10 Great Performances That Were Overshadowed By Their Co-Stars

3. Brendan Fraser - The Quiet American

Overshadowed By: Michael Caine The words "Brendan Fraser" and "great performance" don't usually wind up appearing together in the same sentence, but we're here to break that tradition: Brendan Fraser's performance in the 2002 adaptation of Graham Greene's novel, The Quiet American, is great. Genuinely. In fact, it's probably the best performance of his career - and going by the sort of thing he stars in these days, it looks like it might stay that way. Co-starring Michael Caine, The Quiet American tells the story of a reporter and his friendship with an idealistic American in 1950s Saigon. Michael Caine was nominated for an Academy Award for his turn here, of course - rightly so, in fact, given that it's one of the strongest performances. But Fraser, who clearly has an affinity for the source material and puts everything he has into his own performance as Pyle, was completely ignored by pretty much everyone who laid eyes on this picture - what they don't seem to have realised is that the entire movie hinges on our belief that Caine's journalist, Fowler, could be enamoured with Fraser's character. For Fraser haters, this will change your mind.