Every character type has a fear, and this is what antiheroes are the most afraid of.
If you love to write characters who are antiheroes, you’ve also probably received the most common yet useless script note: “This character is not likable.”
Look, characters don’t need to be likable. The viewer needs to be able to root for them. The very existence and commercial success of antihero stories prove this point. Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) isn’t a guy you want babysitting your kids, yet we still root for him to become a better person. We see in him a damaged soul that reflects a modicum of our traumas and faults.
The problem isn’t with antiheroes themselves, but how we create antiheroes that the viewer can root for when their actions are often despicable. This can be a difficult task. If you do it right, you’ll create some of the most interesting characters ever written. To me, the more deeply flawed a character is, the bigger the journey they go on is, and the more fascinating they are to watch.
Author: Ari Jacobson
This article comes from No Film School and can be read on the original site.
