10 Breakout Movie Performances That Ultimately Went Nowhere

The Big Break:

Having already broken through in French cinema with films like Michel Hazanavicius's OSS 117 spy parodies, Jean Dujardin got his big international breakthrough in 2011 with Hazanavicius's follow up: The Artist.

This witty, charming tribute to the silent era of film was everywhere for a while, delighting mainstream audiences and cinema snobs alike. Dujardin's turn as a matinee idol of days gone by was perfectly calibrated between pastiche and pathos. As the film swept that year's awards shows he became the first Frenchman to pick up a Best Actor Oscar amongst countless other wins.

Even having only ever worked in French before, Dujardin was soon in demand from major Hollywood talents such as Martin Scorsese (whose own tribute to the silent era, Hugo, was beaten to Best Picture by The Artist).

But Then:

Scorsese cast Dujardin in his popular hit The Wolf Of Wall Street, but the role was little more than a cameo. A more substantial English language part came from George Clooney's wartime caper The Monuments Men, but the star-studded affair made little critical or commercial impact.

That's been about it for Dujardin's Hollywood career and perhaps the actor never really sought to hard to be big outside France. But even back in his native country, Dujardin has struggled to recapture his Oscar-winning form.

His first big French leading role after The Artist, in spy movie Möbius, flopped, getting mixed reviews and barely earning back half its budget.

Dujardin still gets regular leading roles in French films, but he could really use a commercial hit and is banking on this summer's Roman Polanski take on the Dreyfus Affair - J'accuse (known over here as An Officer And A Spy and already delayed by attempts to extradite Polanski for his past sex crimes) - providing it.