10 Great Movie Performances (No One Ever Talks About)

5. Aaron Eckhart - Thank You For Smoking

Val Kilmer Tombstone
Focus Features

As much as you could probably put Aaron Eckhart's underrated performance as The Dark Knight's Harvey Dent on this list - considering how thoroughly he's overshadowed by Heath Ledger's Joker - the strongest work of his career actually came a few years earlier in Jason Reitman's satirical drama Thank You for Smoking.

The chisel-jawed, impossibly slick Eckhart is perfectly cast as Big Tobacco spokesman Nick Naylor, so infuriatingly charming as to be entirely believable in the role of a man intended to re-shape public opinion re: smoking.

And yet, the majority of audiences will associate Eckhart with The Dark Knight and not a whole lot else, despite this being the easy standout turn of his career.

And in what's starting to sound like a broken record, Eckhart was also nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance all while the Academy snubbed him.

Contributor
Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.