The New York Times Magazine Got All The Year's Best Actors To Dance, And It's Charming AF

By Tori Preston | Film | December 6, 2018 |

By Tori Preston | Film | December 6, 2018 |

The thing about “Best Of” lists is that I always find myself looking for a chance to disagree. Something major has been overlooked, or someone undeserving has been given a spot that should have gone to someone else (see also: the Golden Globe nominations). But kudos to The New York Times Magazine for figuring out a surefire way to make sure nobody will complain about their annual Great Performers issue: getting all the best actors to perform clever little dance vignettes!

Every year we choose the standout actors of the year’s films to star in a series of short films. Welcome to this year’s Great Performers Issue. Let’s dance: https://t.co/jf5QEJ6Pqd pic.twitter.com/fOIoZTLPAF

— NYT Magazine (@NYTmag) December 6, 2018

Jazz hands make a great distraction, and while I’m sure I could find room to nitpick with A.O. Scott and Wesley Morris’s picks for the Best Actors of 2018, I don’t really want to. They did shine a spotlight on a diverse and deserving group, and more importantly: Everyone they selected was game to star in this series of short films, directed and choreographed by New York City Ballet’s Justin Peck. Whether it’s Hereditary’s Toni Collette offering up a fearful, frantic whirl of motion, or Eighth Grade’s Elsie Fisher performing a whimsical stomp through the rain, these bite-size little morsels are quick and charming and downright pleasing. And simple pleasures have been a rare commodity this year. So enjoy!

The story of Alfonso Cuarón’s “Roma” is animated by the sympathetic and authoritative presence of Yalitza Aparicio, perhaps the screen discovery of 2018: https://t.co/C55Ta7TbeV pic.twitter.com/NAYCc2YRhi

— NYT Magazine (@NYTmag) December 6, 2018

Toni Collette’s complicated presence — the way she sets her teeth, narrows her eyes, claws at the air to take back words she didn’t mean to say — is what gives “Hereditary” life: https://t.co/C55Ta7TbeV pic.twitter.com/W4Vim77t82

— NYT Magazine (@NYTmag) December 6, 2018

“Sorry to Bother You” requires that Lakeith Stanfield’s character be dazzled and disillusioned by what he learns about wealth, power and ruling-class ethics — but he is also clever and vulnerable: https://t.co/C55Ta7TbeV pic.twitter.com/rU2MO7IYBG

— NYT Magazine (@NYTmag) December 6, 2018

“Eighth Grade” star Elsie Fisher is an instant master of verbal awkwardness and its bodily expression: https://t.co/C55Ta7TbeV pic.twitter.com/qo4wVlBkHz

— NYT Magazine (@NYTmag) December 6, 2018

In “Support the Girls,” Regina Hall applies all of her vulnerability, comic timing and Lone Star twang to a part written to be no bigger than the size of life: https://t.co/C55Ta7TbeV pic.twitter.com/UnwcA3349o

— NYT Magazine (@NYTmag) December 6, 2018

In “The Wife,” Glenn Close, one of our most daring actors, reaches into her legendary toolbox to play both bomb and bomb squad. https://t.co/C55Ta7TbeV pic.twitter.com/nDzrl8q1w5

— NYT Magazine (@NYTmag) December 6, 2018

Ethan Hawke’s performance “First Reformed” demands a discipline that goes much deeper than the usual actorly virtue of underplaying. https://t.co/C55Ta7TbeV pic.twitter.com/o6YuGrldGW

— NYT Magazine (@NYTmag) December 6, 2018

How did Julia Roberts, of all people, seem to come out of nowhere in 2018 and blow us away? https://t.co/C55Ta7TbeV pic.twitter.com/mKng5qii7E

— NYT Magazine (@NYTmag) December 6, 2018

In “Burning,” Yoo Ah-In goes from recent college graduate and struggling writer to vengeful stalker without outlining how, exactly, he got there. Watching him is riveting: https://t.co/C55Ta7TbeV pic.twitter.com/8U6F4NLljm

— NYT Magazine (@NYTmag) December 6, 2018

And finally, here’s my favorite (The Favourite, to be exact) — because it kicks back and lets Best Olivia’s comedic timing shine:

Picking just one of the performances from “The Favourite” seemed unthinkable: https://t.co/C55Ta7TbeV (so we got all three to dance) pic.twitter.com/E66HlSv5iN

— NYT Magazine (@NYTmag) December 6, 2018