Rupert Pupkin
The Film: The King of Comedy (1982)
The Weirdo: Forget Travis Bickle or Max Cady, De Niro has never been more menacing than his turn as wackjob fantasist Rupert Pupkin.
Curiously it’s not his stalkerish obsession with Jerry Lewis that’s most disturbing, nor even the eventual kidnap of his unsuspecting “mentor”. It’s the scenes in the basement where Pupkin plays out his imaginary talk-shows with cardboard cut-out celebrities that really give us the creeps. And that laugh…
Oddest Quirk: The rictus grin/strangled laugh combo. Nurse, prepare the padded cell!
Donnie Darko
The Film: Donnie Darko (2001)
The Weirdo: Donnie is a bit of an outsider even before all the bunny-shaped freakiness kicks off. Already seeing a psychologist due to “authority issues” he’s hardly what you’d call well-adjusted, and so perhaps not best equipped to deal with a spate of night-time rendezvous with an oversized rabbit.
Still, compared to the others on this list, he carries it pretty well. “You’re weird”, says Gretchen, his cute neighbour. “Sorry” replies Donnie. “No,” she says, “It was a compliment.” Mental instability never seemed so cool.
Oddest Quirk: Burns down the odd house in his sleep. Sleepwalking is one thing, sleep-arson quite another.
Cecil B. DeMented
The Film: Cecil B. DeMented (2000)
The Weirdo: Plucked from the twisted grey stuff of John Waters, Cecil is a deranged gonzo film-maker, who finds himself a star for his new movie by kidnapping Melanie Griffith.
Believing himself a genius with “a vision”, Cecil proceeds to shoot his masterpiece all over the city of Baltimore, ending up in a shoot-out with the local cops thatputs half his cast in the morgue. Not one to go quietly he wraps the film and promptly sets himself on fire. That said, he also holds a Patch Adams audience at gunpoint, so he’s not all bad.
Oddest Quirk: Sticking a nine-millimetre to his lead’s head when she fluffs her lines. Hey, he’s a perfectionist!
Reverend Frank
The Film: Licence To Wed (2007)
The Weirdo: To be honest, Robin Williams could have his own list of creepy weirdos, but this clerical sociopath from gold-plated stinker Licence To Wed narrowly takes the cake. A supposedly comic creation on paper, Reverend Frank is a casually sadistic control-freak, who refuses to grant a young couple a marriage licence unless they pass a series of “tests”, one of which involves driving blindfolded down a motorway.
And just to make sure they aren’t up to any pre-marital hijinks, he has his sidekick (who, in case things weren’t off-key enough, is a twelve-year-old child) break into their house and bug the bedroom. Once again, Williams sails past funny and proceeds directly to sweaty-palmed loon.
Oddest Quirk: A fondness for the sort of ghastly one-liners (“May I be Frank? Of course, I am Frank!”) favoured by those on the brink of a manic episode.
Dr. Ronald Chevalier
The Film: Gentlemen Broncos (2010)
The Weirdo: Celebrated science-fiction scribe Roland Chevalier (author of the spectacularly awful-sounding Cyborg Harpies trilogy) markets himself as a proponent of “basic wisdom in all things”, but finds himself at a creative dead-end over his latest book.
Naturally he decides to pinch a manuscript from a teenage boy to pass off as his own, but not before making a few bizarre changes. The introduction of a robotic deer that fires rockets out of its anus being just one.
Oddest Quirk: Encouraging fans to enter his “mind portal”, a process that largely consists of donning a cardboard mask of his face.
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