9. Paul Dano - There Will Be Blood
Dano is usually a fairly remarkable character actor who in his relatively short (but admittedly busy) career has earned himself the moniker 'prince of the modern micro-budget/indie film'. Scoring much praise for his turn in Little Miss Sunshine, he's since proven himself repeatedly as a serious prospect in Hollywood. With all that said, there is a performance of his that I can't quite get behind - his turn as Eli Sunday in Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood. Now, he also plays the twin brother Paul Sunday which I actually have no qualms with. However as Eli - the mortally conflicted preacher - he just sort of loses it; there's no subtlety, no nuance and no restraint. To put it simply, he completely overacts, which is surprising considering who's directorial hand was guiding him. Most likely during the shoot Daniel Day Lewis simply washed over him, stunned him into awe and possibly instilled him with a desperate need to compete by pulling something twisted out of the bag. Pity no one mentioned that going toe to toe with Day Lewis in a character acting competition is almost entirely futile.