2011 Calvin Awards: Breakthrough Performance
February 16, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Our winner this year takes the award in fairly dominant fashion, as she had 27 more vote than the second place finisher. When Hailee Steinfeld auditioned for the role of Mattie Ross in True Grit, she was a virtual unknown, having appeared only in commercials and supporting roles in TV movies and short-lived series. Out of more than 15,000 youngsters who auditioned for the role, the Coen Brothers selected the then-13-year-old Steinfeld, whose diction and preparation were enough to knock their socks off. Obviously, the BOP staff felt the same way, as the young star-in-the-making delivered Shakespearian-style dialogue with more aplomb than plenty of more seasoned performers ever could. She was in virtually every scene in the film, and was a shining star even as she stood alongside the larger-than-life persona of Jeff Bridges, himself fresh off an Academy Award for Best Actor. Now Steinfeld is heading to the Oscars ceremony as a nominee, and will have plenty of opportunities afforded her. She’s rumored to be under consideration for the lead role in the hotter than hot property The Hunger Games, which is poised to be the next book-to-film breakout a la Twilight.
Second place goes to the other young actress who made a huge impact on awards season, as Jennifer Lawrence of Winter’s Bone saw a groundswell of support that pushed her almost to the top of the chart. Like Steinfeld, Lawrence had primarily appeared in bit roles in TV movies and the like, but she did get a starring role as the daughter of Bill Engvall’s daughter in his TBS series The Bill Engvall Show prior to being cast in Winter’s Bone, a small movie that tells a grim tale of a teenage girl and the steps she must take to protect her family in a rural, harsh Ozarks community. The role of Ree Dolly is a gritty, brutal one, and even though the film only made about $6 million domestically, it’s certainly gotten enough attention to see both Lawrence and the movie itself nominated for an Academy Award. Later this year, we’ll see Lawrence as Raven Darkholme/Mystique in the Matthew Vaughn-directed X-Men reboot X-Men: First Class.
Emma Stone is our third place finisher, and although you might have expected that she would have been on our list before, perhaps for Zombieland, the BOP staff felt that her performance in Easy A was such a good one that she merits attention. She almost single-handedly made teen films fun again with her portrayal of Olive, a genuinely smart and likable young heroine. Never taking herself too seriously, this is the kind of role that will be remembered for a long time, much like Molly Ringwald in Sixteen Candles or John Cusack in Say Anything… We’re going to root for Stone’s career to take more of a Cusack trajectory, and given that she’s playing Gwen Stacy in the Spider-Man reboot, it’s looking like she might be able to do him one (or more) better.
Our female superfecta closes out as Noomi Rapace of the Millennium trilogy of films finishes in fourth place. It’s mighty challenging to take on a role so instantly iconic as that of Lisbeth Salanger – Stieg Larsson painted such a detailed and deliberate picture of her in his novels that there were certain to be preconceived notions of what the character should look like. Yet, Rapace crafted Salander in her own way, distinct and memorable. As it happens, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest were all released in the US in 2010, so we were able to see Rapace carry the portrayal through to the very end. The Swedish actress has been able to leverage her work in these foreign films to starring roles in Sherlock Holmes 2 as well as Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel, Prometheus.
Finally in fifth place we find our highest placing dude in the Breakthrough category. Andrew Garfield truly wowed us as Eduardo Saverin, the only real friend to Mark Zuckerberg through the whole Facebook creation process, yet still a person left as betrayed and shattered as everyone else. Saverin is the closest thing The Social Network has to a protagonist, and Garfield made the character remarkably sympathetic and relatable through the entire devastating process. Like our other top five finishers, Garfield has plenty of excitement in his near future. He’s playing Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the Marc Webb-directed reboot. There are a lot of potential blockbusters in the future of these actors.
Sixth place takes us back to the ladies, as we admired Chloe Moretz for her work in Kick-Ass (though she was certainly laudable in Let Me In and Diary of a Wimpy Kid, too). It’s not easy for a youngster to play a character like Hit Girl – it’s extremely uncomfortable to watch someone that age speaking such foul language and committing unspeakable atrocities – but Moretz hits all the right notes. Along with preparing for a Kick-Ass sequel, Moretz will also be featured in Martin Scorsese’s upcoming 2011 release, Hugo Cabret.
Tom Hardy and Justin Timberlake take the seventh and eighth spots on the list. Hardy has a supporting role in Inception, but it is full of nuance, and he successfully convinces the viewer of his cocky self-assuredness in just a few moments. He’ll soon be translating these talents to Christopher Nolan’s next film, The Dark Knight rises, where he’ll player uber-scary baddie Bane. As for Timberlake, he made people believe in his acting ability as he played the super sleazy (and cheesy) Sean Parker, founder of Napster. Anyone who ever doubted Timberlake’s charisma will see it on full display here, as Parker “woos” Mark Zuckerberg to the dark side with his big ideas. He’ll soon star with third place finisher Emma Stone in the summer film Friends With Benefits.
Speaking of Mark Zuckerberg, the man who played him is our ninth place selection. It’s quite possible that he’s not higher on the list because a number of our voters might believe that Eisenberg has already “broken through,” as he’s been noteworthy in such movies as Roger Dodger, The Squid and the Whale, Adventureland and Zombieland (seriously, how many degrees are there between Emma Stone and every actor on this list?). Our top ten closes out with Rooney Mara, who had a small but pivotal role in The Social Network as the girl who effectively pushes Zuckerberg to start Facemash, which would eventually lead him to develop quite possibly the biggest Web site on the planet. We also continue our theme of interconnectivity between our top ten in this category when we examine Mara’s next role, which is…Lisbeth Salander in the American, David Fincher-directed version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
Finishing just outside the top ten in this category are Black Swan’s Mila Kunis (who will star with Emma Stone and Justin Timberlake in Friends With Benefits), Scott Pilgrim’s Mary Elizabeth Winstead (up next in a remake of The Thing), Mia Wasikowska (who placed strongly for both The Kids Are All Right and Alice in Wonderland) and Ellen Wong, who gave it her all as Knives Chau in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. (Kim Hollis/BOP)
The Calvins Introduction
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Album
Best Cast
Best Character
Best Director
Best Overlooked Film
Best Picture
Best Scene
Best Screenplay
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best TV Show
Best Use of Music
Best Videogame
Breakthrough Performance
Worst Performance
Worst Picture