Christopher Nolan is one of the best directors working in Hollywood today. He has directed some of the most influential films of the 21st century, including Inception, Interstellar, and The Dark Knight. His projects often demand rewatches as his films have challenging and imaginative ideas that allow for new discoveries upon each viewing.
Nolan scrounges up in an all-star cast to bring movies’ awe-inspiring scripts to life. A director’s job is not just to create beautiful shots, but it also requires bringing out the best in their actors. Here are the top 10 best performances directed by Christopher Nolan.
Jessica Chastain As Adult Murph In Interstellar
Murph is a very complex character in Nolan’s space epic, Interstellar. She embodies the last hope of humanity as the Earth is dying around her and most people are giving up. She not only hopes for humanity’s survival but also for her dad to come back.
However, Murph also feels anger towards her dad since he left with the knowledge that he may never see her again. Chastain plays this character brilliantly and is able to display the growth that Murph went through from childhood to adulthood. Her performance during the climactic twist is beautiful and an emotional punch.
Al Pacino As Will Dormer In Insomnia
While Robin Williams is also a worthy candidate for this list, this is clearly Pacino’s movie and he owns it. It is a rather tragic role as the audience is shown this great detective’s descent into madness from his lack of sleep and his willingness to dive headfirst into corruption.
This is one of Pacino’s more restrained roles as his character starts to succumb to insomnia. He does a great job of showing the anxiety and panic of this character as he deals with regret, guilt, desperation, and extreme tiredness. Pacino is able to bring all of these elements together in a subtle but effective way.
Aaron Eckhart As Harvey Dent/Two-Face In The Dark Knight
Eckhart’s performance is often overlooked as most people remember a performance by someone else who is on this list. Nevertheless, Eckhart deserves more praise for his portrayal of the tragic rise and fall of Harvey Dent, the once heroic district attorney of Gotham.
As Harvey Dent, Eckhart expertly shows a character who is doing what is right but is on the verge of breaking as he gets fed up with the corruption within the city he serves. It isn’t until his transformation to Two-Face that Eckhart finally unleashes the rage and anger that his character feels towards those who have failed him and this city. While he ends up a villain, Eckhart is able to make this character sympathetic, which only adds sadness to his tragic end.
Christian Bale As Bruce Wayne/Batman In Batman Begins
In all three films of The Dark Knight trilogy, Bale is a strong protagonist. However, it is in Batman Begins where Bale shines the brightest. In this origin story, the audience sees Wayne grow as a character. He develops his own morals and characteristics as he learns how to balance his life as a wealthy billionaire and a vigilante.
An impressive part of Bale’s performance is that he is able to make his fake charisma convincing to not just the characters on screen but to the audience. Bale shows great growth in his character as he dawns the Batman persona.
Guy Pearce As Leonard In Memento
Nolan’s most experimental film is Memento, which has a narrative that is shown in reverse. The film follows Pearce as he tries to find his wife’s murderer while unfortunately dealing with severe short term memory loss.
The challenge of this performance is that Pearce is constantly rediscovering the same information. His emotions are authentic each time and Pearce plays it perfectly, which helps to emphasize the tragic nature of this character. He can never truly find closure and this leads to him making harrowing mistakes.
Leonardo DiCaprio As Cobb In Inception
Inception has an absolutely all-star cast, with supporting roles provided by Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Tom Hardy. However, DiCaprio carries most of this film as the main protagonist.
When the film first introduces DiCaprio, he is seen as a dream navigator with a tough exterior. Throughout the film, the audience is shown more of Cobb’s heartbreaking backstory, which gives a lot more complexity to his character. DiCaprio is one of the best actors of this generation and his work in this film elevates it to greatness.
Hugh Jackman As Robert Angier In The Prestige
This was one of the first roles that really showed that Jackman is more than just Wolverine. His character’s sheer determination to pull off the ultimate trick leads him down a path of emotional turmoil. He sacrifices his own morals for the sake of beating his opponent but still manages to give his character a likability with his natural charisma.
Jackman does some rather villainous things in this movie, but it would be hard to call him the villain. His motivation is understandable, which gives him a complexity that makes his deeds seem less black and white.
Christian Bale As Alfred Borden In The Prestige
While Bale is most known for his work in Nolan’s Batman films, his best performance in Nolan’s work is in The Prestige. What’s really genius about this performance is that Bale is playing two different characters throughout the movie without the audience knowing.
Bale gives off very subtle clues that reveal which character he is playing in a scene. These clues are only noticeable if one already knows the twist. The Prestige is an immensely rewatchable film and one of the many reasons why is to see how Bale foreshadows the twist through his own performance.
Matthew McConaughey As Cooper In Interstellar
McConaughey is truly the heart and soul of Interstellar. His character’s love for his children gives him a relatability that allows the audience to really root for him to save the Earth. McConaughey shows a lot of raw emotion that proves how good of an actor he truly is.
The scene that shows Joseph Cooper watching the recordings of his children who have now aged 23 years while he has stayed the same age is gut-wrenching. Without any words, McConaughey conveys the heartbreak that a parent would feel when knowing how much of their children’s lives they missed. It gives an emotional center to a film that focuses a lot on eye-popping special effects and complicated science.
Heath Ledger As The Joker In The Dark Knight
When Ledger was originally announced to be playing The Joker, the internet complained a lot. Now, 12 years later, it is hard to imagine anybody ever playing The Joker better than Ledger. Ledger absolutely loses himself in this role, giving himself over to the chaotic entity that is this character.
The Joker may not have a name or a backstory, but the mystery somehow makes him an even better character. From the iconic laugh to his humorous one-liners, Ledger immortalizes himself as one of the best cinematic villains of all time.
