Brad Pitt in Burn After Reading. And it’s damned hard to steal scenes from the other two stars!
This may go hand-in-hand with the argument about Johnny Depp above, but based on the way Pitt’s character was played up in the previews, I’d assumed he was going to be much more essential to the movie than he actually was. It’s a little hard for me to believe that Pitt was cast in a small role that surprised everyone by ending up being bigger than it was supposed to be. His parts were great, though.
“Wonderful thing, sapeeni.” (Subpoena)
Another example of Pitt stealing a movie from the two leads would be Twelve Monkeys.
I think Moretz benefitted greatly from having the most interesting part. Aaron Johnson was supposed to act like a normal teenager - it would have thrown his character and the movie off if he had hammed it up. Nicolas Cage was hamming it up, which worked for his character, but we expect that from Cage so he didn’t stand out.
The actor I think came closest to “stealing” the movie was Mark Strong. He made the character of Frank D’Amico more interesting than it had to be.
Beat me.
That’s one of the very few “edit it together and I can watch it loop” performances.
That is the great scene stealer of all time. Also one of the greatest all time performances, period.
You and a lot of other people. I’m surprised by how many of us (myself included) have seconded the Doc Kilmer vote.
Sad that they have a broader range than the lead. Heck,* all* the other actors… and every extra in the spaceship.
:dubious:
David Patrick Kelly in The Warriors. Granted, it’s hard not to steal a film when you scream all your lines and your counterpart has the intensity of a brick. Still, Luther and his antics are what people remember most from that film.
Uma Thurman[del]'s boobs[/del] in Dangerous Liasons.
Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction. It seemed odd when he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Wasn’t until I watched it back that I grokked that he had less screen time than Travolta.
Someone upthread mentioned Robert Duvall in Apocalypse Now. I further submit Dennis Hopper in same.
Rob Corddry (Lou) in Hot Tub Time Machine
Ben Kingsley in “Sexy Beast”.
Meg Ryan and to a lesser degree, Anthony Edwards in Top Gun
Bill Murray in Zombieland
Just glancing over my way-too-expansive movie collection…
Sydney Greenstreet - Maltese Falcon
Sam Jaffe - Gunga Din
Claude Rains - Casablanca
Angela Lansbury - Picture of Dorian Gray
John Garfield - A Gentleman’s Agreement
Josephine Hull - Harvey
Katie Johnson - The Ladykillers
Jack Lemmon - Bell, Book & Candle
Noel Coward - The Italian Job
Peter Ustinov AND Charles Laughton - Spartacus
Kirk Douglas - Seven Days in May
Helen Hayes - Airport
Peter Ustinov -* Logan’s Run*
Burt Lancaster - Field of Dreams
Quentin Crisp - Orlando
Martin Landau -* Ed Wood*
Tim Roth - Rob Roy
Michael J. Pollard in Bonnie & Clyde.
Can I mention TV? Tyr (Keith Hamilton Cobb) on Andromeda.
Jerry Lee Lewis in the biopic about Alan Freed “American Hot Wax”.
Doesn’t seem to ever been issued on VHS or DVD, despite/because having Jay Leno as an actor
Gary Cooper had a brief bit in the 1927 film about World War I fighter pilots “Wings” (that won the first Oscar for Best Picture) that launched his career. There is also Jean Harlow in the 1930 “Hell’s Angels” with the memorable line “Would you be shocked if I put on something more comfortable”.
Over-the-top Bible epics: Edward G Robinson in “The Ten Commandments”
Don’t think she exactly stole the film from James Cagney in one of most memorable roles but Margaret Wycherly as Ma Jarrett in “White Heat” is spooky. Top of the world.
Dame Edith Evans as Lady Bracknell in the 1952 film of “The Importance of Being Earnest”.
In the 2002 the great Judi Dench had to go the other way with the “A handbag” line
Concert film: James Brown in “The TAMI show” had the Rolling Stones quaking in their boots and debating if they should follow his no-man-can-make-me-leave-the-stage act.
I vote for John Hurt in the latest Indiana Jones movie. He was a silly old man in rags, but he owned his scenes.
Val Kilmer in Tombstone is the definitive answer, I think.
He not only stole Tombstone, he stole Wyatt Earp too and he wasn’t even in it…
Dennis Quaid (an actor I like very much, BTW) played Doc Holiday in Wyatt Earp and he did a damned fine job. But I had seen Tombstone a few weeks before and I couldn’t help but think of Kilmer during every single scene poor Quaid was in.
I saw Wyatt Earp again, years later, and I was struck by how good Quaid’s performance really was, with adequate time and distance between viewing it and viewing Kilmer’s portrayal.