And while they didn’t really make any money, both Clark Gregg’s Choke and Duncan Jones’ Moon prove that he really can play the lead actor game.
Given a lead role for the first time, he’s remarkable as game show host/spy/dancing fool Chuck Barris in George Clooney’s Confessions of a Dangerous Mind; and one year later he was back killing it in the supporting position opposite Nicolas Cage in Ridley Scott’s Matchstick Men.
With the exception of bigger titles like Iron Man 2, Charlie’s Angels, and A Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, Sam Rockwell has mostly stuck to smaller movies over the course of his career, but has consistently been a scene-stealing star in those projects.
His breakout was arguably as the psychotic killer Wild Bill’ Wharton is Frank Darabont’s The Green Mile, but that very same year he was cracking-up a growing cult audience with his part as the perpetually-terrified Guy Fleegman in Galaxy Quest.