10 Awesome Performances From Usually Terrible Actors

4. Hayden Christensen - Shattered Glass (2003)

Attack of the Clones is the nadir of the Star Wars franchise. But amidst the endlessly unconvincing CGI, the contrived plot and the strained love story, it€™s Hayden Christensen€™s performance as Anakin Skywalker that rests as the rotten cherry on a s**t-cake. Every emotion emanating from the actor €“ joy, love, anger €“ seems to come across as a particularly painful experience. It€™s the worst of Christensen€™s performances, but he€™s not been much better elsewhere. That is unless you take into account Billy Ray€™s Shattered Glass, the fascinating true story of fraudulent journalist Stephen Glass. Christensen plays Glass to knockout effect, making the deceptive journo into a creepily effective manipulator - it€™s the unsettling weirdness Christensen exudes as the character, his peculiar walk and needy stare offset by his increasingly desperate, child-like ramblings. He brings sympathy to a pathetic, lonely man, leading us to cautiously remain on Glass' side even when the allegations start to fly. It€™s all the more amazing considering Christensen has been so woefully wooden elsewhere.
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Lover of film, writer of words, pretentious beyond belief. Thinks Scorsese and Kubrick are the kings of cinema, but PT Anderson and David Fincher are the dashing young princes. Follow Brogan on twitter if you can take shameless self-promotion: @BroganMorris1