Sometimes an actor can carry an entire movie with a performance, while others make a lasting impression in merely one scene of action. We’re going to focus on the latter category today, as we present this list of single scene crushers who took a moment to bring the house down. Ned Beatty - Network Even in a big ticket classic like Sidney Lumet’s Network , there’s room for a performer like Ned Beatty to steal the entire movie in one fell swoop.
Brought in as a last minute replacement, and with four pages of dialogue to work through, Beatty booms in a scene that nails the core tenets of writer Paddy Chayefsky’s blistering satire. Drew Barrymore - Scream Wes Craven ’s reinvention of teen slashers kicked off the legendary Scream franchise with a murder no one saw coming. With Drew Barrymore featuring prominently in trailers and promotional art, everyone thought she’d be safe and sound for a good part of the picture.
One scene was all it took to shake the audience to its core, and prove that anything can happen in Woodsboro...
and it often does. J.T.
Walsh - Outbreak As if having the late Donald Sutherland didn’t already inject a White House briefing scene with enough gravitas, legendary character actor J.T. Walsh gets a moment to protest an action that could wipe the small town of Cedar Creek off the map.
His righteous anger is a lynchpin moment that perfectly sets the stakes for a nail-biting finale. Viola Davis - Doubt In just one scene of Doubt’s powerhouse nar.
