10 Ridiculous Performances That Actually Improved Movies

7. Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_hFTR6qyEo It is worth qualifying this entry by mentioning that, yes, Daniel Day-Lewis' performance in Paul Thomas Anderson's sprawling epic is probably one of the best ever put to film, and rightly won Day-Lewis the Academy Award for Best Actor that year. However, there are certainly facets of the performance that would qualify as "ridiculous", particularly during the denouement, in which dominant oil-man Daniel Plainview confronts his old rival, broken-down man-of-faith, Eli Sunday (Paul Dano). Plainview has been driven to mania by his greed, evident in this magnificently barmy scene, in which Plainview shouts "Draiiiinaaaage!" at Eli, before saying the classic, "I drink your milkshake...I drink it up!", and then things really get hairy. Plainview stalks Eli around, booming, "I told you I would eat you!" and of course, finally bashing his brains in with a bowling pin. The film, already a masterpiece, is given a propulsive kick by this fantastically over-the-top piece of acting, a testament to every good word ever said about Day-Lewis.