David O. Russell is a unique director who is very collaborative with his actors in his movies. That’s one of the many reasons why Russell would be a great TV director. His methodology is why he gets so many great performances, as the actors have their input on their character and what it should do. Here are the best performances in David O. Russell movies, ranked.

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7 Jennifer Lawrence - Joy

     20th Century Fox

Joy is the fictionalized story of Joy Mangano, who got rich in the ’90s by selling the Miracle Mop she had invented herself. On her third straight collaboration with Russell, Jennifer Lawrence showed why she was already a movie star, being the center of attention in every frame in this unique re-imagination of Joy’s story. The actress’ earthiness and authenticity always shine, and this time was no different, as she told this story from rags to riches, following the American dream. Her character starts stoic and silently suffering, and throughout the film, we see her bloom, giving Lawrence many emotions to play, and she made a meal out of it.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

6 Mark Wahlberg - Three Kings

     Village Roadshow Pictures 

During the 1991 uprising in Iraq against Saddam Hussein following the end of the Gulf War, four soldiers discover there might be a vault full of gold to steal. Three Kings is many things at once: a political satire, a heist movie, a character study, and a war movie. Mark Wahlberg plays Sgt. Troy Barlow in one of his best performances ever. Although he’s playing a supporting role, when the movie is at its climax, Wahlberg’s the only character you care about and have sympathy for, as his comically-dull Barlow is the perfect avatar to show what being in a war does to its soldiers. His chemistry with Spike Jonze is as surprising as it is endearing, and yet it’s strange the director hasn’t used the actor in any of his movies.

5 Christian Bale - American Hustle

     Sony Pictures Releasing

Two con artists, Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) and Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) are forced to help FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper) in a sting operation involving Mayor Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner) of Camdem, New Jersey. Bale has worked with Russell many times, but in American Hustle, he might’ve had the most fun. His Rosenfeld is a charlatan who talks a big game, is overweight, and has lost most of his hair; a transformation Bale relished in. It’s not only the physical transformation that makes this a memorable character, as he nailed the thin line between believable and excess while perfectly navigating the continued change between comedy and drama that Russell looked for in the film.

4 Amy Adams - The Fighter

     Paramount Pictures

The Fighter tells the story of real boxer Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg), with, sometimes, the help of his mess of a brother Dicky (Christian Bale). Amy Adams plays Micky’s girlfriend, Charlene. This role showed a different side of what Adams usually does; one where she’s foul-mouthed, tough, Boston-born and raised, and no-messing-with-her bartender. She’s the one advocate Micky has on his side as he tries to build a life for himself, outside of the mess that is his family. Adams goes all in this role that earned her a third Oscar nomination, transforming into this fierce woman who will do anything for the love of her life, and creating a lived-in, authentic performance, that shows all her talents.

3 Bradley Cooper - Silver Linings Playbook

     The Weinstein Company

In Silver Linings Playbook, Bradley Cooper plays one half of the lead couple, Pat, a man with bipolar disorder who is released from a psychiatric hospital and moves back in with his parents (Robert De Niro and Jackie Weaver). He then meets a young widow named Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), and decides to enter a dance competition with her if it helps him try to get back his wife. This is one of Cooper’s best performances, earning him his first Oscar Nomination, and proving he could be a dramatic leading man. The actor doesn’t play his mental health problems as a joke or an exaggeration, and you can feel the anger, angst, and confusion the character has with everything that is happening around him, making you feel for him and wanting Pat to succeed. The Hangover and this film proved Cooper had the charisma and on-screen presence to be a star, and he hasn’t stopped since. Not only that, but he has also added prestige director to his resume.

2 Christian Bale - The Fighter

As we said before, The Fighter is the story of real-life boxer Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg). If Amy Adams plays the angel on Micky’s shoulder, Bale is the devil, as his performance as Dickie is as slimy and crooked as they come. Dickie loves his half-brother, but also loves what Micky’s career can do for him. The actor creates a flawed three-dimensional character; someone who has his demons and is responsible for all the bad things in his life, but also will put his family above all else, and will do anything for them. As always, Bale went all-in for the role, losing 30 pounds to look much more like the real Dickie, who had some addiction issues. The bet paid off for Bale, as he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for this performance.

About having the real Dickie Eklund at the film shooting, Bale told Cinema Blend: “Dickie wasn’t initially totally understanding that sometimes in putting a whole life into two hours, a little bit of license has to be taken and mixing things up. He wanted everything initially to be absolutely how it was portrayed.”

1 Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook

In Silver Linings Playbook, Lawrence plays the aforementioned widow, Tiffany, in the first of many collaborations between Lawrence and Russell, as she has become his muse. The actress won her first Best Actress Academy Award for this role, and it was well deserved, as her Tiffany is a tornado of emotions, and Lawrence makes them all believable. Tiffany is funny, sad, vulnerable, grieving, destructive, snarky, sexy, and auto-destructive, and Lawrence can fit all that into a three-dimensional character who, in the end, just wants to be loved.

About working with Russell, Lawrence told That Shelf: “David is probably the only filmmaker that gives his audience a choice to not like people. All of these characters have so many layers and motivations and stories, and there’s no manipulation in any of his movies. Here they are, here’s their truth, here’s their problems, here’s how they’re dealing with it.”