Top 5 Frances McDormand
Frances McDormand is an American actress from Chicago, Illinois, born in 1957. Frances is one of the greatest actresses working today as well as one of the all time greats. She got her start in the film industry back in 1984, in the Coen Brothers film Blood Simple. She is a frequent collaborator of the brothers and is even married to one of them (Joel). She won the Academy Award for best Actress, due to her work in the 1996 film Fargo, directed by the brothers. And then recently for her turn Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which was released in 2017. Which gives her the distinction of being an actor, male or female who has won 2 academy awards for best acting performance in a leading role. This alone should tell you how good of an actress she is, as only a hand full of people have this honor. These are her top 5 films:
5. Primal Fear (1996)
Primal Fear is a 1996 drama film, directed by Gregory Honlit, and stars Richard Gere, Edward Norton, and Frances McDormand. The plot of the movie is that Aaron/Roy (Norton) are charged with the murder of a priest, however, after taking his case his lawyer Martin Vail (Gere) and psychiatrist Molly (McDormand) discover that he might have multiple personality disorder, and try to bring justice to the whole situation.
This film does start out a little slow but picks up once Norton’s character begins to show signs of multiple personality disorder. Now, McDormand does not have a ton of screen time in this movie, however at least to me she is in some of the most memorable scenes in the movie. On top of all of this, the movie which is an above average film is put over the top with the mind-twist ending that you probably won’t see coming and if you do, the kudos to you. The twist alone is why this movie definitely deserves a spot in her top five films.
Score:70/100
4. Burn After Reading (2008)
Burn After Reading is a 2008 comedy film directed by the Coen Brothers, and stars Frances McDormand (Linda), George Clooney (Harry), and Brad Pitt (Chad). It’s kind of, one of those crazy comedy stories where is a lot is going one with all of these different characters, then throughout the film they all get interconnected.
The best part of this film is 100% Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand characters and their plan to blackmail this man for a large sum of money. And although I think that Pitt is more of the stand-out character in this film, his performance ultimately would have fallen flat if there was another actress at the helm instead of McDormand, which shows how strong of a performer she is. She probably gets the most screen-time in this movie and it is well deserved as in all of her scenes, she hits it out of the park. I would definitely recommend this film to anyone and you would then agree that this deserves a spot in her top five.
Score:75/100
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