As we know, there have been a few movies that are predominantly just 1 actor (Cast Away, I am Legend, Omega Man). Other characters show up for short bits of the move, but the movie is mostly just a showcase of one person.

I'm wondering if there has ever been a movie of that type where the featured actor is NOT presented a protagonist for the bulk of the story. A case where the audience is not supposed to be rooting for him to accomplish what he is trying to do in any given scene. Any ideas?

Lord of War?

Not really sure exactly what you're looking for.

But there any plenty of movies/shows that follow around the "bad guys". The Departed is a good example with two leads in Damon + Leo, one good, one bad, and they both get about the same amount of screen time.

This post was edited by jadeoshbogosh on May 9 2017 05:28am

Safe House, maybe Im also not too clear on what you are looking for.

Protagonist means the main character. It doesn't day anything about their motivations, good or bad. So to answer your question... No? The main character is always a protagonist.

by definition it's the leading character or one of the main characters... the protagonist does not have to be the lead.


Another example would be Training Day

Antagonist is more of the lead than the protagonist in Hawke.

This post was edited by jadeoshbogosh on May 9 2017 09:16am

No country for old men also springs to mind

Aw ya, that one is perfect.

The Usual Suspects. Although you don't know he's the bad guy.

This post was edited by jadeoshbogosh on May 9 2017 09:34am

You are correct. My explanation was not accurate. Let's try again.

2 criteria:

-A movie that is completely dominated by a single actor. Castaway (for example) with Tom Hanks. Other actors only appeared on screen for the first 20 minutes and the last 20 minutes. For a solid hour, the bulk of the movie, Hanks was the only character. I am Legend is a similar movie. Aside from flashbacks, Will Smith spends the first hour of the movie as the only human character in the story. Will Smith is the single vessel through which the audience perceives the story. It isn't until the very end that another human joins the story and the audience is given another perspective. Omega Man is another one of this type of movie

-The single main character is not portrayed in a positive light for most of the story. The audience is led to root AGAINST him.

This post was edited by Kayeto on May 9 2017 10:39am

The Wrestler?

I seem to not be explaining this very well. Here's a picture of the wiki plot synopsis for Cast Away: http://i.imgur.com/sDWvWaf.png

The highlighted sections of that plot synopsis represent the portion of the story in which the singular character experiences zero human interaction. No other actors appear on the screen for the bulk of the story.

I am Legend is similar. The story is basically all Robert Neville. The character has no human interactions for most of the movie (aside from flashbacks).