6. Marlon Wayans - Requiem for a Dream (2000)
It's as bizarre a casting choices as you're liable to find for a "prestige" film; indeed, the actor otherwise best known for acting in films like
I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, Mo' Money and
Don't Be A Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood managed to wind up cast as Tyrone in
Requiem for a Dream, and furthermore, actually nailed it. Sandwiched between the aforementioned films and his subsequent, best-known role as Shorty in the
Scary Movie franchise, Wayans is scarcely recognisable as the wise-cracker from his other works; here he plays a drug addict who, along with Jared Leto's Harry, begins a disturbing downward spiral stemming from that addiction. In a film with no lack of great performances, it might be easy for Wayans' to get lost in the shuffle - and indeed, he generally seems to amass less acclaim than his co-stars - for while Tyrone might seem like a side-character given his less-troubled situation compared to the other characters', Wayans delivers a tempered, devastating performance all in itself. No more memorable is it than in the closing moments of the film, as Tyrone lies on his bed in prison, thinks of his childhood with his mother, and then curls up into the fetal position. It proved that he had the chops to operate on the same level as his peers, though regrettably this isn't something he has followed up; we would love to see him in something similar to this once again, rather than
Dungeons and Dragons or
Little Man.