decade of awesome work.
01:27Many people came to know her in Knives Out, but she also...
01:30...starred in the horror movie Knock Knock.
01:32This included some showdowns and alarming revelations in one of her first...
01:35...notable roles.
01:36You know what?
01:37For a moment, I thought you were the one who'd say...
01:40...no.
01:41And now we have to play again with someone else.
01:44Many years later...
01:45...Anita Armis was cast as Marilyn Monroe in Blot.
01:48The Netflix film garnered controversy...
01:50...for its explicit content and dramatized looks at the starlet's life.
01:53This included a frightening scene...
01:55...featuring a politician...
01:56...with the NC-17 film Unafraid to Provoke.
01:58We have Mr Monroe here, sir.
01:59We have Mr Monroe here, sir.
02:00I'm not sure.
02:01No, no, no.
02:05The biopic received mixed reactions, but the actress earned an Oscar nomination for her work.
02:10Meryl! Meryl! Meryl!
02:15Meryl! Meryl!
02:178. Jodie Foster
02:19As a child actor,
02:20Jodie Foster garnered success in everything from kids' movies and adult dramas.
02:24She earned an Academy Award
02:25nomination for her controversial role in Taxi Driver, as the character Iris Foster plays a girl
02:30in trouble opposite Robert De Niro's crazed cabbie.
02:32The performer successfully transitioned from a young...
02:35...to make a star into a lead actress.
02:40You're a young girl, you should be at home now.
02:43You should be dressed up, you should be going...
02:45...going out with boys, you should be going to school.
02:47You know, that kind of stuff.
02:49God, are you so...
02:50Where?
02:51In the late 1980s, she won an Oscar for her portrayal of an assault victim in the...
02:55...to be accused.
02:56It required her to play a woman reeling from a vicious attack and fending off intimidation.
03:00Wait a minute.
03:01Wait a minute.
03:02Wait a minute.
03:03Wait a minute.
03:04Go!
03:05Go!
03:06Go!
03:07Go!
03:08Go!
03:09Not too many years later...
03:10...the star won another golden statue for The Silence of the Lambs.
03:13The film featured more than a few infamous...
03:15...the scenes opposite artists like Ted Levine and Anthony Hopkins.
03:18Dr. Lecter, my name is Clarice Starling.
03:20Can I speak with you?
03:21You're one of Jack Crawford's, aren't you?
03:25I am, yes.
03:26Number 7.
03:27Willem Dafoe
03:28You could argue that he's never given a boring performance...
03:30...with a career that spans a wild array of villains, oddballs, and even profits.
03:34Willem Dafoe played...
03:35...like Jesus in The Last Temptation of Christ...
03:37...portraying the religious leader in a controversial look at the New Testament.
03:40Father!
03:41Take me back!
03:42Make a feast!
03:43Welcome...
03:45Bring me home!
03:46I want to be your son!
03:47The Martin Scorsese film was met with strong reactions and...
03:50...criticism from certain audiences.
03:51His work in Platoon created iconic moments while his transformative role...
03:55...and wild at heart...
03:56...is unforgettable and unsettling.
03:57One-eyed Jack's yearnin'...
03:58One-eyed Jack's yearnin'...
03:59One-eyed Jack's yearnin'...
04:00...to go a-peeping in a seafood store!
04:03There's also his active...
04:05...instincting for director Lars von Trier...
04:07...in a chilling film entitled Antichrist.
04:09Whether he's...
04:10...Emmy or Dead Serious...
04:11...Defoe gives his all in something unpredictable like the Boondock Saints.
04:15Now that Duffy has relinquished his King Bonehead crown...
04:17...I see we have an heir to the throne...
04:19...I'm sure the word you...
04:20...we're looking for was symbolism.
04:22What is this...
04:23...symbolism there?
04:25Number 6.
04:26Dakota Johnson
04:27With small roles in films like The Social Network...
04:29...Dakota Johnson made her way...
04:30...up the Hollywood ladder.
04:31Not technically.
04:32What are you?
04:33Broke.
04:35There's not a lot of money in free music...
04:36...even less when you're being sued by everyone who's ever been to the Grammys.
04:39This is bl-
04:40...blowing my mind.
04:41She then became the star of a big series that turned heads.
04:43In the Fifty Shades franchise...
04:45...and she became the curious student Anastasia Steele.
04:47The character's complex and steamy relationship...
04:50...of Christian Grey led to sequels.
04:52Through every entry the role required her to show the extent of a...
04:55...wild and unorthodox affair.
04:56How does it feel?
04:57Ummm...
04:58Okay.
05:00...weird...
05:03...but good.
05:04She's gr-
05:05...he's grown beyond those pulpier days with other dramas like A Bigger Splash...
05:08...and Materialists.
05:09Johnson does...
05:10...doesn't live in the shadow of Steele anymore...
05:12...but she seems interested in controversy elsewhere like Madam Web.
05:15What?
05:16No!
05:17That's not-
05:18That's-
05:19Number 5.
05:20Marlon-
05:20Brando.
05:21He helped to popularize method acting...
05:22...but Marlon Brando also took on controversial...
05:25...and material.
05:26His work in A Streetcar Named Desire looked at a man filled with rage.
05:29Hey!
05:30Stella!
05:31Hey!
05:32Hey!
05:33Hey!
05:34Hey!
05:35Please stop!
05:36And on the waterfront Brando won an Oscar for the Longshoreman...
05:40men caught between the law and the mob. His second Academy Award came when he played the iconic role
05:44of Vito Corsi.
05:45A wide range of parts garnered him acclaim in gritty and contentious stories.
05:50We want reliable people, people that aren't going to be carried away. I mean, we're not murderers.
05:55With his work in Last Tango in Paris,
06:00the performer appeared in an explicit romance that's now considered a toxic production.
06:05He did less and less in his final decades, but he found time for one or two strange choices,
06:08like the island of Dr.
06:10Moreau.
06:10And it is here on this very island that I...
06:15Number four, Malcolm McDowell.
06:20Many people know him best for one role, but Malcolm McDowell helped make A Clockwork Orange in a
06:25astounding and influential experience. Alex DeLarge is a gang leader with no regard for humanity.
06:30doing unspeakable harm to anyone in his path.
06:32The scene with Singin' in the Rain is among the more disturbing...
06:35parts of the movie.
06:37Everyone from the place!
06:40I'm a boss!
06:41I'm armed with the rain!
06:43I have a smile!
06:44I have a smile!
06:45I have a smile!
06:46I have a smile!
06:47McDowell also starred in an earlier film called If that's an...
06:50underseen gem.
06:51In that story, he plays a disgruntled student willing to take up arms against the administration.
06:55It's yet another role that I asked him to take a serious look at violence.
07:00This doesn't even count as work in the disaster Caligula.
07:05with the Roman epic including explicit acts.
07:08I HATE THEM!
07:10I HATE THEM!
07:11NO, MYSUMES!
07:12INGREDI ia!!!
07:13NO, MYSUMES!"
07:15Almighty Jesus says,
07:20To balance the state budget, we shall confiscate the entire state.
07:25Of all those who have failed Rome.
07:27Number 3, Emma Stone.
07:29In her early
07:30career, Emma Stone established herself in comedies like Superbad, Easy A, and Zombieland.
07:35She later became a leading woman with La La Land in more complicated roles.
07:40Well let's make something clear, I think I'll be the one to make that call.
07:45Collaborations with Yorgos Lanthimos gave her a chance to redefine herself with eccentric
07:49and bold.
07:50In a project like Poor Things, she had to play a woman with a child's brain.
07:54This account had run
07:55uncomfortable moments that asked her to go to shocking and darkly comic places.
08:00I don't know!
08:01Exactly, that is the experiment.
08:03We are now the poor.
08:05Also, many adventurers have faced these odds.
08:08Lanthimos put her in an even more complex
08:10complicated spots for the three-part film Kind of Kindness.
08:12With a follow-up like Bugonia, she's seen
08:15set on contorting her image once again.
08:16Welcome to the headquarters of the Human Resistance.
08:20Where is my hair?
08:22Your hair has been destroyed.
08:24Number
08:25Number 2
08:25Sacha Baron Cohen
08:26Through his comic characters, Sacha Baron Cohen puts his life on
08:30the line.
08:30Borat finds him exploring America as a Kazakh journalist.
08:34This involves plenty of
08:35encounters that put him in real danger.
08:40The same could be said for his choices in Bruna, making
08:45him even more of a target against some members of the general public.
08:48This doesn't even count his work in other projects.
08:50Like The Dictator or Grimsby, Cohen knows how to push buttons, coming up against unsuspecting
08:55victims and other notable scene partners.
08:56Obama was a traitor.
09:00America, he did hate her.
09:02Yeah.
09:02America, he hate her.
09:05We're frequently surprised by his boldness to expose the darkest emotions.
09:10beliefs and weaknesses of the audience.
09:12His role as a provocateur might be one of the most influential
09:15of his generation.
09:16This is the beard of Doom Rocket?
09:18This is my weapon?
09:20I will be a laughingstock.
09:21I will be a laughingstock.
09:22All my friends have got nuclear weapons.
09:25Even Ahmadinejad.
09:26And he looks like a snitch on Miami Vice.
09:30Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified
09:34about our list.
09:35We'll see you next time.
09:36Bye.
09:37Bye.
09:38Bye.
09:39Bye.
09:40Bye.
09:41Bye.
09:42Bye.
09:43Bye.
09:44Bye.
09:40Bye.
09:41Next video.
09:42Bye.
09:43Bye.
09:44Bye.
09:45Bye.
09:46Bye.
09:47Bye.
09:48Bye.
09:49Bye.
09:451.
09:47Divine
09:48If you've watched a John Waters film, you've probably
09:50watched some of this performer's finest moments.
09:52These include several unspeakable and infamous acts.
09:55Always one to push the envelope.
09:57Divine doesn't shy away from a dedicated performance.
10:00This includes some legendary method acting and bizarro classics like Pink Flamingos.
10:04How could anyone
10:05be filthier than Divine?
10:06I'm afraid our little vacation must come to an end.
10:09This must be nipped in the-
10:10In Multiple Maniacs, the star also appears in a disturbing encounter.
10:15This all adds up to a career of biting, darkly comic and electric work.
10:20Nothing can change that!
10:22Oh, Divine!
10:24And now-
10:25And now you're a maniac!
10:27Oh, but what a state of mind that can be!
10:30Of all his great artistry, Hairspray might be one of the few that you can show a general audience.
10:35The cult star rarely met a script, scene, or cinematic stunt he wouldn't do.
10:39Wilbur
10:40It's the times.
10:41They're a-changing.
10:43Something's blowing-
10:45Blowing in the wind.
10:46Did we forget another star that's open to trying difficult material?
10:49Let us know in the comments.
10:50below.
10:51Bye!
10:52Bye!
10:53Bye!
10:54Bye!
10:56Bye!
10:57Bye!
Comments