20 Worst Movie Performances Of The Decade
17. Sharlto Copley As Adrian Pryce - Oldboy (2013)
Sharlto Copley is a terrific actor who usually improves anything he's in with his presence, but there's one enormous exception. His performance in Spike Lee's awful remake of Oldboy deserves to go down in history as one of the worst performances by a good actor ever.
Adrian Pryce is supposed to be a twisted and sadistic billionaire carrying out a sick revenge plan, but instead he seems more like an angry schoolboy throwing a temper tantrum because he didn't get what he wanted for Christmas.
Copley's performance is embarrassingly hammy and never, ever intimidating in any form, while his upper-class English accent is simply awful. Sure, some of the scenes in the original film were pretty harrowing to watch but they arguably pale in comparison to cringe-worthy scenes like Copley screaming "You called her a whore!" at a man he's throttling or him shouting "They were f**king! They were f**king!" at the film's protagonist (Josh Brolin) when confronting him on spreading rumors about his sister.
It's difficult to say what's more ridiculous: this performance or the fact that director Spike Lee apparently never bothered to correct it.