5. Steve McQueen
Directed Memorable Performances In: Hunger (2008)Best of the Best: Michael Fassbender in
Shame (2011) Two features? A guy with only two feature films with the same lead makes the list, all the way to the top five? Put it this way, if this listing were based solely on Quality of performance, the tandem of McQueen and Fassbender would be number one. Visual artist extraordinaire Steve McQueen made a splash at Cannes and the independent film world in 2008 with his debut film
Hunger, based on the hunger strike of imprisoned irish nationalists in 1981. Michael Fassbender plays the most famous of the inmates, Bobby Sands, to unreal extents. Going as far as to as to drop a reported 30lb, getting his 5'11" frame down to a staggering 127lb. Anyone that watched the film had to be concerned with both the on-screen character and the actor portraying him. McQueen's debut made waves everywhere it was shown, though mostly on the highly independent film world circuit. However, it established a working relationship between him and the rising star of Fassbender.
Jump ahead to 2011 when the director released his second feature the stark and striking
Shame. Teaming with Fassbender again to portray Brendon, a functional sexual addict. Most movies take the concept of sexual addiction as merely a means for "adult" comedy rather than serious and debilitating condition. McQueen gives the affliction a decidedly different approach, portraying Brendon as a thoroughly damaged figure. Dealing with self-inflicted isolation, sexual dissolution and dysfunction, he is man coming apart. The biggest problem with him is he doesn't realize that he has a major problem. McQueen never turns away from the man's problems, and it is the actor's finest work to date in large part because of that unblinking vision.