Every year, moviegoers are treated to new unforgettable films. But far too often, the spectacular acting performances that make the films so great are overlooked. Here, we honor actors’ work that has been underrecognized, underappreciated, and unacknowledged during awards season.

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10 Joaquin Phoenix—You Were Never Really Here

Who better to kick off this list than someone who has continuously flown under the radar? It wasn’t until 2020 that this brilliant artist won an Academy Award: a well-deserved honor for interpretation of the iconic Joker. But two years earlier, Joaquin Phoenix gave one of 2017’s most unforgettable performances as Joe, a war veteran with PTSD who earns his living rescuing sex-trafficked girls in the crime/thriller You Were Never Really Here, written and directed by Lynne Ramsay.

“It’s tempting to say Phoenix has never been better than he is here, but that just would not be true,” writes film critic Sheila O’Malley. “He was great in The Master and Inherent Vice, in two very different kinds of roles. His career has been a bit all over the place, but in the last few years he’s settled into himself. It’s like he feels the earth beneath his feet, and he knows what to do. It’s been exhilarating to witness.

“At his very best, he doesn’t ‘show his work.’ You’re just hanging out with whatever peculiar character he’s playing. He’s not self-consciously ‘stretching’ as an actor by taking these different kinds of roles. It’s just that he, to steal from Walt Whitman, ‘contains multitudes.’ In You Were Never Really Here, he sometimes vibrates with unmanaged trauma and suicidal ideation. His tears are heart-rending because he is so helpless when they come. His translucent green eyes pulse with mute torment. You are never 100 percent sure what Joe is going to do next.”^[1]

9 Melissa McCarthy—Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Melissa McCarthy does not disappoint with her portrayal of the real life Lee Israel in Marielle Heller’s comedy-drama from 2018, Can You Ever Forgive Me? A frustrated alcoholic and unsuccessful writer desperate for money, Lee pays her rent by forging old letters by famous writers and selling them for big bucks. While McCarthy was nominated for the role, her stellar performance was otherwise overlooked.

“Playing Lee, McCarthy manages something very special: She makes a character who is odd, obnoxious, difficult, and alcoholic seem lovable and even heroic,” writes Geoffrey Macnab @TheIndyFilm. “McCarthy doesn’t try to be ingratiating at all or to tone down Lee’s mixture of awkwardness and malevolence.” Somehow, she makes the audience root for this despicable character.^[2]

8 Robert Pattinson/Willem Dafoe—The Lighthouse

It’s impossible to recognize one without the other. Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe compliment each other brilliantly, acting opposite each other as the leading men in Robert Egger’s 2019 psychological horror film, The Lighthouse. The two men try to maintain their stanity while living on a remote island and working as lighthouse keepers.

“At the core of the film is Pattison’s impressively committed performance as the taciturn Winslow,” writes Alison Willmore for Vulture. “Dafoe may be a delight as a sea-brined gremlin with a bottomless thirst and a surprising sensitivity about his own cooking. (‘Yer fond of me lobster,’ he howls at one point. ‘Say it!’) But it’s Pattinson, playing the straight man, who sells the slow deterioration of the pair’s mental state.”^[3]

7 Ethan Hawke—First Reformed

In Paul Schrader’s 2017 drama/thriller First Reformed, Ethan Hawke plays Reverend Toller, the pastor of a small church in upstate New York. Toller begins to question his faith and spiral out of control after an existential encounter with an environmental activist and his wife.

“You are drawn into Toller’s story by a steady, unblinking camera that quickens your pulse even as it encourages your contemplation,” writes Justin Chang for the Los Angeles Times. “And you are held there by the mesmerizing clarity and intelligence of Hawke’s performance, which suggests that the most powerful epiphanies may also be the subtlest.

“Possibly too subtle,” continues Chang. “Hawke was conspicuously not conspicuously not nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award or a Golden Globe, both key Oscar precursors. It’s easy to see why. This isn’t the kind of acting that calls attention to itself, that bowls you over with bravura feats of vocal distortion and prosthetic wizardry.

“First Reformed gives us the latest in a string of remarkable Hawke performances, following the subtle explorations of midlife discontent in Before Midnight (2013) and Boyhood (2014) and the biographical transformations of Born to Be Blue (2015) and Maudie (2017). It is, I would propose, the culmination of the richest, most accomplished and surprising career of any actor now working in American movies.”^[4]

6 Natalie Portman—Vox Lux

It’s not on the same level as her Oscar-winning performance in Black Swan, but Natalie Portman’s portrayal of a Celeste in Brady Corbet’s musical drama Vox Lux is one you don’t want to miss. Celeste is a school shooting victim-turned-pop star. Now 31, she is on the verge of a comeback when another horrific scandal threatens her career. Terrorist attacks juxtaposed with the wild world of pop? You bet!

Film critic Luke Chanell explains that in directly referencing both the Columbine High School massacre and 9/11, Vox Lux seeks to explore the connection between popstars and terrorism—coaxing up a wealth of thought-provoking ideas in the process:

“This is held together by a powerhouse performance from Portman. She’s equal parts fierce, bratty, and unhinged, yet she is also empathetic, emotionally wounded, and deceptively intelligent. Portman’s complex portrayal is never less than enthralling and she completely looks the part too with her over-styled quiff and swaggering demeanour. She is utterly captivating and convincing as a world-famous pop star in the film’s climatic concert sequence.^[5]

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5 Jake Gyllenhaal—Nightcrawler

In perhaps one of the finest performances of his career, Jake Gyllenhaal blew audiences away as Louis Bloom in Dan Gilroy’s 2014 crime/thriller, Nightcrawler. Louis begins a new career as a freelance cameraman after discovering that he can earn money by selling footage of accidents and crimes to local news networks. He becomes obsessed with getting the money shot and is willing to do anything it takes to get it.

“Gyllenhaal’s bold, committed performance makes Nightcrawler one of the most entertaining movies of the year…” writes Jocelyn Noveck for the Associated Press. “The most frightening thing about [Gyllenhaal]—even more than those sallow, sunken cheeks, those googly eyes, and that unkempt hair tied into a greasy bun—is his smile. They invented the word ‘creepy’ for that smile, a goofy, confident grin that reaches its full breadth just when you’re starting to realize how deranged the guy really is.”

4 Lupita Nyong’o—Us

After snagging an Oscar for her role in 12 Years A Slave back in 2014, it’s surprising that Lupita Nyong’o would be passed up for a nomination five years later when she took on the dual role of Adelaide and Red in Jordan Peele’s horror film, Us.

“A vibrant, appealing screen presence, Nyong’o brings a tremendous range and depth of feeling to both characters, who she individualizes with such clarity and lapidary detail that they aren’t just distinct beings; they feel as if they were being inhabited by different actors,” writes Manohla Dargis for the New York Times.

“She gives each a specific walk and sharply opposite gestures and voices (maternally silky vs. monstrously raspy). Adelaide, who studied ballet, moves gracefully and, when need be, rapidly (she racks up miles); Red moves as if keeping time to a metronome, with the staccato, mechanical step and head turns of an automaton. Both have ramrod posture and large unblinking eyes. Red’s mouth is a monstrous abyss.”^[6]

3 Song Kang-ho—Parasite

Bong Joon-ho’s 2019 comedy/thriller Parasite swept the Oscars, but the acting performances did not receive the credit they deserved: in particular, Song Kang-ho as Kim Ki-taek, the father of a destitute family struggling to make ends meet. After his son lands a job as a fake tutor for the wealthy Park family, the other members of the Kim family soon find themselves lying about their education and experience level to land jobs within the household.

Bong explained that choosing Kang-ho to star in the film enabled him to embolden his approach. “There was a relief that came from the certain expectation that if this actor plays this role, even the controversial parts will definitely be convincing to the audience. The script of Parasite, especially, has bold, unexpected, or somewhat controversial moments in its latter part, but having Song Kang-ho in mind resolved the fears and concerns that I had writing them.”

Kang-ho, who has starred in more than 30 Korean films and collaborated with Bong on four of them, says, “Over the years, the characters I’ve played have appealed to the Korean audience more as familiar, very realistic people that they can relate to, rather than somebody from a fantasy world.” But in Parasite, Kang-ho isn’t the “big star,” nor is he able to lean on his instant likability, says Patrick Brzeski for the Hollywood Reporter.

Bong observes: “Indeed, the acting format is that of an ensemble, where almost 10 main characters work with each other in even balance. Despite this, as can be seen when we look back on the film’s climax sequence, it’s Song Kang-ho who’s bearing the core sentiment of the film as well as its riskiest moments, the most daring parts,” he said.^[7]

2 Toni Collette—Hereditary

One of the worst Oscar snubs of the last decade was Toni Collette’s performance in Ari Aster’s 2018 horror film, Hereditary. Collette plays Annie, a grieving mother who has just lost her daughter in a tragic car accident. Annie is unable to cope with the loss of her daughter and quickly becomes unhinged, spiraling down a rabbit hole of satanic rituals and discovering that her own mother may be to blame for a curse on their family.

“The film’s most important asset is Collette, who weeps, screams, and snarls her way halfway off the screen and into the audience’s laps,” Tasha Robinson wrote for the Verge. “Annie is a complicated character, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes outright repulsive. The role only works because of Collette’s power to sell her emotions to an audience that may want to distance itself from her visible agony. Watching her suffer is emotionally exhausting, because she plays the character with such intensity.”^[8]

1 Adam Sandler—Uncut Gems

Last but most definitely not least, one could argue that Adam Standler gives the best performance of his career as charismatic New York City jeweler and gambling addict Howard Ratner in Josh and Benny Safdie’s crime thriller Uncut Gems. Sandler brings audiences along with him on the ride of their life as he rushes around the busy streets of Manhattan, placing high-stakes bets and fighting off Jewish mobsters all while dealing with a messy life at home that includes a divorce and a girlfriend half his age.

“The Safdie Brothers’ Uncut Gems proves to be one of the most mesmerising thrillers in a long time, and Sandler is a major reason why it works,” wrote Nick De Semlyen for Empire. “It’s a career-best performance, reminiscent of his character study 17 years ago in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love but even more layered and magnetic. His Howard is instantly iconic: part Job, part Jordan Belfort, part Jerry Maguire, he’s louchely attired, balancing out his shady wardrobe and dirtbag facial hair with a Star of David pinkie ring. Rarely stopping to take a breath, he is by turns hilarious, soulful and maddening; drilling down into a character who seems initially cartoonish but becomes ever more fascinating and human, Sandler is totally believable as a rapacious lowlife with big dreams.”^[9]

Top 10 Underrated Films That Will Give You The Creeps

Everyone loves a good romance, whether it be a witty “rom-com,” a tearjerker melodrama, or an epic set against a historical backdrop. OK, maybe not everyone, but certainly many romantic films rank among the most memorable and critically acclaimed motion pictures ever made and are some of the most popular.

Even today, when adjusted for monetary inflation, 1939’s romantic epic Gone with the Wind remains the highest-grossing film in cinema history. But what would have happened had other lead actors and actresses been cast in the lead roles of these movie classics? Would it have worked, or would they have flopped?

Here is a list of ten of the most popular romantic films and the pairs who were almost originally cast in the lead roles.

Related: 10 Hollywood Stars’ Curious Movie Debuts

10 Pretty Woman: Burt Reynolds and Meg Ryan

Burt Reynolds was the king of motion pictures in the 1970s and was cast in some of the most successful box office hits of that decade. After a breakout role in John Boorman’s critically acclaimed survivalist thriller Deliverance (1972), Reynolds rocketed to fame in movies such as The Longest Yard (1974) and Smokey and the Bandit (1977). Likewise, Meg Ryan emerged as one of the most popular leading ladies of the 1990s, scoring with hits such as You’ve Got Mail (1998) and Kate & Leopold (2001).

So, how could such a pairing not be box-office gold? Unfortunately, we’ll never know. But before you judge each too harshly for turning down the roles of Edward Lewis and Vivian Ward (who would become iconic parts for Richard Gere and Julia Roberts), consider this: Reynolds turned down Pretty Woman in 1990 to accept the lead role in the CBS sitcom Evening Shade, a part that netted him the only Emmy Award in his career.

Meanwhile, coming off the success of 1989’s When Harry Met Sally, and three years from being cast in Sleepless in Seattle, turning down the role that made Roberts a star hardly slowed down Ryan’s career. Call it a “win-win” for everyone! Also, Garry Marshall had initially envisioned the lead roles going to Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer. Another pairing that just doesn’t seem quite right.^[1]

9 An Affair to Remember: Fernando Lamas and Arlene Dahl

Few actors in the 1950s were as debonair as Cary Grant. Ironically, only a couple of decades earlier, Grant was better known for comedic parts in films such as Bringing Up Baby (1938) and Arsenic and Old Lace (1943) than the suave leading man roles he would later play. However, when veteran director Leo McCarey decided to remake his 1939 romance classic Love Affair, he envisioned it as a vehicle for husband and wife team Fernando Lamas and Arlene Dahl.

Considering the success of another married acting couple in 1957, I Love Lucy’s Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, matching the Argentinian Lamas and the redheaded Dahl made sense as a variation of the Cuban Arnaz and the carrot-topped Ball pairing.

But as fate would have it, An Affair to Remember (1957) would be cast with Grant and the six-time Academy Award nominee, Deborah Kerr. The casting decision proved to be the right one. In 2002, the American Film Institute ranked the movie as the fifth most romantic film of all time. But it was a tough break for Lamas and Dahl, who not only lost the iconic roles but also would divorce just three years later. ^[2]

8 The Bishop’s Wife: Dana Andrews and Teresa Wright

A Christmas classic that has become a perennial fan favorite in recent decades is yet another film that starred the prolific romantic leading man Cary Grant. But he was not the original choice to play the angel Dudley in Henry Koster’s beloved romantic comedy The Bishop’s Wife in 1947. Hoping to cash in on the popular pairing of Dana Andrews and Teresa Wright, who both gave memorable performances a year earlier in the acclaimed post-World War II drama The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), producer Samuel Goldwyn planned to cast each as the bishop and his wife, with David Niven as Dudley.

However, when Wright declined the role after becoming pregnant, Goldwyn was forced to loan out Andrews to RKO, who, in return, released Loretta Young to play the title role. Grant then joined the production only to have director Koster pull another casting switch. Instead of replacing Andrews as the bishop, Grant was cast as the angel. Reluctantly, Niven acquiesced to being assigned the bishop role. Although initially disappointing at the box office, the film has slowly grown in popularity and in 1996 was remade as The Preacher’s Wife, starring Denzel Washington and Whitney Houston.^[3]

7 Rocky: James Caan and Carrie Snodgress

With multiple sequels and antagonists who might as easily fit into the Marvel universe as they would into a sports movie franchise, there are three basic facts many forget about the movie that spawned it all: Rocky. First of all, the 1976 film won the Oscar for Best Picture. Secondly, Sylvester Stallone was virtually an unknown actor at that time, and it almost cost him the title role. And third, how much boxing was actually in the film? Not much. Because Rocky—at its core—is not a true sports film. “It’s a love story,” to quote the actor who played champion Apollo Creed, Carl Weathers.

Executives at United Artists loved Sylvester Stallone’s script for the film, but they wanted a bankable star to play the lead. Coming off the success of testosterone-driven films like Rollerball (1975) and the “guy-cry” TV classic Brian’s Song (1971), who better to play the “Italian Stallion” than the actor previously cast as The Godfather’s oldest son, James Caan? To play Rocky’s love interest Adrian, Carrie Snodgress, who inspired Neil Young to write “A Man Needs a Maid” in 1972, was the frontrunner.

According to Stallone, Adrian was originally supposed to be Irish, and he wanted Harvey Keitel to play her brother. Who knows? With Martin Scorsese directing, this might have worked.^[4]

6 Grease: Henry Winkler and Marie Osmond

Few movies in the 1970s could boast the popularity of the musical romantic comedy Grease. Adapted from a Broadway musical, Grease (1978) became the highest-grossing film musical of all time, a record that would stand for the next 30 years. The popularity of actor John Travolta and singer Olivia Newton-John exploded after playing the iconic leads roles of Danny and Sandy. Travolta emerged as a major box-office draw, and for Newton-John, it helped cultivate a new image for her as a singer. But neither was the first choice for either plumb role.

At the peak of his fame as “Fonzie,” the bad-boy tough guy on TV’s Happy Days, Henry Winkler was first offered the role of Danny. To play Sandy, another popular TV star and teen idol was considered: Marie Osmond. Winkler, hoping to avoid being typecast as a “greaser,” passed on the role. Osmond, fearing the rebel transformation of Sandy would hurt her image, also turned her offer down, as did brother Donny who rejected the offer to play the “Teen Angel.” In one of the worst career decisions ever, both Donny and Marie opted to star in the critical and commercial failure Goin’ Coconuts instead.^[5]

5 Ghost: Bruce Willis and Michele Pfeiffer

Who can forget the iconic pottery wheel scene in which Patrick Swayze’s Sam romantically caresses and kisses Demi Moore’s Molly to the soulful rendition of The Righteous Brothers’ “Unchained Melody” in the fantasy thriller Ghost (1990)? Now, picture the same scene with Moore’s then-husband and Die Hard star Bruce Willis and the woman, who a year earlier gave one of her most acclaimed performances singing “Makin’ Whoopee” on top of a piano in The Fabulous Baker Boys, Michele Pfeiffer. It’s an interesting idea that had potential.

However, it was Moore’s uncanny ability to cry on cue, out of either eye, that ultimately won her the part over Pfeiffer, Meg Ryan, Julia Roberts, and Nicole Kidman, among others considered for the part of Molly. Willis candidly admitted he didn’t understand the script when he read it and later considered himself a “knucklehead” for rejecting the offer to star in what would become the highest-grossing film of 1990. He thought the concept of a romance between a ghost and a living person wouldn’t work. Apparently, Willis learned his lesson and starred in the acclaimed The Sixth Sense in 1999, which of all things depicted a child who could see “dead people.”^[6]

4 Doctor Zhivago: Peter O’Toole and Sophia Loren

If there was ever a romantic epic with a greater historical sweep than Gone with the Wind, it has to be David Lean’s adaptation of Boris Pasternak’s novel Doctor Zhivago. With an all-star cast including Sir Alec Guinness and Academy Award-winning actor Rod Steiger, today the film is the eighth highest-grossing film of all time, adjusted for ticket-price inflation.

Omar Sharif, in the title role, never looked more dashing, and Julie Christie as his muse Lara never looked more beautiful. However, neither were Lean’s first choices. Peter O’Toole, who starred in Lean’s previous film Lawrence of Arabia, was his original choice for Zhivago. Producer Carlo Ponti believed his wife, international sex symbol Sophia Loren, was tailor-made for Lara. However, O’Toole had no interest in participating in another grueling epic production. And few believed Loren would be believable playing a young, virginal schoolgirl in the movie’s early scenes.

Reportedly, American filmmaker John Ford recommended Christie after directing her in Young Cassidy, while fellow actor Michael Caine suggested Sharif after reading for the part of Zhivago himself. Regardless, it’s hard to argue with the final casting of a movie that today ranks among the greatest epic romances of all time.^[7]

3 Titanic: Matthew McConaughey and Gwyneth Paltrow

I’ve often wondered why so few seem to notice that Kate Winslet as young Rose in Titanic (1997) bears little resemblance to a young Gloria Stuart, who played the elderly version of the same character in the film. Perhaps that’s because other actresses were considered for the part of Rose DeWitt Bukater long before the British actress secured the role.

A leading contender who director James Cameron considered to play the heroine of his fictionalized historical epic was an actress who was only one year away from winning the Academy Award for Best Actress, Gwyneth Paltrow. As a slender blonde with an aristocratic bearing, Paltrow would have seemed a much stronger physical match for the actress who would play her as an elderly woman.

To play Jack, a part that elevated Leonardo DiCaprio to superstardom, Matthew McConaughey was strongly considered. Ultimately, Cameron deemed McConaughey too old for the part and went with DiCaprio, who could have passed for a teenager in 1997. After campaigning heavily to play Rose, Winslet’s screen test convinced the director she was made for the role. Eleven Oscars later and with over two billion dollars in profits earned by Titanic, it’s hard to argue with Cameron’s decisions. It’s a good thing, too as I simply cannot picture Jack telling Rose, “It’s all right, all right, all right,” as she promises him she’ll never let go.^[1]

2 Gone With the Wind: Gary Cooper and Paulette Goddard

Never known for subtlety, Cecil B. DeMille’s epic films were as brash and bombastic as the man himself. After the release of his epic adventure Unconquered in 1947, Time magazine called the movie a “Technicolor celebration of Gary Cooper’s virility, Paulette Goddard’s femininity, and the American frontier spirit.” Critic Emanuel Levy later echoed it was “the sex appeal of the actors that made the film popular.”

Perhaps it was this on-screen chemistry that almost led David O. Selznick a mere eight years earlier to cast both as the leads in his epic adaptation Gone with the Wind. Goddard would be the only actress other than Vivien Leigh who would complete a Technicolor screen test for the part of Scarlett O’Hara after emerging as a finalist for the highly sought-after role. Although Clark Gable was Selznick’s first choice for Rhett Butler, Cooper was also seriously considered until producer Sam Goldwyn, who he was contracted to, refused to loan him out.

Considering the massive box office success and long-term popularity of Gone with the Wind, it’s hard to argue with the Leigh/Gable pairing. But if you want to get a glimpse of what might have been, check out Unconquered one free evening.^[9]

1 Casablanca: George Raft and Michele Morgan

It’s the greatest movie of all time—well, after Citizen Kane—if you agree with the American Film Institute’s 1998 “Top 100” list. Whether it is or isn’t, few can question the enduring popularity of Casablanca (1942), a film that has perhaps more memorable lines than any movie ever made. The ill-fated love story of Rick and Ilsa and the chemistry of the film’s two charismatic leads, Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, left an indelible mark on audiences that is still felt today.

However, screen legends Bogart and Bergman were not the original choices to play the parts. Warner Brothers studio head Jack Warner envisioned George Raft in the lead, an actor guilty of some of the worst career choices in film history. Raft turned down lead roles in The Maltese Falcon and High Sierra, parts which made Bogart a major Hollywood star. Meanwhile, Bergman nearly lost out the role of Ilsa to another international beauty not as well known to American audiences today, French actress Michele Morgan. But when Morgan asked for $55,000 for a seven-week shoot to play the part, Wallis balked and scooped up Bergman for a mere $25,000. Not a bad price to pay for a career-defining performance!^[10]