Aaron Eckhart: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

2. Nick Naylor - Thank You For Smoking (2005)

One thing that Eckhart has done consistently throughout his career is playing slimy, unlikeable or corrupted characters. Sometimes this has worked against him, as in a couple of the examples we'll encounter later in this article. But in the hands of a good director and an interesting script, he can really pull off something special. Directed by Jason Reitman (son of Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman), Thank You For Smoking is based on Christopher Buckley's 1994 book of the same name. It follows the life of Nick Naylor, a pro-tobacco lobbyist who campaigns in favour of smoking product placement and denies the links between smoking and cancer. But his life changes forever when he is kidnapped and exposed to high quantities of nicotine, which almost kills him and renders him unable to smoke again. While the satire in Reitman's film doesn't go as far as perhaps it could, the film is a great vehicle for Eckhart as an actor. He pulls off the same trick that Woody Harrelson managed in The People vs. Larry Flynt, namely making the audience emphasise with a dishonest, reprehensible scumbag. Eckhart's facial characteristics (the straight hair, thin smile and beady eyes) bring out the reptilian nature of his character, and his comic delivery is quite superb - though not as superb as our final choice...