The Dark Knight
Theater purists finger that film acting is n’t really roleplay , because the technical restrictions of doing take after take of each scene – sometimes perform small , isolated incision of aspect for the purposes of gather up a lot of coverage for the edit – forbid performers from really being able-bodied to slump their tooth into a role and swallow up themselves in the outlook of a character reference .
Of naturally , there are mountain of breathtaking film operation that have shew those people wrong . Mickey Rourke ’s performance inThe Wrestlerand Marion Cotillard ’s performance inLa Vie En Roseand Leonardo DiCaprio ’s performance inThe Aviatorare as real as acting derive . The 2000s brought some of the unspoiled acting in moving-picture show history .
Hilary Swank As Maggie Fitzgerald In Million Dollar Baby
Clint Eastwood’sMillion Dollar Babywas sold to audiences as a female version ofRocky , but the moving-picture show itself ismuch more sobering and tragical than that . Halfway through the story , the central fiber Maggie Fitzgerald is patsy - punch onto an overturned stool and handicapped .
Hilary Swank plays Maggie ’s journey as suitably heartrending , pop out the movie as an challenging budding boxer and end it crush and defeated , with her hopes dash .
Heath Ledger As The Joker In The Dark Knight
It ’s not usual for a comic book pic to contain one of the greatest performances of the decade , but Heath Ledger is truly electrifying in the role of the Joker inThe Dark Knight . He deal to slip aBatman movie from Batman . Every time he enters a panorama , it ’s impossible to look aside .
pep up byMalcolm McDowell ’s portrayal of Alex DeLarge in Starnley Kubrick’sA Clockwork Orange , Ledger managed to really capture the Joker ’s mental illness and wrick him into one of the most iconic villains ever put on CRT screen .
Naomi Watts As Betty Elms/Diane Selwyn In Mulholland Drive
Naomi Watts was nigh unknown when David Lynch tapped her to play the dual use of Betty Elms and Diane Selwyn in his surreal cinematic odysseyMulholland crusade . She played Betty as a bright - eyed optimist and Diane as a acrid cynic , two side of the same coin .
It ’s not gentle to act two fictional character in one moving-picture show , especially a movie that follows wacky dream system of logic likeMulholland Drive , but Watts managed to swallow herself in the world of this story . rooter have speculate that Betty isDiane ’s phantasy of a serious life for herself .
Philip Seymour Hoffman As Truman Capote In Capote
Philip Seymour Hoffman is one of the fine actors who ever live , and he managed to put a face to the name Truman Capote in the biopic about the writer ’s struggle to publish his first straight criminal offense novel , In Cold Blood .
Capote has a very typical representative , and it would ’ve been easy for a spectacular portrait of him to veer into mere impression territory , but Hoffman boom the part .
Denzel Washington As Detective Alonzo Harris In Training Day
Denzel Washington scored an Academy Award for his portrayal of Detective Alonzo Harris in Antoine Fuqua ’s gritty crime thrillerTraining Day . The character could ’ve easily been a one - preeminence strain lineament in the hands of a lesser role player , but Washington makes the crooked cop ’s motivations feel real .
Throughout thecrime motion picture , he develop a captivating dynamic with his carbon monoxide - star Ethan Hawke , who plays a by - the - Scripture greenhorn that he want to spoil by the end of his first day .
Javier Bardem As Anton Chigurh In No Country For Old Men
In the Coens ’ masterfully crafted film adjustment of Cormac McCarthy’sNo Country for Old Men , Javier Bardem bring in a tangible atrocity to the role of contract killer Anton Chigurh .
When he speaks to his presently - to - be victims , he ’s serene in the face of their holy terror . When he kills , his eye are vacant . Bardem played Chigurh asthe avatar of fierceness and iniquity , and it was incredibly effective .
Charlize Theron As Aileen Wuornos In Monster
Charlize Theron ’s transmutation into notorious serial killer Aileen Wuornos for Patty Jenkins ’ biopicMonsterwent far beyond the obvious physical change . Down to her subtle body language tic , TheronbecomesWuornos .
There are no traces of the ruse of acting as Theron truly embodies Wuornos ’ homicidal outlook and personality disorders and , against all odds , humanize her .
Christoph Waltz As Col. Hans Landa In Inglourious Basterds
Nicknamed “ the Jew Hunter ” by terrified refugees subsist in Nazi - occupied Europe , S.S. Colonel Hans Landa isone of the greatest characters ever created by Quentin Tarantinoand one of the most threatening baddie in picture history . As he struggle to determine an actor to play Landa correctly inInglourious Basterds , Tarantino began to fear that he ’d drop a line an uncastable role .
And then he metChristoph Waltz . The actor more than earned his Oscarwith a frightfully vivid portraiture of the ego - important detective . Waltz steals all his scenes , deftly require the screen with a chilling presencethe second he put down a room .
Jamie Foxx As Ray Charles In Ray
Although he is n’t often prize as such , Jamie Foxx is one of the greatest actors working today . For test copy of that , face no further than his breathtaking carrying into action as Ray Charles in the biopicRay . You blank out you ’re watching an player playing Ray Charles ; in that motion-picture show , Jamie FoxxisRay Charles .
When Chris Rock hosted the Academy Awards , he joked , “ Jamie Foxx is so good inRaythat they become to the infirmary and unplugged the real Ray Charles . They were like , ‘ We do n’t involve two of these ! ’ ”
Daniel Day-Lewis As Daniel Plainview In There Will Be Blood
Paul Thomas Anderson made the quintessential American movie epic withThere Will Be line of descent , and gave Daniel Day - Lewis the role of a lifetime with oil baron Daniel Plainview . As expected , Plainview ’s greed becomes his downfall , but mean solar day - Lewis’gripping performance inThere Will Be Bloodmakes the familiar corruption arc sense fresh .
Day - Lewis ’ accent andquotable lines like “ I pledge your milkshake!”are what people call back from his performance , but he carry more of the character ’s lineage into madness non - verbally than he does with spoken dialog .
NEXT : The 5 Best ( & 5 Worst ) 2000s thriller