Acting performances that surprised you

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Yeah, and then there's the acting .
I'm pretty sure I first saw Naomi Watts in Tank Girl, which was on the other night. I'd forgotten how gorgeous she was .



"I smell sex and candy here" - Marcy Playground
It was the first time I realized Efron could actually act.
I beg to differ, he brings the movie down a notch in rating.
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Not that much of a surprise – I know he's good – but Douglas Hodge is phenomenal in Decline and Fall. The first I remember seeing of him was playing a really socially awkward character in, I think, a one-off drama in the Nineties.



Not that much of a surprise – I know he's good – but Douglas Hodge is phenomenal in Decline and Fall. The first I remember seeing of him was playing a really socially awkward character in, I think, a one-off drama in the Nineties.
I have never even heard of Douglas Hodge



I have never even heard of Douglas Hodge
I wouldn't be surprised if you've seen him somewhere. He cropped up alongside Kelsey Grammer in a production of La Cage aux Folles a few years ago, so he obviously gets about .



I've seen the Martin Clunes version of Goodbye, Mr. Chips a few times and it was on again recently. He is fantastic in it but this time I paid particular attention to how well he played Chipping as a very old man.



I wouldn't be surprised if you've seen him somewhere. He cropped up alongside Kelsey Grammer in a production of La Cage aux Folles a few years ago, so he obviously gets about .
Just looked him up on google images and the face does seem familiar but can't really place him in anything.



Brad Pitt in Kalifornia. I have never seen him do another role like this, such a horrible character and such a gritty and dark film.


Jim Carrey - Man on the Moon/Eternal Sunshine. Jim Carrey has always been a comedy actor to me but these films prove he is a phenomenal serious actor as well. Find a video of Andy Kaufman, then watch Jim Carrey playing Andy Kaufman in Man On The Moon and you can barely tell which is which.

Brad was terrific in Kalifornia and Carrey is positively spooky in Man on the Moon...I think his Andy Kaufman was Oscar-worthy, a nomination at least.



This might just do nobody any good.
Was he not nominated? At least as an Oscar bridesmaid.

Truman Show was the one that shattered my image of Carrey, though.

I still can't watch it without tearing up.



Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Adam Sandler in Punch Drunk Love
Tom Cruise in Collateral
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"Honor is not in the Weapon. It is in the Man"
Daniel Wu (star of AMC's Into the Badlands) in 2004's New Police Story. He played the lead villain, a gang leader who has a hatred for cops because of the abuse he endured from his father, a police superintendent. He plays a deadly game of cat and mouse with Jackie Chan, who looks to avenge the death of his entire team at the hands of Wu and his gang.


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I caught the end of Robot and Frank last night and loved it – really well cast too I thought. It really made me think about how massively different Frank Langella was in Masters of the Universe to everything else in which I've seen him. Always very contained, even in a role like Dracula for instance, but as Skeletor an expansive, often raging characterisation where it's hard to believe it's the same actor .



This might just do nobody any good.
I thought he was great in Frost/Nixon.

I never saw him as Dracula or Skeletor so I though he was some well regarded theatre actor taking a cinematic detour (which, I guess, wasn't totally off the mark).



for.me it has to be: haley joel osment in the sixth sense, amazing performance for a kid



I thought he was great in Frost/Nixon.

I never saw him as Dracula or Skeletor so I though he was some well regarded theatre actor taking a cinematic detour (which, I guess, wasn't totally off the mark).
He was amazing in Frost/Nixon... I saw him as Dracula on Broadway and in the movies...a perfect combination of bone-chilling and sexy as hell.



He was amazing in Frost/Nixon... I saw him as Dracula on Broadway and in the movies...a perfect combination of bone-chilling and sexy as hell.
Didn't his Dracula come to the UK? I'm only saying this because somewhere in the back of my mind I'm sure that Sylvester McCoy played Renfield on stage — in the film he has a very minor role but I can imagine him being fantastic in that part. I loved Jack Shepherd in the Louis Jourdan version; he's my favourite.



Didn't his Dracula come to the UK? I'm only saying this because somewhere in the back of my mind I'm sure that Sylvester McCoy played Renfield on stage — in the film he has a very minor role but I can imagine him being fantastic in that part. I loved Jack Shepherd in the Louis Jourdan version; he's my favourite.
I don't know for sure, but I do know Langella spent over two years playing Dracula in New York, so he very well could have toured with it.



Leonardo di Caprio. I thought he was a weak actor and was actually very surprised to find out how good he was in The Departed. Also later in The Wolf of Wall Street.