Hollywood’s 10 Toughest Tough Guys

Empire Magazine asked Frank Grillo, the star of The Purge: Anarchy to pick his Ten Toughest Hollywood Tough Guys.

I love Grillo’s picks and the rationale for them.  Here’s a taste:

Jimmy Cagney: …Jimmy Cagney was tiny – the size of my wife. But when you think about Jimmy Cagney, he owned it. It’s one thing to be The Rock and the biggest guy on the planet and knock people around, but to be Jimmy Cagney and have people believe that you are that guy? That’s a task…

Tom Hardy: …Tommy, like Cagney, has got this inner rage and this believability about him…

Tom Laughlin: … Tom Laughlin who played this (Navajo and ex-Green Beret) character was a small guy, but he just took care of business…

Lee Marvin: …To me, he might be the guy. I love The Dirty Dozen. He’s not quintessentially handsome, he’s tall but he’s lanky, but you want to be that guy… The Lee Marvins, the guys who fought in World War II or Korea and became actors, they’re men…

Charles Bronson: …I love Charles Bronson. He didn’t have a lot of range and he wasn’t a great actor, but you couldn’t take your eyes off him…  He’s not likeable and he doesn’t apologise. I’m attracted to that because I’ve been raised in a movie world where men have become emasculated…

Steve McQueen: …He’s one of my favourite actors. Again, not a great actor – in fact, maybe not even a good actor – but when he’s on screen you don’t take your eyes off the guy…

Jason Statham: …Who’s the toughest guy I’ve worked with? Statham. He’s a great athlete; a great drinker. He’s not a big guy – he’s smaller than me – but he’s physically imposing…

Clint Eastwood: …Clint Eastwood is in a category all by himself…

Kurt Russell: …Snake Plissken and John Carpenter…

Sylvester Stallone: …I gotta throw in Stallone – he’s been a badass for a long time…

I suppose Bruce Lee didn’t make the list because he wasn’t considered Hollywood?