Hugh Jackman: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

4. Tomas/Tommy/Tom Creo €“ The Fountain (2006)

Darren Aaronofsky spent an ungodly amount of time getting this borderline unfilmable script onto the big screen, even going so far as to turn it into a graphic novel when it looked like his dream project was destined to remain in his desk drawer. And yet Noah has no problem getting made. What kind of a sick world allows that to happen. Regardless of what you think of the finished product €“ a big, sprawling, ambitious sci-fi drama that spans several decades before Cloud Atlas ever thought of doing such a thing €“ it would have totally fallen apart before it even got started were it not for a powerful couple of leads performances by Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz. At times the structure and themes border on the bad side of pretension, but Weisz and Jackman admirably keep it together as a pair of (at times) literal star-crossed lovers: first a modern-day couple, a scientist and his cancer-stricken wife; then a conquistador and his queen; and finally, an astronaut hallucinating his lost love...or is he? Brilliant, affecting acting in extraordinary circumstances.