20 Essential Movie Performances That Will Define 2015

17. Jake Gyllenhaal - Billy Hope (Southpaw)

Release Date: July 24 The Movie: Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, The Equalizer) directs this sports drama about an underdog boxer looking to reclaim his good name and retrieve his daughter from Child Protective Services. The Role: Gyllenhaal plays the boxer protagonist Billy Hope, and as you can gather from the above image, he's certainly put in a lot of time at the gym to convincingly play the part. Why It'll Define 2015: Because Gyllenhaal knocks it out of the park almost every time he steps up to bat, and over the last two years he's made some extremely smart and brave choices, working on the likes of Prisoners, Enemy and Nightcrawler. This looks like a more populist sports movie, but Gyllenhaal's sheer gutsy commitment could easily land him on the Oscar nominee list next year.