Best Actor

Nicolas Cage
Adaptation

For a variety of reasons, Nicolas Cage ends up on many people's lists of actors they "just can't stand." There's no shortage of those among BOP staff, which tells you a lot about what we must have thought of Nic, voting him in as our Best Actor of the year for his dual role in Adaptation as Charlie and Donald Kaufman. Often one of the more gimmicky actors around, he was able to portray two very different characters without resorting to makeup or trickery and still make it very clear which character was which. Charlie's tortured artist and Donald's cheery sell-out made for two of the more intriguing characters of the year, thanks in large part to Cage's excellent acting.

His narrow victory is a bit of an upset over initial favorite Hugh Grant in About a Boy, who captured the emotionally immature lead character of Nick Hornby's novel perfectly (Liz Hurley probably thought it was a documentary). Grant has developed a great career in the last couple of years playing the irresponsible cad and this role gives us the best work he's done yet, a real ego-shattering performance. Grant had the most placements of any actor in this category but lost out to Cage due to fewer high rankings.

Third place went to Jack Nicholson in About Schmidt, whose role parallels Cage's in certain ways. An actor accused of often "playing himself," Nicholson defied these stereotypes by taking on the role of retiree Warren Schmidt (I wouldn't have been able to not call him Jack if I wrote the script), who realizes perhaps too late that he's left no impact in life. It's a cautionary performance from a charismatic actor that shows why Nicholson has deserved three Academy Awards.

Sam Rockwell is a criminally underrated actor, though not by us as we gave him fourth place for his role as Chuck Barris in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. It's a delightfully unhinged performance in Barris's "was-he or wasn't he?" tale of espionage, his character drenched in cynicism. Rockwell has labored on the sidelines in several movies now, stealing scenes left and right, but this should be his star-making turn.

In what turned out to be one of the more surprising performances of the year, Punch-Drunk Love's Adam Sandler took fifth place, playing a salesman with a horribly tormented soul. The rage that's normally present in Sandler's characters is used to powerful effect, punctuating his feelings of hopelessness and despair, but leading him towards his salvation. Sandler has been a whipping boy for the critics for a long time. This performance won't shut them up forever, but it certainly quieted them down this year.

The second half of the top ten is a mix of actors from smaller films (Michael Caine, Campbell Scott, Adrien Brody) and big Hollywood productions (George Clooney, Mel Gibson). The first three likely suffered due to fewer voters having the opportunity to see their pictures, but all found some support, especially Caine and Scott, both of whom received two first place votes. Both Clooney and Gibson turned in career-best performances and busted a few perceptions about their range. Similarly, just outside the top ten is Bill Paxton for Frailty.

Among other notable Oscar contenders, Richard Gere and Daniel Day-Lewis faired poorly, with Day-Lewis recieving just 17 points and Gere finishing outside the top 20. The only actor who landed votes for multiple performances is Ed Norton, though neither of his roles in 25th Hour or Death To Smoochy placed highly. (Reagen Sulewski/BOP)

Top Ten
Position	Actor	Film	Total Points
1	Nicolas Cage	Adaptation	114
2	Hugh Grant	About a Boy	104
3	Jack Nicholson	About Schmidt	93
4	Sam Rockwell	Confessions of a Dangerous Mind	84
5	Adam Sandler	Punch-Drunk Love	60
6	Michael Caine	The Quiet American	38
7	Campbell Scott	Roger Dodger	37
8	Adrien Brody	The Pianist	36
9	George Clooney	Solaris	36
10	Mel Gibson	Signs	36