Great Physical Performances

What are your favorite physical performances on film? You can interpret this however you like, I mean it to be any time an actor uses athleticism and form to tell a story. It can be Buster Keaton's physical comedy, a great Hong Kong action scene, an amazing stunt, Fred Astaire, John Wick, etc.

I will start it off: you know, I have always been so amazed by Ricou Browning in Creature From the Black Lagoon (who passed away just this year!). My man Ricou has to keep pace with Julie Adams wearing a rubber costume, and she is booking it. I have no idea how he can even see. In the sequels, the suit had an oxygen tank but in the first movie Ricou just had to hold his breath to get the shot and it worked. He completely sold it, made the monster look like a graceful, menacing predator, wonderful scene.

It's kind of an obvious one, but Arnold Schwarzenegger in Predator. I think it encapsulates his main appeals as an actor. The third act in particular is amazing because of his physicality.

John Hurt in The Elephant Man

Adjani in Possession. If you know, you know.

Jackie Chan in just about anything.



And I give worst physical performance to... ...Gigi Edgley in Farscape.

I've got to say that Bruce Campbell gives a great physical performance as Ash in Evil Dead 2 (1987). I mean, it's not every actor who can act like his hand's possessed and throwing him around the kitchen and breaking dishes over his head!

Jerry Lewis in The Nutty Professor. I love how goes from Prof. Julian Kelp to Buddy Love. And Julian trying to get comfortable in the dean's office is freaking hilarious.

I prefer to watch the more colorful vibrant movies so its hard to say because I dont examine how people move all that much. Definitely though the more boring the movie the less physically expressive the actors are going to be. But like anything else thats a general observation and not a 100% absolute.

I would say that a great actor wouldnt make you think specifically that hes moving a particular way because his movements are a part of the whole.

One that amazes me, even after watching it a dozen times, is Donal O'Connor's exhausting physical comedy and dancing/pratfalls for "Make 'Em Laugh" from the classic Singin' in the Rain (1948) with Gene Kelly and Judy Garland.

He must have done several takes, and he was so utterly exhausted after filming the routine that he was laid up in bed for several days afterwards.

Definitely Michelle Pfeiffer as Selina Kyle/Catwoman in Batman Returns; I mean, it's already an incredibly complex role just from a psychological perspective, with the way that it's essentially three characters in one (Selina pre-"transformation", Catwoman, and Selina post-transformation, who's emotionally torn between aspects of the previous two personas, so that adds yet another layer), but you add in the physical aspects of the role, and that takes it to an even higher level. I mean, even before she's Catwoman, she's still doing those freaky eye flutters during the transformation scene...



...but after, she has to wear this outfit that involves a corset, 6-inch heels, and a catsuit that was literally vacuum-sealed of all its oxygen, so she only had a short amount of time to act before she would have to have it opened, or she could become lightheaded and pass out. Plus the mask she had to wear made it near-impossible for her to (in her words) see, hear, or breathe, and wearing all that stuff, she had to act. And kickbox, which she had just learned how to do. And she had use a whip (which she had also just learned how to do), which she used to whip these mannequin heads off in one take:




Plus, she put a live bird in her mouth for a few seconds, because she felt the puppet they had looked too fake:




So, yeah; great ****ing performance.

This a great topic and, believe it or not, the first performance that popped into my head was Nicolas Cage in Raising Arizona. Cage must have needed a year long vacation after finishing that one.


A few others off the top of my head:


Emile Hirsch in Into the Wild

Sylvester Stallone in First Blood

Ben Stiller in Tropic Thunder

Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver

Jack Nicholson in Five Easy Pieces

Sylvester Stallone in Cliffhanger

Sean Penn in Bad Boys (1983)

Michael York in The Three Musketeers (1973)

Betty Hutton in just about any role she did. Hint, she did lots of physical comedy.

That scene in the dean's office had me on the floor.

Um...Jackie Chan?



Anything from his early years probably qualifies.

Daniel Craig as 007.

Someone already mentioned Jackie Chan, so I will go with:

Tom Cruise in the Mission: Impossible films



Time and again, he pushes himself further and further into insane stunt territory. Be it clinging to the side of an aircraft on takeoff or submersing himself underwater for several minutes to get the perfect shot, this guy is constantly pushing the envelope, and he is no spring chicken!



Kudos must also be given to Rebecca Ferguson, who has matched Mr. Cruise on several stunts in the same series.

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I'd forgotten how physical Cage was in that great pic. I also got a big kick out of Randall "Tex" Cobb's character and performance. It's probably my favorite Coen Brothers.

Oh, Yeah! I still can't believe he did that one where he ran down the side of the Burj Khalifa-- the world's tallest building. Gives me the willies just thinking about it!

Since Jackie Chan and Buster Keaton have already been mentioned, I will shout out Cary Grant.


For a recent one, here's Margot Robbie owning the room and the screen in Babylon.

Tom Cruise for sure deserves a mention, so amazed by the HALO drop stunt. Would have been the easiest thing in the world to use CGI or a stunt double but this guy does it for real just to get the shot.