6. Geoffrey Rush Pirates Of The Caribbean Films
Geoffrey Rush is a marvellous character actor. His roles often require subtle refinement, manners and massive attention to detail. Before Pirates, you got the feeling he was frustrated with his line of work. After Pirates, you knew he was. If you look on the face of it, picking Geoffrey Rush as a pirate might be considered a faintly strange idea, but perhaps Gore Verbinski knew something we didnt. In fact, Im positive he did. Rush is a blast as Captain Barbossa, so much so that they actually had to resurrect him because the second film didnt have nearly so much pirate-y awesome-ness. Yes, Johnny Depp is excellent as a drunken rogue, but he wasnt a proper shiver-me-timbers type. Hell,
nobody was a shiver-me-timbers type like Rush. Really, it just seemed as if Verbinski gave him a script and just told him to be a pirate in any way you like, and god did Rush live up to that mantle. Seemingly the only person in the cast who knew the whole thing was just Disneys excuse to make a movie around a theme park ride, he adjusted his sight accordingly and just let rip. Here was an Oscar winner in what was ostensibly a childrens film, and he wanted to have some fun. The mans clearly having a whale of time, and it looks all the more hilarious when compared to the sincerity of Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom. He can act circles around these guys, but hes enjoying himself so much pretending to be Blackbeard that hes just off in a world of his own, rolling out pirate language like a drunken sailor. Hes even get a peg leg, for gods sake. Surely no man ever threw himself into a so farcical a role so completely as Geoffrey Rush he deserves all the praise in the world, and if it werent for a certain Johnny Depp, Rushs performance would be the one wed all be talking about.