Walton Goggins spent most of his twenties in small roles in movies like The Bourne Identity, or episodic characters in shows like JAG or Pacific Blue. His breakthrough character was Shane Vendrell in The Shield. Since then, he has become a great chameleonic actor to have in any movie, and one of Tarantino’s favorites (at least in his Western phase). Goggins always gives intense, layered performances, and his appearance, very different from most Hollywood standards, always makes him stand out. Here are Walton Goggins' best performances, ranked:
8 Mathias Vogel - Tomb Raider
Lara Croft (Alicia Vikander) is trying to find his father (Dominic West), and ends up on a remote island where the villains are trying to find a centuries-old tomb and what’s hidden there. In the latest movie based on the video game Tomb Raider, Goggins plays the bad guy, Mathias Vogel, in a year when he played villains in franchises (see also Ant-Man and the Wasp). Goggins can play these evil roles in his sleep, but he looks like he's having fun being the worst person in the world, and a foil to fight for Vikander, who was the perfect choice for the role of Lara Croft.
7 Paul Meecham - That Evening Sun
Abner Meecham (Hal Holbrook) is an aging farmer put in a nursing home by his lawyer son Paul (Goggins). Abner escapes and goes back to his farm, now rented by his son to someone who Abner doesn't like. He decides to stay in an old tenant shack on the property, and a big conflict arises. Although Goggins' role in That Evening Sun is small, he gets to act with an incredible cast; not only with an acting legend like Holbrook, but also Mia Wasikowska, Carrie Preston, Ray McKinnon, and Barry Corbin. This film deserved a bigger audience as Holbrook gives an acting masterclass.
6 Lee Russell - Vice Principals
Two vice principals, Neal Gamby (Danny McBride) and Lee Russell (Goggins) compete to see who will get the principal job in a school when the current principal retires. Vice Principals was Goggins' first collaboration with Danny McBride and his team. Both actors play pathetic man-children, who just needed this one win. In this show, Goggins showed a more playful, crazy, and insecure side, playing one of his strangest characters yet, and yet he still made us care about the dreams and hustle of the vice principal of a small town in middle America.
5 Billy Crash - Django Unchained
Django (Jamie Foxx) is a former slave who becomes a bounty hunter with the help of Dr. King Schultz (Christopher Waltz). They both start a journey to find Django’s wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington). Goggins plays Billy Crash, the plantation fight trainer who teaches slaves how to fight in life or death fights. In Django Unchained, Goggins is one of the worst characters in the film, someone you love to hate, and he relishes the pure evilness of his role in his first collaboration with Tarantino.
4 Baby Billy Freeman - The Righteous Gemstones
The Righteous Gemstones follows a world-famous televangelist family in all they do, good or bad. As with any work from Danny McBride, Jody Hill, and David Gordon Green’s brains, this is a uniquely strange and peculiar show. Goggins plays Baby Billy Freeman, a 70-year-old-pastor, and brother-in-law of John Goodman’s character, and is hilarious in it. Goggins goes all-in and is fully committed to a character, so loudly dressed and tanned you could see him from space. The Righteous Gemstones is one of the funniest satirical series on TV, and every Goggins appearance contributes to it. Danny McBride told Entertainment Weekly about casting Goggins in this role: “It was amazing to watch him transform into this old man. Walton just disappears in every role that he’s in, I think he’s one of the most talented actors I’ve ever been around. He’s so damn funny, and he can break your heart, and we were honored to have him step into this.”
3 Sheriff Chris Mannix - The Hateful Eight
In the pre-Civil War era, eight different characters stay in Minnie’s Haberdashery while waiting for a blizzard to end. There, many revelations, twists, and turns happen. The Hateful Eight is the closest thing Tarantino has ever done to a play or an Agatha Christie mystery. Every character has their hidden motivations and ideas, and Sheriff Chris Mannix (Goggins) is no different. Goggins delights himself with Tarantino’s dialogue in one of the most crucial roles in the movie. As always, Goggins plays his character as a real person with many layers, and we never know if he can be trusted or not, as he's all questions and bravado. A great performance in a movie that, and if possible, is better to see in 70mm.
2 Shane Vendrell - The Shield
Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis) and his strike team: Shane Vendrell (Goggins), Curtis Lemansky (Kenny Johnson), and Ronnie Gardocki (David Rees Snell) are a corrupt group of cops that officially fight crime in the L.A. Farmington district, while also keeping some money and drugs for themselves. The Shield was the show that put Goggins on the map. He starts as the second in command, a not-so-smart and racist cop, who loves the power that the badge gives him. But with every season, Shane (and Goggins' performance) becomes more layered, messy, and tragic. He has learned all the wrong lessons from Vic, and isn’t smart enough to pull them off, creating a devastating future for himself and those around him. Goggins was up for the task, as they kept giving him more and more dark stories, making the end of Shane’s journey one to remember in one of the best TV show finales ever.
1 Boyd Crowder - Justified
Justified followed the adventures of U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) in his hometown of Harlan, Kentucky. Goggins played Boyd Crowder, Rayland's old friend and nemesis, as he tried to lead Harlan’s crime underworld. Goggins' performance is incredible. Boyd knows he’s smart and will do and say anything to get what he wants. He still has some love for his old friend, which makes every encounter they have, unique and special. Goggins plays all these different emotions in every scene, every gesture and look, and every incredibly-written Elmore Leonard-inspired sentence, creating a fully developed character in one of Leonard’s best adaptations.
The character was supposed to die after the pilot, but seeing Goggins' magnetic performance, they made him a series regular instead; one of the best decisions the show ever made. Graham Yost told The Hollywood Reporter: “He’s amazing, and he’s just a great guy.” Graham Yost then said, “There had to be charm in ‘Boyd.’ We knew with ‘Boyd,’ going in, that who we cast was critical for the success of the pilot; therefore getting it to become a series. So Goggins’ casting was really instrumental. Without him, we wouldn’t be on the air. ” Now that Hollywood knows how well he can act, Walton Goggins will keep appearing in movies and shows, probably as an evil guy, or someone who has a conflicting inner life, but always someone you understand and almost root for, even if we should hate him. That’s the magic of Walton Goggins' performances.