Daring, ballsy and insanely skilled though these 12 actors were in 2014, none of them were quite as career-changingly brilliant as Rosamund Pike's revelatory work in David Fincher's Gone Girl. Much hype about her performance had built in pre-release reviews, but for any audiences who hadn't read the book, it seemed strange given that the movie is largely focused on her character's absence rather than her presence. Of course, in actual fact, Pike has a huge role in the movie as this generation's version of Glenn Close's Oscar-nominated bunny boiler Alex Forrest in 1987's Fatal Attraction. While the nature of her setting up her own husband is almost hilariously contrived, it's easy to buy into it because Pike's performance is so unexpectedly terrifying. The cute, petite actress typically plays likeable, fresh-faced women, and here that was completely inverted to play a character with a pleasant exterior whose soul was extremely ugly. Whether she's setting husband Nick (Ben Affleck) up or murdering a former lover (Neil Patrick Harris) in supremely gory fashion, Pike is effortlessly convincing in a part that many believed she wouldn't be capable of pulling off. As it stands, she's likely to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar next week, and rightly so. Which daring movie performances from 2014 most caught your attention? Shout it out in the comments!
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.
