It's been more than 40 years since Malcolm McDowell beat a man into submission while belting out "Singin' in the Rain." That scene, from Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange," is one of the most memorable in movie history, so it's no surprise that the man who played Alex DeLarge is still being asked about it four decades later.
Participating in a villains profile for the June issue of GQ, McDowell spoke about everything from "Clockwork" to childhood fears to why so many great villains are British.
"I think we're all a little afraid of the dark. If you lived in the country, as I did, there's nothing quite like country dark, which was really black," admitted McDowell.
Yes, the man behind one of the most diabolical villains in history was afraid of the dark as a kid (hey, who wasn't?). Malcolm also discusses the difficulty of getting inside the head of a rapist and murderer, while, at the same time, being a bit empathetic toward the character.
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"He is who he is, take it or leave it. I know he's a murderer—he's a rapist for god's sake! You can't couch it any other way; that's immoral. But Alex loves Beethoven, so he can't be all that bad. You could say that about Hitler, loving Bach. It's quite a character really, a great black comedy that seems to have lasted through the years."Along with McDowell, GQ also interviews known movie villains Benicio Del Toro (he was scared of teachers as a child), Ron Perlman (the quicksand scene in "Lawrence of Arabia" freaked him out) and Mark Strong (he loves Richard III). You can read the entire feature over on GQ.com. Below, check out a completely terrifying photo of Malcolm McDowell from the article. [via GQ]
