10 More Actors Who Gave Their Best Performances In Movies Nobody Saw

10. Vince Vaughn - Brawl In Cell Block 99

Vince Vaughn probably isn't who most people picture when they think of a great actor, but he's given a bevy of hilarious comedic performances in the likes of Swingers, Old School, Dodgeball, and Wedding Crashers, and in the dramatic stakes has acquitted himself well in Hacksaw Ridge and True Detective's second season.

But far and away Vaughn's best work to date is in S. Craig Zahler's brutal 2017 prison thriller Brawl In Cell Block 99.

As imprisoned drug runner Bradley Thomas, Vaughn is like you've never seen him before - a bald-headed, stone-faced pillar of granite who must fight to save his wife (Jennifer Carpenter) and unborn child on the outside before it's too late.

Vaughn isn't an actor who cuts a naturally intimidating figure, yet director Zahler clearly saw something in him that nobody else did, because his mere physical presence throughout this ferocious, graphically violent film is deeply imposing.

Vaughn underplays the part perfectly, giving a richly internalised performance as a man stewing in his own rage while desperately trying to free his family from a helpless situation.

Yet despite Vaughn receiving rave reviews for his performance, Brawl grossed just $79,208 on limited release at the box office before more-or-less fading into the abyss on streaming.

Vaughn did re-team with Zahler for another unhinged crime thriller the next year, though - Dragged Across Concrete, where he gave another captivating performance, this time as a corrupt cop.