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(#17) Dean Stockwell
- 79
The Scene: Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper) is blackmailing singer Dorothy (Isabella Rossellini). When he discovers college student Jeffrey (Kyle MacLachlan) trying to help her, he forces both to accompany him to the apartment of his associate, Ben. Dorothy's family is being held hostage there.
The Role: Ben may be a bad guy, but he's got a sensitive side. He lets Dorothy see her family, then lip syncs to Roy Orbison's song "In Dreams," unexpectedly bringing the psychotic Frank to tears.
The Performance: In a movie filled with creepy elements, Ben might just be the creepiest. We know he's a bad guy, given that he associates with Frank, but he doesn't behave in an overtly menacing manner. Instead, he's calm and sophisticated. Stockwell ensures that the viewer can never quite get a good read on Ben, creating a deeply unsettling presence.
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(#10) Chris Evans
- 37
The Scene: Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) and Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) visit a movie set, where she reveals that she once dated the star.
The Role: Lucas Lee, an actor/skateboarder who has an (obligatory, league-mandated) ax to grind with Scott. The guy loves himself even more than his adoring fans love him.
The Performance: There's a trailer for one of Lucas's movies earlier in Scott Pilgrim, but Evans only has one scene where he's actually in character. He's hilarious playing an egotistical actor, one who yells "action" before his director can. Lucas even goes so far as to have his stunt team fight Scott so he can go grab a cup of coffee. Characters like this can be annoying, but Evans hits just the right note of comedic egotism. Lucas makes us laugh rather than cringe.
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(#15) David Thewlis
- 55
The Scene: Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski goes to visit artist Maude (Julianne Moore) in the process of investigating a kidnapping. Before she arrives, he runs into her videographer friend.
The Role: Knox Harrington is a genuine oddball with a shaved head, pencil mustache, and annoying, high-pitched giggle.
The Performance: The Coen Brothers' movies are always full of eccentric characters, but The Big Lebowski needed someone even more eccentric than usual for this particular sequence. David Thewlis was up to the task. Knox is a man of few words; he giggles more than he talks, making us unsure whether he's dangerous or just really weird. The smart thing about Thewlis's performance is that he takes the oddities just as far as they need to go but not so far that they overshadow the rest of the scene. He tempers his portrayal so it adds to the moment rather than serving as a distraction.
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(#9) Dave Bautista
- 50
The Scene: K (Ryan Gosling) shows up at a protein farm to "retire" an aging Nexus-8 replicant. He is met with resistance, leading to a smashing-through-walls fight.
The Role: Dave Bautista is that replicant, Sapper Morton. He's physically strong yet also cultured, as his large book collection reveals.
The Performance: It isn't surprising to see Bautista putting up a good fight. That's what we're used to. What is surprising is the way he plays Sapper as a polite, cultured yet weary figure. There's a sadness to his performance that suggests the character has seen, and possibly done, a lot of bad things in life. That mournful quality is unexpectedly powerful, especially coming from an actor we don't typically see in that kind of dramatic mode.
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(#14) Alfre Woodard
- 66
The Scene: Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor) walks up to the front porch of a plantation and has a conversation with Patsey (Lupita Nyong'o) and Mrs. Shaw.
The Role: Harriet Shaw is a former slave who is now the wife of a wealthy plantation owner.
The Performance: Alfre Woodard's brief role is tricky. She nails the fundamental trait of the character though. Mrs. Shaw remembers what it was like to be enslaved despite - as she points out - not having been in that position in a long time. Through the actor's performance, we can sense that Mrs. Shaw now views herself as having more in common with rich wives. In a chilling moment, she even suggests to Patsey that being the sexual prisoner of a plantation owner can have its advantages. Rather than disliking her for that, we recognize through Woodard's tone that Mrs. Shaw simply knows the unpleasant realities of what it takes to survive.
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(#2) Billy Crystal
- 70
The Scene: The film's hero, Westley (Cary Elwes), is "mostly dead but still slightly alive." He is revived by two miracle workers.
The Roles: Billy Crystal is Miracle Max and Carol Kane is Valerie. Both are gray-haired, wrinkled, and a little nutty - despite their very specific skills.
The Performance: Buried under old-age make-up, Crystal and Kane improvised a lot of their lines, including the oft-quoted, "Have fun storming the castle!" Aside from their scene being naturally funny, this is a case in which the comedic voices of two different actors blend together perfectly. They suggest a long-lasting relationship between Max and Valerie that has seen ups and downs. The way they feed off one another offers a master class in how to build comedy.
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The use of scene language in the film is like a storyteller, taking the responsibility of conveying the content and meaning of the film to the audience. Excellent use of the scenes can make a bland story appear as an amazing experience. Of course, a perfect single scene performance cannot be separated from an excellent actor. It is an important issue to make scenes' movements and use complement each other in a single scene.
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