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Great acting performances that were not even Oscar-nominated


Patrick McGoohan as Edward Longshanks in 'Braveheart'.

Harry Connick, Jr. as the hillbilly serial killer in 'Copycat'.

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Robert Pattinson in Good Time (17)
This performance changed my view of the guy, he was always just 'glittery vampire boy' to me and I paid him no mind

Can't wait to see him as Batman next year👍

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Batman? Really? I hadn't heard that.

I first noticed him - and his acting talent - in 'The Lost City of Z'.

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Yes, Pattinson as The Batman 2021!

Lost City Of Z was great, Pattinson is quite a terrific performer

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Yeap, but I don't see him as the Batman, I don't know. He would make a terrific Joker, though (just my opinion).

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I once thought Heath Ledger was a terrible choice to play Joker...boy was I wrong!

Time will tell, but I dig the Pattinson casting

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Yeap, nobody could imagine Ledger would pull such a performance.

Still... Batman is usually a very impassive character. Pattinson shines when he plays characters on the edge, and I'm not sure how much room he'll have with that role. This kind of high budget movies always stick to safe formulas. We'll see.

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I've come to really respect Pattinson, I think he should pull off the 'man on the edge/vigilante'
role quite ably...as you say, we'll see👍

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I know what you mean. I started to respect him when I watched The Rover. By the way, Guy Pearce makes another hell of a performance there too. I don't understand how Hollywood doesn't cast this guy in his mainstream movies.

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I enjoyed The Rover, it was a well done thriller, and yes, Pearce is really very good and deserves more roles

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The thing about starring in a Batman movie is that you're really not playing Batman, per se, as much as you're playing Bruce Wayne. Anybody can be in the suit; anybody can follow choreographed fighting moves, etc. Steven Seagal's on screen fighting style would have matched that of Batman of the comics very well, but of course he'd have been a disastrous Bruce Wayne.

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Anthony Perkins - Psycho (1960)
Leo McKern - A Man for All Seasons (1966) (instead of Robert Shaw)
Robert Blake - In Cold Blood (1967)
Kim Hunter - Planet of the Apes (1968)
Richard Harris - Cromwell (1970)
John Cazale - The Godfather: Part II (1974)
Jürgen Prochnow - Das Boot (1981)
Anthony Hopkins - The Bounty (1984)
Tom Berenger or Jeff Daniels - Gettysburg (1993)
Steve Buscemi - Fargo (1996)
Jim Carrey - Man on the Moon (1999)
Reese Witherspoon - Election (1999)
Christina Ricci - Monster (2003)
Bruno Ganz - Downfall (2004)
Ulrich Mühe - The Lives of Others (2006)

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Good list.

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Harry Connick Jr. was awesome in Copycat. He really deserved at least a nomination for it.


My list would be (in no particular order) -

Andy Serkis for Gollum.

Taraji P. Henson in Hidden Figures.

Jack Nicholson in The Shining

Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet

Naomi Watts in Mulholland Drive.

Edward Norton for Fight Club.

Anthony Perkins for Psycho.

Jean Reno for Léon: The Professional

Christian Bale for American Psycho and The Machinist (deserved the Oscar at least for what he did to his own body for the role)

Eli Wallach for Tuco in The Good The Bad and the Ugly

Ruth Gordon for Harold and Maude. She just blew that role away.

Tom Cruise in Rain Man





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Very good list
I especially agree with Bale, what he puts his body through for certain roles is downright crazy and scary

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Many actors train to make themselves muscular and fitter for roles but it's very rare that they do the opposite.

If anybody hasn't seen The Machinist, just look in google images for what he did to himself for that role. It will absolutely shock you.

What's even more remarkable is that 6 months later, he was filming his role in Batman.

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I saw The Machinist...I was kind of scared for Bale's life!

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He wanted to lose even more weight but they wouldn't let him.

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I don't even see how he could have lost more, that was a very alarming performance!

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How about all the weight Dennis Quaid lost in order to make himself look like a dying Doc Holliday in 'Wyatt Earp'? The first time I watched the movie, I didn't recognize him.

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Haven't seen it. Will keep an eye out for it.

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Jake Gyllenhaal-Louis Bloom Nightcrawler
Rutger Hauer-Roy Batty Blade Runner
Mickey Rourke-Marv Sin City
Lenardo Dicaprio-Calvin Candie Django Unchained
Uma Therman-The Bride Kill Bill
John Malkovich-Lenny Small Of Mice and Men
Gary Sinise-George Milton Of Mice and Men

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Rutger Hauer - good one.

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Agreed!

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Thanks I was always baffled he never got a nod. That tears in rain speech is so iconic and the best part was he improvised a lot of it.

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Linda Hamilton - T2 - Judgement Day

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Edward G Robinson - Double Indemnity and Key Largo
John Wayne - The Searchers.

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Reese Witherspoon - Freeway (1996)
Saoirse Ronan - Death Defying Acts (2007)


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Oh yes I forgot about James McAvoy he was great in Split.

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