Cruise vs. Day-Lewis Best Actor 1989

[CTTT]

Tom was nominated for Born on the Fourth of July and Daniel was nominated for My Left Foot, taking home the Oscar. But which performance do you like more or was more deserving?

TC really gives a great performance in BOTFOJ and in any other year would have won. I believe he was a slight favorite going into Oscar night. He did win the Golden Globe though. Haven't seen MLF but do plan on it. After reading about what he put himself through the role, and seen a couple clips, the Academy I think made the right call.

Thoughts?

[chicago_bastard]

DDL's worst performance is still better than anything Cruise has done.

[Username taken]

It’s funny how both roles involved them playing physically disabled characters.

Cruise gave a career best in BOTFOJ. He hasn’t done anything close to that since then.

But Daniel Day-Lewis gave an “all-timer” in my left foot. I can’t off the top of my head think of a performance more deserving of an Oscar than DDLs in My Left Foot.

[JBatmanFan05]

I like Tom Cruise as much as anyone (solely as far being a actor), but it's hard to ever imagine a world where any Cruise performance could top one by Daniel Day-Lewis. Daniel Day-Lewis has always been on another level.

[CTTT]

It’s funny how both roles involved them playing physically disabled characters.

Cruise gave a career best in BOTFOJ. He hasn’t done anything close to that since then.

But Daniel Day-Lewis gave an “all-timer” in my left foot. I can’t off the top of my head think of a performance more deserving of an Oscar than DDLs in My Left Foot.

Well, there is also Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia which he did very well in also.

[Jim Kelly]

I think there was a time where Cruise was trying to prove himself as a great actor. However, he never got suitable compensation for all his hard work and he seemed to give up trying, So he just stuck to doing the usual "Tom Cruise" roles.

[JBatmanFan05]

I think there was a time where Cruise was trying to prove himself as a great actor. However, he never got suitable compensation for all his hard work and he seemed to give up trying, So he just stuck to doing the usual "Tom Cruise" roles.

Interesting take to ponder, yeah, maybe he gave up on being the next Brando/Nicholson/Etc for the money.

[Mister Mets]

Day Lewis gave one of the best performances in the 80s. His main competition that decade was De Niro in Raging Bull and Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice, two other all time great film leads.

So he deserved to win, and it's good that he did.

To be completely honest, I'd have no problem with Cruise winning for Top Gun: Maverick, although that may change after I see The Whale.

[Jim Kelly]

Every movie that Daniel Day-Lewis was in, he was an entirely different character. From THE BOUNTY to MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDERETTE to A ROOM WITH A VIEW to THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING to MY LEFT FOOT to THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS to THE AGE OF INNOCENCE to THE NAME OF THE FATHER. The variety of roles and characters was so sweeping that you had to be impressed with his range.

[Brian B]

DDL's worst performance is still better than anything Cruise has done.

Cruise was pretty dang good in Born on the Fourth of July.

[Frobisher]

Cruise was pretty dang good in Born on the Fourth of July.

Pretty damn good is not enough to beat a man crazy enough to shuffle around set pretending to have a gammy foot when the cameras are not rolling.

[chicago_bastard]

Cruise was pretty dang good in Born on the Fourth of July.

Yeah I've seen it.

To be completely honest, I'd have no problem with Cruise winning for Top Gun: Maverick, although that may change after I see The Whale.

Did you see Elvis and The Banshees of Inisherin?

[Mark Trail]

Tom was nominated for Born on the Fourth of July and Daniel was nominated for My Left Foot, taking home the Oscar. But which performance do you like more or was more deserving?

TC really gives a great performance in BOTFOJ and in any other year would have won. I believe he was a slight favorite going into Oscar night. He did win the Golden Globe though. Haven't seen MLF but do plan on it. After reading about what he put himself through the role, and seen a couple clips, the Academy I think made the right call.

Thoughts?

As good as Cruise was in BotFoJ and as deserving as he might have been in a different year, DDL deserved that win. Easily one of the greatest performances in movie history.

[Brian B]

Pretty damn good is not enough to beat a man crazy enough to shuffle around set pretending to have a gammy foot when the cameras are not rolling.

As good as Cruise was in BotFoJ and as deserving as he might have been in a different year, DDL deserved that win. Easily one of the greatest performances in movie history.

Obviously, the Academy agrees with your assessments.

Personally, I liked Born on the Fourth of July more than My Left Foot. But, that’s just me.

[Mister Mets]

Yeah I've seen it.



Did you see Elvis and The Banshees of Inisherin?

Yep. I have no problem with Farrell getting nominated, but I thought what Cruise did in Tom Gun: Maverick was more impressive. Farrell showed his range, and I think he did something really impressive by showing someone who is complex but not intelligent. It's a trick very few people could do. I don't think anyone else could've done Top Gun: Maverick.

I thought Austin Butler was fine in Elvis, although it seems weird to me that there's a consensus that he's a lock to be nominated. He just doesn't seem to be on that level. It's a career-making performance, but it's not better than career-making performances that don't get nominated.

The best lead performance I've seen this year is likely Cate Blanchett in TAR. The most impressive male performance I've seen so far is Ke Huy Quan in Everything Everywhere All At Once.