The Five Best Movies With Anna Paquin
The New Zealand actor, who was born in Canada, can play serious, funny, and scary roles in the same movie. Her work is great, from “The Piano” to “25th Hour” to “Margaret.” Right now, Paquin is starring in the hit HBO show Pop’s Flack as Robyn Lee, a tough publicist who works with famous ships. These are some of the best movies with her in them.
1. Scream 4 (2011)
Paquin has proved she can do everything from comedy to horror and drama. Her versatility has made her one of the most sought after actresses in Hollywood.
In Scream 4 Paquin reprises her role as Jill, a film nerd who is the cousin of original Scream survivor Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell). The movie takes place in Woodsboro, but the killers are not the same as the first three movies.
It also satirizes reboots and sequels just like the original Scream films did. The cast includes a who’s who of young Hollywood: Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere, Shenae Grimes from Friday Night Lights, Freddie Highmore and Britt Robertson from Community, Lucy Hale from Pretty Little Liars and Aimee Teegarden from 90210. It was directed by Wes Craven, who also helmed the original Scream trilogy. The film premiered in April 2011. It received mixed reviews and poor box office returns.
2. Amistad (1997)
A stacked cast delivers a somber, occasionally shocking film that tells the true story of the Amistad captives. Djimon Hounsou stars as Cinque, the leader of a group of African captives who overrun their Spanish captors aboard the ship La Amistad in 1839. They sail up the coast of Connecticut, where they are captured by a naval ship and charged with murder and piracy. Local abolitionists Lewis Tappan and Theodore Joadson recruit property lawyer Roger Baldwin (Matthew McConaughey) to defend the captives.
Amistad dares to open with furious images of a shipboard mutiny, and the movie never loses sight of its two core themes. But it’s not as powerful as it could have been, lacking a fully rounded major character through whom the horrors of unimaginable atrocity can be understood. Steven Spielberg directs. Screenplay by David Franzioni.
3. Buffalo Soldiers (2001)
In this post-apocalyptic thriller, Paquin stars as the daughter of a man who fights for a new world. The movie also features Denzel Washington and Christopher Walken.
She continued to win critical acclaim for her work in films like Franco Zeffirelli’s Jane Eyre, Fly Away Home, Amistad, Hurlyburly and Laputa: Castle in the Sky. She even won a Golden Globe for her role as Sookie Stackhouse in HBO’s popular supernatural series True Blood, which ran from 2008 to 2014.
In the superhero genre, she starred as Rogue in Bryan Singer’s original live-action X-Men film, an iconic film that helped open the floodgates to a successful franchise. She reprised the role in X-Men 2 and X-Men: Days of Future Past.
4. The Book of Eli (2010)
After winning an Academy Award for her performance in The Piano, Paquin continued to act in various films and television shows. Her work on the hit show True Blood earned her a Golden Globe Award.
In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, lone hero Eli (Denzel Washington) marches across the ruined landscape with a sacred book that holds hope for humanity’s redemption. However, Carnegie (Gary Oldman), the despot of a makeshift town devoid of standard necessities and services, wants the book for himself.
Eli is a badass character and Washington does a great job of conveying the hero’s strength and determination. The movie is a fun, action-packed adventure that’s worth checking out. It also stars Mila Kunis as Carnegie’s daughter, Solara. Check out the trailer here!..
5. The Irishman (1998)
The Irishman is a richly textured epic of American crime and redemption. Paquin’s ability to portray complex characters is exhibited in this evocative and powerful movie.
In The Irishman, Paquin plays Peggy Sheeran, Frank’s daughter. While the cineb film does give her a fair amount of screen time, she’s given little room to explore her relationship with her father. Scorsese’s familiarity with mafia life, shown in his earlier movies like GoodFellas and Casino, makes this gangster story believable and engaging. Pacino and Joe Pesci are especially excellent as mobster Russell Bufalino and union leader Jimmy Hoffa.
Other notable films on this list include Scream 4 (2011), Amistad (1997) and Buffalo Soldiers (2001). Paquin also starred in the first X-Men live-action film as Rogue, which helped launch this incredibly successful superhero franchise. In addition, she has appeared in several television shows such as True Blood.