Anton Ego

Anton Ego is the former main antagonist in Disney/Pixar's 2007 film Ratatouille. He is voiced by Peter O'Toole.

Personality
Anton Ego is an austere, humorless man who takes no pleasure in anything; not even his work brings him any happiness. Known in reviewer's circles as "The Grim Eater" (a food-related version of the Grim Reaper), Anton Ego is an unscrupulously hard-to-please food critic. His gaunt physique most likely stems from the fact that if he doesn't love what he is eating.... he doesn't swallow.

Role in the film
Ego is an imperious and acerbic food critic, whose reviews can make or break a restaurant. He adamantly rejects Gusteau's belief that anyone can cook, and was a firm critic of the idealist chef. We're sure his nickname "The Grim Eater" and the fact that Gusteau died mysteriously after Ego downgraded him from five stars to four are just a coincidence. The restaurant then lost another star with his death. In his career-killing review, he compared Chef Gusteau to Chef Boyardee, whom he considered equally pathetic.

When he had heard that Gusteau's was rising in popularity with Remy secretly as the cook, he personally offers a challenge to the restaurant in which they must deliver "their best shot" to impress him. Remy serves a simple peasant dish, ratatouille (a play on words and the title namesake) which is so brilliant it reduces Ego to his childhood memory of his mother cooking. Tears flow from his eyes, and when he requests to see the chef, Linguini and Colette tells him to wait until after the customers have gone. When closing hour is struck, Linguini reveals Remy. Ego believed at first it was a jest, but after viewing Remy perfectly recreate the dish, he thanks them for the meal and quietly leaves.

A changed man, Ego finally understands what Gusteau meant, while not everyone can cook, true talent can be found in the most unusual of places. he presents a shining review of the restaurant, and in particular, the chef (whom he does not name). Ego then lost his job and credibility when Gusteau's was closed down due to a rat infestation. But Ego now leads a successful and a happy life as an investor and regular patron of a small bistro La Ratatouille, with queues around the block and where the cook is a small rat. Anton Ego is an example of a realistic and redeemed villain, one who faces adverse action or reformation, rather than simply getting destroyed at the end.

Trivia

 * Anton Ego appears to be loosely based on Giulio Andreotti, the Italian Prime Minister and recent subject of the film "Il Divo". They are very similar in both speech and physical appearance and both strike fear into those whose lives they can influence.
 * From an aerial view, it can be seen that Anton Ego's office is in the shape of a coffin.
 * Anton Ego bears a striking resemblence to the tall, thin, and chalk-skinned guest of the Halloween party in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, who stated "And some [ghosts] don't even wear their skin."