Jeremy Irons: 5 Awesome Performances & 5 That Sucked

2. The Uber-Morlock - The Time Machine (2002)

As far as off the wall Jeremy Irons performances go, this has to be the most perplexing of the lot. For reasons unbeknownst to the universe at large, Irons opted for a role in the 2002 version of The Time Machine (based on the novel by H.G. Wells), starring Guy Pierce and - that's right - former pop sensation Samantha Mumba. As if just being in the movie wasn't bad enough, though, Irons agreed to play the leader of a fictional race called the Morlocks, which required the Academy Award-winning actor to wear countless layers of make-up, giving him the appearance of a rejected extra from Battlefield Earth. Forced to wear bright blue contact lenses and have his face painted white, Irons' job is to sit in a cave dispensing Elder-like advice to a confused Guy Pearce. It's mental. At one point, the Uber-Morlock says: "We all have our time machines. Some take us back." There's a good chance that Irons wishes he could use one to delete this from his canon.