10 Actors Who Just Recently Did Their Best Work Ever
Is it the beginning of the Deminaisance?
It's been a difficult couple of years for the film world. Many movies are underperforming, the industry has been dogged with strikes, and the lingering spectre of a certain pandemic doesn't seem to have receded quite yet. As such, it can be easy to feel pessimistic about the state of cinema, but it's not all doom and gloom at all.
Great movies are still coming out all the time, and even now, over a century after the medium of film was invented, we are witnessing the emergence of new innovations and the artistic high-points of many established artists. Just look at the following ten actors, for example.
These guys have all been around for years and they've just come out on top to deliver their greatest work to date, and quite a few of them have done so out of nowhere. You really do love to see it.
It's thrilling to ponder these actors' future and think of what lies ahead. Will they continue knocking it out of the park, or have their careers just peaked? As ever, time will tell. For now, though, these performances are their career highpoint.
10. Demi Moore - The Substance
Everyone loves a good comeback story. This year, it's Demi Moore's turn.
It's hard not to draw parallels between Moore and the character she plays in The Substance, a body horror masterpiece that's a strong contender for the year's best film. In that film, Moore plays Elisabeth Sparkle, a has-been movie star who's fired from a fitness show after turning 50. She resorts to trying a dangerous, experimental drug that allows her to give birth to a younger, more 'perfect' version of herself (Margaret Qualley).
Demi Moore was once the world's highest-paid actress but her career has stalled in recent times and, now in her early 60s, she's been underserved by Hollywood for years. As such, this was already a clever, meta piece of casting for the lead role; what makes it even better is that Moore's performance is pretty much the best she's ever given.
An intense part that required Moore to do lengthy nude scenes and wear layers and layers of grotesque make-up, this was a brave and heavy part for her to play, and she absolutely threw herself into it, portraying Sparkle's insecurities and internalized ageism and misogyny with gusto and pathos. Even when smothered under prosthetics, the power of her performance always shines through, and the fact that she's getting tipped as a possible Oscar nominee says it all. After all, the Academy hates horror.
Perhaps we are about to see a career revival for Demi Moore, and it seems the film world would be all the better for it.