5 Awesome Performances...
5. Harlen Maguire - Road To Perdition (2002)
When director Sam Mendes cast Jude Law in his crime movie Road to the Perdition, he presumably set out to answer the question: "is it possible to make Jude Law ugly?" That's to say, Law is not particularly renowned for his villainous roles, nor has he presented much of a case as to why he should be. Here, though, he transforms himself in ways that Jude Law fans were probably never expecting. As Harlen Maguire, a sadistic hitman and photographer, he shows that he's capable of playing creepy as well as he is "handsome." For the role, Law was given thinning hair, a lower gumline, and a sallow skin tone that made him look as though he might be rotting alive. Okay, so we can still tell it's handsome Jude Law under all that make-up (it's hard to part with those good looks entirely), but it's the actor's performance that makes this convincing. There's a real sense of Law throwing caution to the wind, relishing the chance to play a character outside of his usual types. As a foil to Tom Hank's own hitman character, Law manages to turn our perceptions of him inside out.