Best Performances of the 2000s?

IndieWire is continuing on with their overview of the 2000s.

This time, the outlet has decided to tackle the 50 best performances of that decade. I won’t be going through the entire list, but Daniel Craig in “Casino Royale” is a curious selection. They also have Ian McDiarmid as Palpatine (“Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith”) and Werner Herzog as Werner Herzog (“Grizzly Man.”)

Contrary to their 2000s films list, which was published yesterday, IndieWire doesn’t rank their 50 best performances, they instead list them alphabetically.

Was there a more towering performance this decade than Daniel Day-Lewis’ Daniel Plainview in “There Will Be Blood”? I don’t think so. Rumor has it that actor Kel O'Neill, who was supposed to play Eli, left in the middle of production because Day-Lewis’ intensity, and habit of staying in character, was too intimidating for him. O’Neill was soon replaced by Paul Dano.

A few years back, I submitted my personal list of the 12 best performances of 2000s for a critics poll. I don’t think anything’s changed, I still maintain that these are the defining and most affecting turns of the decade.

Christian Bale (American Psycho)
Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men)
Ben Kingsley (Sexy Beast)
Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood)
Naomi Watts (Mulholland Drive)
Ellen Burstyn (Requiem For A Dream)
Isabelle Huppert (The Piano Teacher)
Nicole Kidman (Birth)
Bjork (Dancer In The Dark)
Daniel Day-Lewis (Gangs Of New York)
Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler)
Denzel Washington (Training Day)

IndieWire’s list doesn’t include Bale, Rourke, Kingsley, Burstyn, and Kidman.

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