10 Unknown Actors Who Kicked Serious Ass In Major Films

4. Dane DeHaan - Chronicle

Whether deliberately or not, the fact that Chronicle's central characters were all unknown reinforces the idea that the events of the film take place to completely ordinary people. Its Dane DeHaan's portrayal of a child-abuse victim discovering he has telepathic capabilities that shows the widest range of acting abilities in the film; from excitable schoolboy to anguished victim and ultimately, to super-villain. For DeHaan, the performance cannot be narrowed down to a single scene (although the climax is superbly choreographed and hosts one of the most visually interesting deaths of 2012). Instead, its his performance when viewed as a whole that demonstrates what a brilliant performance he brings. Its the little things that slowly eat away at an already vulnerable character that ultimately lead to his internal destruction. For me the most powerful moments of the film were not that parts related to the superhero story line, but the moments DeHaan is sat filming in his bedroom when his abusive father comes looking for him €“ a series of conflicts which end with the older man being chucked from a hospital window. It's a credit to DeHaan's ability that you can sympathise with him while still thinking he's utterly repellent, and he's now landed himself roles in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Kill Your Darlings (alongside Daniel Radcliffe) as a result off this sterling work. You can't deny it's rightly deserved.