For episode 8 we each ranked the five male actors we think are defining movies in the 2020s, no coordinating beforehand. Out of every actor working right now, we landed on exactly one overlap: Timothée Chalamet, and even then we picked different films to make the case. See the full countdown.
Jeff built his list around cultural momentum, the idea that these are the names people will point to when they look back on this stretch of film history. His number five is a genuine curveball: Stellan Skarsgård, who's quietly stacked up Sentimental Value, Dune, and Andor this decade on top of a résumé that goes back to Good Will Hunting and Chernobyl. From there it's Leonardo DiCaprio at four, Tom Holland carrying the Spider-Man and The Odyssey torch at three, Ryan Gosling ("a hit machine," in Jeff's words) at two for Barbie and Project Hail Mary, and Chalamet at number one for Wonka, A Complete Unknown, and Marty Supreme.
Matt's list leaned more toward performances that surprised him. He opened at five with Jeffrey Wright for American Fiction, a role he thought grew from supporting player into genuine lead. Andrew Garfield took four for tick, tick... BOOM!, a performance Matt feels never got the credit it deserved for an actor who didn't consider himself a singer going in. Chalamet landed at three for Matt, but for the Dune films rather than Jeff's picks, specifically how well the first two movies set up his excitement for a third. Cillian Murphy took two for Oppenheimer, where Matt admired the language and research work that went into the role even though, by his own admission, that kind of actor prep doesn't always move him on its own.
Matt's number one came from homework. While putting the list together he finally watched The Father, Anthony Hopkins' Oscar-winning turn as a man experiencing dementia, and it knocked him out enough to land the top spot over actors he'd already planned to include. He singled out Olivia Colman's work alongside Hopkins too, and came away marveling that an actor in his eighties is still delivering performances at that level.
Beyond Chalamet, nothing else matched up between the two lists, which says something about how wide open "defining actor of the decade" is right now. Jeff is betting on the people carrying franchises and cultural moments forward. Matt is betting on performances that stuck with him, whether or not the actor behind them is a household name yet.
We also used the episode to cover some new releases. Heat got a five out of five from both of us on rewatch, Wildwood landed a four from Jeff (Matt hasn't caught up with it yet), and You Can See Everything, the Elizabeth Holmes documentary with Nathan Fielder, earned Jeff's second five of the week. All three are worth checking out if you haven't already.
