(Credits: SBClick)
Mon 1 September 2025 9:00, UK
Regardless of the overall quality of the film, you can rest assured that, if Sir Ben Kingsley is present, he’ll give it his all.
His version of The Mandarin in Iron Man 3 might not have been to everybody’s liking, but you can’t deny he didn’t nail the brief. He gives a stellar performance in Hugo, Martin Scorsese’s most underperforming movie, and even in 2004’s Thunderbirds, a film enjoyed by only the most diehard fans of the original show, he steals the show as a campy version of The Hood.
One thing Kingsley is known for is playing characters with a strong moral compass. In probably his most famous role, he starred as the title character in Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi. He also played Itzhak Stern, the accountant/right-hand man of the title character in Steven Spielberg’s immaculate Schindler’s List.
No actor wants to be typecast, though. Kingsley addressed his history with playing nice guys in an interview with Movie.ie. He admitted that, while portraying heroes had given him so much throughout his life, he was looking forward to stepping over to the dark side.
“Life always finds a balance. That’s great. As an actor, I was allowed to fully explore that decency in historic times,” he said. “But life will always intervene and the pendulum will always swing back and suddenly I am finding myself reading the screenplay of a movie called Sexy Beast. And I think: There he is, that’s the guy I have been waiting for. Everything swings back the other way, it is always moving, so huge gratitude for that part of my career – and huge gratitude for Sexy Beast and everything that has come after that.”
Directed by Jonathan Glazer, Sexy Beast tells the story of former criminal Gary Dove (Ray Winestone), who has left his old life behind to live in luxury with his wife in Spain. His past catches up with him in the form of Don Logan, Kingsley’s character. An old pal of Gary’s, Logan tracks down the only man he thinks is capable of pulling off a lucrative bank heist. When Gary refuses, Logan’s dangerous lack of empathy presents itself in more and more alarming ways.
Logan is equal parts terrifying and hilarious. The character’s now-iconic “No!” is the stuff of indie cinema legend and his influence can be felt on a number of subsequent ‘funny sociopaths’, most notably Ralph Fiennes in In Bruges. Kingsley, who modelled Logan on an unlikely source, received heaps of praise for his unhinged performance. He was even nominated for a ‘Best Supporting Actor’ nomination, which is practically unheard of for a low-budget British crime comedy.
“I didn’t know how much I needed to play Don Logan in Sexy Beast until he arrived on the page,” Kingsley told The Guardian in a separate interview. He’s absolutely spot-on. A character like that comes along every once in a blue moon; one who really stands out from the usual humdrum fare that no doubt clogs his inbox on a daily basis.
Maybe it’s because Brits always make great villains, or just because he’s one of the best to ever do it, but Kingsley absolutely smashed the role he was born to play.
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