Amy Adams – “Catch Me If You Can” (2002)
Perhaps a pick that might take you a little by surprise and perhaps the least substantial role on this list, we nevertheless have Amy Adams’ brief turn in “Catch Me If You Can” lodged in our memory long after the film’s release. Proving that Spielberg’s ability to pick out a future star hasn’t dimmed in the third act of his career, this film saw the future five-time Oscar nominee play Brenda, a Southern belle under a face full of braces and working as a nurse who falls for DiCaprio’s Abagnale Jr. It’s an early showcase of everything that Adams does well —a bone-deep sweetness mixed with a touch of tragedy (her family disowns her after an abortion), and her blind faith in our anti-hero, and the way it ultimately unravels when she finds out his true nature, proves utterly heartbreaking.
Eric Bana – “Munich” (2005)
“If any of us get laid tonight, it’s because of Eric Bana in ‘Munich,’” went the line in “Knocked Up,” and the Australian star’s phenomenal turn in one of Spielberg’s best late-career pictures certainly does indeed provide one of the most badass Jewish leads in cinema history, but it also has so much more besides. Playing Mossad agent Avner Kaufman, the leader of a secret mission to to find and punish Palestineans with links to the massacre at the 1972 Munich Olympics, Bana is a pure professional, dedicated and hyper-competent, but who also finds over time that he’s worn down to the bone by the endless cycle of violence he’s both attempting to avenge and helping to perpetrate. You feel every bullet found, every life lost, and every day away from his family on Bana’s face as the film goes on, and the film comes close to being his best work to date: and when you have “Chopper” on your CV, you know that’s a compliment.
Andy Serkis – “The Adventures Of Tintin” (2011)
Spielberg’s sole motion-captured animated film is his underrated 2011 picture “The Adventures Of Tintin,” and among its pleasures (some of the best set-pieces of his career and a great John Williams score) is a stand-out turn from Andy Serkis. We shouldn’t be surprised when Serkis, a pioneer of the form, gives a great mo-cap turn, but his turn as Captain Haddock is often overlooked, perhaps because it’s almost unusually for him as a human. It shouldn’t be, though: his sozzled Scottish seaman is terrific, letting Serkis play comedy in a way that he doesn’t often get to do digitally (there’s some almost Keaton-esque moments of physical gaggery here), while also turning out to be a surprisingly moving look at a man whose squandered his potential with drinking.
Daniel Day-Lewis – “Lincoln” (2012)
Of all the great performances above, and of all the ones that earned awards buzz or nomination, only one performance in a Spielberg movie has even won an Oscar. That it was Daniel Day-Lewis playing Abraham Lincoln that finally managed it was perhaps inevitable, but that doesn’t take a damn thing from the immense quality of the performance. Tony Kushner’s screenplay has an admirably tight focus on Lincoln’s bid to pass the abolition of slavery near the end of his life, and much of the film leads with the President as politician, with Day-Lewis capturing the inspiring charisma, the Machiavellian scheming and the healthy ego needed to achieve such a feat. But we also get enough of his humanity and home life, and come away with a far greater sense of the man that we would from a decade-spanning biopic. Hopes were always going to be high when this director and this actor tackled this subject matter, but somehow, Day-Lewis’ “Lincoln” managed to exceed them.
Honorable Mentions:
As you might imagine, given that we’re talking a director who’s had his pick of the A-list for over forty years, it was fairly tough narrowing this down even to 25. Among those we couldn’t find room for are William Atherton and Ben Johnson in “Sugarland Express,” Richard Dreyfuss in “Jaws,” Francois Truffaut in “Close Encounters Of The Third Kind,” Paul Freeman in “Raiders Of The Lost Ark,” Danny Glover in “The Color Purple,” John Malkovich and Miranda Richardson in “Empire Of The Sun” and Holly Hunter and John Goodman in “Always.”
Then there’s also Dustin Hoffman in “Hook” (a redeeming feature of a film that doesn’t have many), Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Richard Attenborough in “Jurassic Park,” Ben Kingsley and Embeth Davidtz in “Schindler’s List,” Anthony Hopkins in “Amistad,” much of the cast of “Saving Private Ryan,” though we remember Barry Pepper as a particular standout, Haley Joel Osment and screen mother Frances O’Connor in “A.I.,” Samantha Morton and delicious cameos from Peter Stormare and Lois Smith in “Minority Report,” Stanley Tucci in “The Terminal,” Dakota Fanning in “War Of The Worlds,” Niels Arestrup in “War Horse” and that killer “Lincoln” ensemble, in particular Tommy Lee Jones, Sally Field, David Strathairn, James Spader and David Costabile. Anyone else we didn’t mention? Let us know below.
