10 Great Understated Performance That Were Overshadowed By Showy Co-Stars! [Archive]

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Antonio141

11-20-2009, 11:45 AM

Sam Bottoms in THE LAST PICTURE SHOW and APOCALYPSE NOW
Jeff Bridges in THE FABULOUS BAKER BOYS
John Cazale in DOG DAY AFTERNOON
Julie Christie in HEAVEN CAN WAIT
Harrison Ford in THE FUGITIVE
Scott Glenn in THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
Harvey Keitel in THELMA & LOUISE and MORTAL THOUGHTS
Isabella Rossellini in FEARLESS
Denzel Washington in PHILADELPHIA
Robin Williams in AWAKENINGS

I guess this is similar to the Underrated Actors thread, but these ten performances were great in their own right, and were eclipsed by their Oscar-nominated (and in some cases Oscar-winning) scene partners like Robert DeNiro, Tommy Lee Jones, Rosie Perez and Tom Hanks to name a few.

ilovemovies

11-20-2009, 11:52 AM

Ethan Hawke in Training Day (yes, he did receive an oscar nomination, but when people think of that movie, they definitely think of Denzel's performance long before Hawke)

Agreed on Harrison Ford in The Fugitive. And Denzel Washington in Philadelphia.

Aaron Eckhart and Gary Oldman were better than Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight IMO, yet Ledger is the one who got most of the accolades.

As much as I loved Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia, I thought Amy Adams had the more compelling story and was just as great.

Russell Crowe in American Gangster

Rosemarie De Witt and Bill Irwin in Rachel Getting Married

Connie Nielsen in Gladiator

Tom Wilkinson and Kirsten Dunst in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Clive Owen in Sin City

Morgan Freeman in Gone Baby, Gone

Brian Dierker and Catherine Keener in Into the Wild

Justin Timberlake in Black Snake Moan (I thought he was just as good as Jackson and Ricci)

Mélanie Laurent in Inglourious Basterds

QUENTIN

11-20-2009, 12:29 PM

Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood & Gangs of New York
Nicolas Cage in Kiss of Death & Wild at Heart
Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet
Jack Nicholson in Batman & The Departed
Gary Oldman in The Professional
Robert De Niro in Cape Fear & The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle
Al Pacino in The Devil's Advocate & Any Given Sunday
Jon Voight in Anaconda
Samuel L. Jackson in A Time to Kill & 187
Ben Kinglsey in Sexy Beast

HoboJoeBob

11-20-2009, 12:31 PM

Aaron Eckhart and Gary Oldman - The Dark Knight
Alan Ruck - Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Joan Allen - The Crucible
Parker Posey - Scream 3
Natalie Portman - Leon
Val Kilmer - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Harvey Keitel - Pulp Fiction
Harvey Keitel - From Dusk Till Dawn
Tim Roth - Reservoir Dogs
Hugo Weaving -V for Vendetta

overwatch

11-20-2009, 12:59 PM

Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood & Gangs of New York
Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet
Jack Nicholson in Batman & The Departed
Gary Oldman in The Professional
Ben Kinglsey in Sexy Beast

WHAT

Anyway in line with the thread title.

Sam Elliot in Tombstone (overshadowed by Val Kilmer)
Brendan Gleeson in Gangs of New York (DDL)
Jared Letto in Requiem for a Dream (Ellen Bursteyn)
Anthony Mackie in half Nelson (Ryan Gosling)
Embeth Davitz in Junebug (Amy Adams)

Sgizzy316

11-20-2009, 01:04 PM

Robert Duvall in The Godfather Pt. I and Pt. II
I also thought Ray Liotta was great in Goodfellas but Pesci stole the show

screamer581

11-20-2009, 02:24 PM

Quent was obviously kidding.

Tom Cruise-Rain Man

Antonio141

11-20-2009, 03:05 PM

QUENTIN

11-20-2009, 04:06 PM

For a real list, Sam Bottoms, Duvall in the two Godfathers, and John Cazale in basically everything are great choices.

A few that spring to mind:

John C. Reilly in Magnolia
Michael Madsen in Kill Bill
Tim Holt in Treasure of The Sierra Madre
Karl Malden in A Streetcar Named Desire
Adrian Lester in Primary Colors
Jason Patric in Narc
John Goodman in Bringing Out The Dead

kobe8byrant

11-26-2009, 08:40 AM

Leonardo DiCaprio - Titanic

bigred760

11-26-2009, 07:10 PM

Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood & Gangs of New York

Who was he overshadowed by?

ilovemovies

11-26-2009, 07:46 PM

Who was he overshadowed by?

His moustach

Buck Turgidson

11-27-2009, 12:11 AM

Robert Duvall in The Godfather Pt. I and Pt. IIBingo. I've long thought Tom Hagan was the glue that held that story together.

HoboJoeBob

11-27-2009, 09:45 AM

Ben Foster - 3:10 to Yuma
David Huddleston "The Big Lebowski" - The Big Lebowski
Val Kilmer - Batman Forever
Sam Rockwell - Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Johnny Depp - Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Gary Oldman - True Romance
Brad Pitt - Snatch
Christopher Walken - Catch Me If You Can
Cam Neely "Sea Bass" - Dumb and Dumber
Hulk Hogan - Rocky III
Wilson - Cast Away

foulbones

11-27-2009, 01:57 PM

Gary Oldman - TDK
Tom Hardy - Rocknrolla
Bill Murray - Royal Tenenbaums
Mark Strong - Revolver
Brendan Gleeson - In Bruges
Christopher Plummer - Princess Bride
Peter Sarsgard - The Salton Sea
Ving Rhames - Bringing out the Dead
Jared Letto - American Psycho
Jeff Goldblum - the Life Aquatic w/ Steve Zissou

poopontheshoes7

11-27-2009, 06:32 PM

Everybody keeps mentioning Oldman and Eckhart in TDK, but I feel Bale needs more credit to. He gives a great performance. He shows such emotion and thought with simple facial expressions in that movie. I feel he nailed Bruce Wayne's inner struggle.

foulbones

11-27-2009, 08:02 PM

I totally agree with you. I was just trying to keep mine to supporting cast. I may have missunderstood the forum.

urbanlegend23

11-27-2009, 09:59 PM

Shohreh Aghdashloo (House of Sand and Fog)
Paul Bettany (Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World)
Paul Dano (There Will Be Blood)
Hope Davis (About Schmidt)
RoseMarie DeWitt (Rachel Getting Married)
Aaron Eckart (The Dark Knight)
Albert Finney (Erin Brockovich)
Jennifer Garner (Juno)
Romola Garai (Atonement)
Terrence Howard (Crash)
David Kross (The Reader)
Jared Leto (Requiem for a Dream)
Frances O'Connor (A.I. Artifical Intelligence)
Peter Sarsgaard (Garden State)
Michael Sheen (The Queen)

bigred760

11-27-2009, 10:04 PM

Christopher Plummer - Princess Bride

Ummm . . . Christopher Plummer wasn't in The Princess Bride

The Mad German

11-27-2009, 10:13 PM

Connie Nielsen in Gladiator

Clive Owen in Sin City

Couldnt have said it any better my friend...:cool:

overwatch

11-28-2009, 01:22 AM

Ummm . . . Christopher Plummer wasn't in The Princess Bride

maybe he's thinking of that other dude. the one in dog day afternoon

Le_Big_Mac

11-28-2009, 02:47 AM

maybe he's thinking of that other dude. the one in dog day afternoon

Chris Sarandon.

Tagia_Romero

11-28-2009, 04:29 AM

Chris Sarandon.

aka Captain Awesome Von Sexypants. :p

foulbones

11-29-2009, 04:05 PM

maybe he's thinking of that other dude. the one in dog day afternoon

I was thinking of Christopher Guest....I suck.

Monotreme

11-29-2009, 06:40 PM

All great examples, especially the likes of Michael Sheen and Paul Dano who were kind of swallowed up by their Oscar-winning co-stars in their respective films, but both of whom delivered stellar performances themselves.

I would like to bring one up now that might stir up a little controversy, because I know that there are not many fans neither of the actress nor of the film I am about to mention, although as some of you know I am an avid admirer of both, and find the actress particularly to be somewhat underrated:

Nicole Kidman in Cold Mountain.

Renee Zelwegger got all the attention for her quite showy supporting role in this film that was admittedly good but that didn't really resonate with much depth or emotion. Nicole Kidman, on the other hand, as the protagonist relentlessly waiting for her long-lost love to return to her from the battlefields of the civil war, showed a lot of subtle depth and deep but restrained emotion all throughout the film, as she carefully masks her anticipation due to the pressures of the social heiarchy at the time. It's a great and multifaceted turn that, like most of Kidman's great performances including those in Birth and Dogville, was completely ignored come awards time.

ericdraven

11-29-2009, 06:47 PM

Brad Pitt in Seven

QUENTIN

11-29-2009, 06:58 PM

Brad Pitt in Seven

Heh, that's funny. Pitt got all the attention when Se7en came out, some major critics even calling it "Brad Pitt's Se7en" while I think Freeman's more understated role is better, didn't get the acclaim it deserved, and is more appropriate here.

RicochetShaw

11-30-2009, 06:33 PM

kobe8byrant

11-30-2009, 09:06 PM

Wilson - Cast Away

JackassFan

12-01-2009, 01:50 PM

Robert Patrick in T2
Gary Oldman in the Batman movies