Audiences slept on all these career-best performances.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00There are so many movies being released on a weekly basis these days that it's absolutely
00:05impossible to keep track of everything, such that great movies and great performances can
00:10easily end up falling through the cracks.
00:13The sheer wealth of options available on streaming platforms makes it incredibly easy for an
00:17actor's best work to be slept on, whereby only the most committed fans have a hope in
00:23hell of discovering it.
00:25So with that in mind then, I'm Ellie with What Culture and here are 10 more actors who
00:29gave their best performances in movies nobody saw.
00:3310.
00:34Vince Vaughn in Brawl in Cellblock 99
00:37Vince Vaughn probably isn't who most people picture when they think of a great actor,
00:41but he's given a bevy of hilarious comedic performances in the likes of Swingers, Old
00:46School, Dodgeball and Wedding Crashers, and in the dramatic stakes has acquitted himself
00:51well in Hacksaw Ridge and True Detective's second season.
00:55But far and away, Vaughn's best work to date is in S. Craig Zala's brutal 2017 prison thriller
01:02Brawl in Cellblock 99.
01:04As imprisoned drug runner Bradley Thomas, Vaughn is like you've never seen him before
01:08– a bald-headed, stone-faced pillar of granite who must fight to save his wife and unborn
01:14child on the outside before it's too late.
01:17Vaughn isn't an actor who cuts a naturally intimidating figure, yet director Zala clearly
01:22saw something in him that nobody else did, because his mere physical presence throughout
01:26this ferocious, graphically violent film is deeply imposing.
01:31Vaughn underplays the part perfectly, giving a richly internalised performance as a man
01:36stewing in his own rage while desperately trying to free his family from a helpless
01:40situation.
01:41Yet, despite Vaughn receiving rave reviews for his performance, Brawl grossed just $79,208
01:49from limited release at the box office before more or less fading into the abyss of streaming.
01:54Number 9.
01:55Scarlett Johansson in Under the Skin
01:58Scarlett Johansson has amassed an impressive body of work over the last two or so decades.
02:03But her most impressive and truly transformative performance was in a much smaller, niche project
02:08which couldn't have seemed much more off-putting to both mainstream audiences and Oscar voters.
02:14Jonathan Glazer's sci-fi masterpiece Under the Skin stars Johansson as an unnamed, man-devouring
02:19alien creature inexplicably traipsing around Scotland while donning the guise of a beautiful
02:24human woman.
02:26Despite being produced for a svelte $13.3 million and the press constantly hyping up
02:32Johansson's nudity in the film, Under the Skin failed to make much of a dent with audiences,
02:37grossing just $7.3 million globally.
02:40Number 8.
02:41Michael Shannon in Take Shelter
02:43Michael Shannon is undeniably one of the greatest actors working to date.
02:47Yet Shannon's finest work to date was in a film that many expected him to receive a
02:51Best Actor Oscar nomination for, Jeff Nichols' dizzying psychological thriller Take Shelter.
02:57Shannon stars as Curtis LaForge, a man who begins experiencing apocalyptic visions and
03:02must decide whether to protect his family from the apparently incoming destruction or
03:07from himself.
03:08It's always deeply satisfying to see a card-carrying, supporting actor get their own hefty
03:13leading role, and Shannon grabs the part with both hands, delivering an astonishing
03:18performance that's alternately sympathetic and terrifying.
03:21There's a deep vein of aching humanity running through Shannon's work here, and that his
03:26performance somehow didn't receive Oscar recognition over some of the lesser terms
03:30in contention that year remains an utter travesty.
03:34Number 7.
03:35Michael Fassbender in Hunger
03:36Though his acting career hasn't been up to much the last five years, Michael Fassbender
03:41is nevertheless one of the finest performers of his generation.
03:45As evidenced by his strong work in Fish Tank, Inglourious Bastards, Shame, The X-Men and
03:50Alien films, yet Fassbender's best work to date occurred before any of these films were
03:55released, in Steve McQueen's expertly crafted 2008 historical drama Hunger.
04:01In the film, Fassbender plays IRA member Bobby Sands, who leads a hunger strike in prison
04:06which ultimately claims his life.
04:08In what would become the first of three collaborations between Fassbender and McQueen so far, Fassbender
04:13gives an astonishing physical and emotional performance, losing a concerning amount of
04:18weight while getting audiences firmly into Sands' mindset.
04:22Aided by wonderfully stripped back direction from McQueen, this is a singular examination
04:27of a devastating act of political defiance, and one surely best remembered for the jaw-dropping
04:3217 minute single take in which a priest attempts to talk Sands out of his hunger strike.
04:38Though Hunger received rave reviews and snagged Fassbender the British Independent Film Award
04:42for Best Actor, it barely cracked $3 million worldwide, and so any Oscar buzz for Fassbender
04:48consequently went up in smoke.
04:516.
04:52Jennifer Aniston in Cake
04:54Jennifer Aniston will of course forever be remembered for playing Rachel Green on Friends,
04:59but she's also given many acclaimed performances on the big screen, whether in comedies like
05:04Office Space, Horrible Bosses and We're the Millers, or dramas such as The Good Girl,
05:08Friends with Money and Dumplin'.
05:10Yet Aniston's finest effort to date flew totally under the radar back in 2014 when she starred
05:16in Cake, playing Claire Bennett, a woman addicted to both alcohol and pain meds following a
05:21car accident which claimed the life of her son.
05:24Though general critical response to the film was mixed, Aniston's performance received
05:28rave reviews from many outlets and even Best Actress nominations from both the Golden Globes
05:33and Screen Actors Guild.
05:35For many, it was so hugely refreshing to see Aniston commit this hard to such an unvarnished,
05:40unflattering role of a woman hobbled by guilt, anger and the throes of addiction.
05:45It's a performance like nothing Aniston has ever done prior or since, yet despite a ton
05:50of Oscar buzz for her work, which ultimately didn't pan out, Cake bombed at the box office,
05:55grossing less than $3 million worldwide against a $10 million budget.
06:015.
06:02Hayden Christensen in Shattered Glass
06:05Poor Hayden Christensen.
06:06Appearing in the latter two Star Wars prequels might be both the best and worst thing that's
06:11ever happened to him, convincing an entire generation of fans that, to be blunt, he can't
06:15act.
06:16Though Christensen doesn't exactly have a bevy of quality roles to his name, there is
06:21one which confirms him to be a shockingly underappreciated performer when cast in the
06:25right role.
06:26In between the two Star Wars prequels, Christensen starred in Shattered Glass, a low-budget drama
06:32where he played disgraced journalist Stephen Glass, who while writing for the New Republic
06:36falsified the majority of his news stories.
06:40Christensen's performance as the elusive, cagey journalist whose life and career slowly
06:44unravel is nothing short of terrific, and yet is largely unknown among those who freely
06:50dismiss him as a terrible actor.
06:524.
06:53Aubrey Plaza in Black Bear
06:56While undeniably being best known for her brilliant work as April Ludgate on Parks and
07:00Recreation, Aubrey Plaza has rather quietly built up an enviable filmography of quality
07:05roles in dramedies in more recent years.
07:08Plaza received vocal rave reviews for her sublime performance in the 2020 blackly comedic
07:13dramatic thriller Black Bear, a difficult-to-categorize but utterly mesmeric film built almost entirely
07:20around Plaza's incredible work.
07:22This is certainly a movie best watched without knowing the finer particulars, but Plaza stars
07:27as a filmmaker suffering from creative block who heads to a quiet rural retreat in the
07:31hope of entangling her mind, only to do quite the opposite.
07:36Its tricky central conceit won't work for everyone, but even if Black Bear isn't fully
07:40for you, Plaza's sheer magnetism in the lead role, launching between poles of depression,
07:45sardonic humour and outright terror, is a treat that needs to be seen.
07:503.
07:51Arnold Schwarzenegger in Maggie
07:53Arnold Schwarzenegger is as larger than life as actors get, and though it's basically impossible
07:58to imagine anyone else playing the part of the Terminator, few would go so far as to
08:02call him a genuinely great actor.
08:05We've seen Arnie experiment around a little more in recent years as he's gotten up there
08:09in age and his action chops have unavoidably waned, leading to him starring in a most unexpected
08:15project in 2015.
08:17An Arnie-led zombie film doesn't sound like the most unnatural of moves for Schwarzenegger,
08:22but Maggie is no normal undead horror romp.
08:25This is more a post-apocalyptic drama than anything, with Arnie portraying Wade, a father
08:30who must come to terms with his daughter's transformation into a zombie.
08:34This is, more than anything else, Arnie like you've never seen him before, a vulnerable,
08:39hurting man pulled between knowing what he needs to do and the love for his daughter.
08:43It's as subtle a performance as Arnie has ever given, and while the film itself isn't
08:47doing too much new for the genre, seeing the actor in this more dialed-down mode, lending
08:53shocking dramatic nuance to Wade is a sure sight to behold.
08:56It's a shame that Maggie didn't do much business either theatrically or on VOD though, as we've
09:02seen few similar attempts from Schwarzenegger in the years since.
09:052.
09:06Vin Diesel in Find Me Guilty
09:09Much like Arnold, Vin Diesel isn't an actor many would look to when casting a subtle or
09:14complex character.
09:15And though Diesel's filmography is almost entirely comprised of brutish action heroes,
09:20he quietly proved himself capable of much more in 2006's courtroom dramedy, Find Me
09:26Guilty.
09:27Written and directed by the late, legendary Sidney Lumet, the film is a biopic of New
09:32Jersey mobster Jackie D'Onosio, who, while on trial for racketeering charges, decides
09:37to defend himself and, against titanic odds, successfully beats the rap.
09:42The idea of casting Diesel in the role of a man who charmed the pants off a jury doesn't
09:46seem to fit, and yet he gives a genuinely believable performance as the infectiously
09:51likable mobster without transforming him into a total caricature.
09:56Diesel certainly had everything working in his favor, with Lumet in the director's chair
10:00and Peter Dinklage playing opposite him as the lead defense lawyer.
10:04But credit where it's due, Diesel completely defied expectations, enough to make you wonder
10:08why he hasn't done more of this since.
10:11The answer may ultimately lie in the fact that Find Me Guilty was a colossal box office
10:15bomb, grossing just $2.6 million against a $13 million budget.
10:21Number 1.
10:22Elizabeth Moss in Shirley
10:24Elizabeth Moss has near countless brilliant performances to her name, but the best of
10:28the lot?
10:29Moss' performance as eccentric novelist Shirley Jackson in Josephine Decker's hypnotic
10:342020 biopic Shirley.
10:37Focus on Jackson while she was writing her 1951 novel Hangsaman.
10:41This may only be a mere snapshot of her life, but Moss provides such a tenacious window
10:46into the woman as both mentally ill and creative genius that we come to feel like we truly
10:52know her essence by film's end.
10:54More than any other film Moss has made, this gives her the freedom to swing and swing hard,
10:59untethered by the expected bounds of a formal biopic, director Decker taking a step back
11:04and opting for a more surreal, dream-like filmmaking style.
11:07At least unlike Diesel, Moss seems quite content working on these smaller, less restrictive
11:12indie projects, even if it'll take some serious doing to top her work in this film.
11:17And that concludes our list.
11:19If you can think of any other examples, then do let us know in the comments below.
11:22And while you're there, don't forget to like and subscribe and tap that notification bell.
11:26Don't forget to head over to Twitter and follow us there, and I can be found across various
11:29social medias just by searching Ellie Littlechild.
11:31I've been Ellie with What Culture.
11:33I hope you have a magical day and I'll see you real soon.