Satan Incarnate

Thinking about actors that could play Satan in Paradise Lost, the best choice would probably be Paul Bettany:

Sure, he’s playing nothing but baddies this year (Firewall, The DaVinci Code) but it looks like, unfortunately, he won’t be playing the Joker in Nolan’s next Batman film, so he won’t have to be both the Clown Prince of Crime and Darkness.

Bettany in Joker suit, kidnapping Jennifer
Connelly from the premiere of Wimbledon,
starring the Batgirl

Bettany in Satan suit

Then Rufus Sewell sprung to mind, the hero of Dark City and subsequent professional bad guy. My first thought was that he’s played sinister too often recently (Bless the Child, A Knight’s Tale, Helen of Troy, Legend of Zorro) and is too easy to dislike.

Though he’s got the perfect look (middle-age yet totally wrinkle-free) it would be a bit of typecasting. But then I looked at his name again and saw it backwards:

LLEWES SUFUR

Holy. Crap. Was this guy born to play the Prince of Darkness?

A quick check at IMDB reveals that, yes, “Rufus Sewell” is in fact his birth name.

“Lucifer” on his infernal throne

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