Five actors who gave their best performances in movies you’ve never seen
There are a lot of movies in the world. At an increasingly rapid rate, films are being churned out, and when I say churned, I mean it. Many bad movies are clogging up cinema listings, with profit the main aim of the game. Sadly, these terrible projects often tend to drag some great stars down with them.
That’s not to say that all actors in big blockbusters and box-office hits are giving bad performances. Of course not. But instead, it’s often the case that their finest performance is actually hiding in a movie much less well-known, perhaps an indie movie they made near the start of their career or a hidden gem that simply flew under the radar.
You might disagree with my picks because what you’d classify as an actor’s greatest ever performance will depend on who you ask. But for some actors, certain performances just contain a unique essence of greatness to them that they’ve never quite topped, even if they’ve later gone on to win Oscars. Sometimes, these are simply films that occupy a specific niche, concealing a career-defining performance within its walls.
So, from Laura Dern in Smooth Talk to Emily Blunt in My Summer of Love, here are five examples of actors giving their best performances in movies you might not have seen.
Five incredible performances in movies you’ve never seen:
Laura Dern – Smooth Talk (Joyce Chopra, 1985)
After a string of supporting roles, Laura Dern became the leading star of her first film in 1985, playing a teenager, Connie, on the cusp of entering the adult world in Smooth Talk. Based on a short story by Joyce Carol Oates, Dern is terrific as the adolescent girl who just wants to go out, flirt, and have fun, even if her mother doesn’t have the kindest things to say about her.
Yet, as the story unravels, it takes on an increasingly sinister tone, devolving into a horror film as Connie meets a man who will change her life forever. Dern commands the screen with her endearing presence, and she embodies the eagerness of a teenager who just wants to grow up, all while reminding us of her naivety and innocence. She has since gone on to win an Oscar and appear in countless acclaimed roles, but Smooth Talk is up there with her best.
Emily Blunt – My Summer of Love (Paweł Pawlikowski, 2004)
Emily Blunt has become somewhat of an action star over the years with roles in the likes of Sicario, Looper, and Edge of Tomorrow, but her roots can be traced back to an unforgettable performance as the cunning Tamsin in My Summer of Love by Paweł Pawlikowski. It was her first film role, but she demonstrated skills far beyond her years as she played the wealthy, manipulative, yet captivating new friend that the working-class Mona makes one summer.
The movie might be considerably more low-key than The Devil Wears Prada, Into the Woods and Oppenheimer, but this gave her the chance to show what she was capable of rather straightforwardly. She’s cold but alluring, and her performance alongside Natalie Press really elevates the film to greater heights.
John Mills – The Family Way (Ray and John Boulting, 1966)
Starting his career on screen in the 1930s, John Mills had a prolific career that even saw him win an Oscar for his supporting role in Ryan’s Daughter. He appeared in a wide range of films, from Swiss Family Robinson to David Lean’s Great Expectations, but his best performance arguably came when he starred in The Family Way by Roy and John Boulting, released in 1966. The kitchen sink comedy-drama saw him play the father-in-law of his real-life daughter, Hayley Mills, who starred as a newlywed struggling to consummate her marriage after moving into her husband’s cramped family home.
It’s a surprisingly incredible film that really takes you off guard. Emerging at a time when many other films about working-class characters received considerably more praise, The Family Way never got the credit it deserved, even though Mills gave a standout performance. His moments of jealousy, insecurity, and ultimately, his sadness, are played out beautifully, with the actor channelling plenty of nuance into the supporting role.
Nicole Kidman – To Die For (Gus van Sant, 1995)
OK, maybe you have seen this one. Still, Nicole Kidman has appeared in many movies that have performed much better than Gus Van Sant’s To Die For, from Moulin Rouge and Aquaman to Eyes Wide Shut, and Babygirl. If you didn’t catch To Die For when it came out in 1995 – or if you’re not a connoisseur of dark satirical films – then you might not have seen it, but Kidman truly gives a career-defining performance as Suzanne Stone Maretto.
Paired with a young Joaquin Phoenix, the movie sees Kidman play an ambitious weather reporter who hatches a plan to have her husband killed by the high-schoolers she manages to transfix. Kidman is so good at comedy, but the way she maintains a level of seriousness at the same time –Suzanne will really do anything to become famous – is golden.
Florence Pugh – Lady Macbeth (William Oldroyd, 2016)
Before she played the youngest member of the March clan in Little Women and got indoctrinated into a cult as a grieving young woman in Midsommar, Florence Pugh landed her second-ever movie role in the period film Lady Macbeth. The indie film was made on a budget of just £500,000, but the dark and erotically-charged atmosphere of the story provided the perfect backdrop for Pugh, who gave an astounding performance as Katherine Lester.
The wife of an older man whom she hates, Katherine, begins an affair with a local worker, Sebastian, which soon turns murderous. Pugh’s role as the troubled and dissatisfied young woman truly marked her out as an impressive up-and-coming star, and while she has given some incredible performances since, there’s something about the poise and intensity of her part in Lady Macbeth – a film her fans might not be familiar with – which arguably makes it her best on-screen appearance to date.
