Mark Strong: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

4. George - Zero Dark Thirty

In a film full of showy performances, Mark Strong's might not have risen to the top, but as senior CIA supervisor George, he played a pivotal role in the film's dramatisation of Osama Bin Laden's capture. So...strong (sorry) was his performance that his best scene ended up being featured prominently in the trailers. His motivational speech to Maya and the other operatives is unforgettable: "I want to make something absolutely clear. If you thought there was some secret cell somewhere working al-Qaeda, I want you to know that you are wrong! This is it. There's no working group coming to the rescue. There's nobody else hidden away on some other floor. This is just us. And we are failing. We're spending billions of dollars. People are dying. We're still no closer to defeating our enemy. They attacked us on land in '98, by sea in 2000, and from the air in 2001. They murdered three thousand of our citizens in cold blood, they've slaughtered our forward deployed. And what the f*** have we done about it? What have we done? We have twenty leadership names and we've only eliminated four of them. I want targets! Do your ****ing jobs! Bring me people to kill!" It's a riveting, intense, soul-stirring speech, making clear Strong's aptitude at an American accent, and his real ability to command both a room and a scene. Marvellous.