Hello again, and welcome to the second edition of There Will Be Blog. Last week’s column certainly produced its fair share of discussion, and controversy. For those who got angry about your favourite director not being included, remember that these lists are just my personal preference, and I only had 10 slots. I enjoy the work of many of the directors I “overlooked”. But I did say I intended the last column to spark conversation and debate, and it did just that, so overall I am happy with how it turned out.

Which brings us to my second column. Apologies for the delay in getting it up, I’ve been quite ill over the past week or so. This week’s top ten is focused on actors. Actors are of course an integral part of most films. The director may be the film’s creator, but it is the actors who are the film’s identifiable face for the audience. They are who we see on-screen, they become the characters we are supposed to relate to or despise. Many movies are sold on the face of the leading man in the poster. But who are the best actors working today? Who are putting on the most consistently compelling performances? What actors will make me want to see a film if their face is on the poster?

First, a few notes. As well as my illness, another reason for the delay of this column is just how hard it was to narrow the list down to ten. It was bad enough doing it for directors, but with actors, it was far tougher, considering how many there are out there. Kevin Bacon, William Hurt, Jeff Bridges, Michael Caine, Bill Murray, Jake Gyllenhaal, Don Cheadle, Brad Pitt and many others came close to making the list, or even were briefly included on it, only to not quite make the cut. Shed a tear, in particular, for poor Matt Damon, who bounced in and out of the list like a yo-yo, and only got cut out with finality minutes before I started writing. So, if the complaints about unforgivable exclusions were bad last week, I expect it to be much worse this week. So let’s address some of the grievances I anticipate right out of the block.

There are no women in the list. This is not because I’m sexist, or because I don’t think women can act. Actresses will be the subject of a future top ten. There are no non-English-speaking actors on the list. This is not because I feel there is no international actor who can match up with the best of the English-speaking world. Rather, much like with the directors list, it is because my viewing of world cinema is more sporadic. I may have seen one or two films by a foreign actor (or director, in the case of last week), but not enough of their back catalogue to give a more comprehensive verdict on their merits. Take, for example, Javier Bardem. He was on the list for a long time when I was developing it, but I ultimately removed him because I’ve only seen three of his films – “No Country for Old Men”, “The Sea Inside” and “Before Night Falls”. While he made quite an impact on me in those films, I think I’m missing too much of his other work to fairly include him in the list over actors I have a deeper knowledge of. As with last week, this is not an “all-time greats” list. This is a list of the actors I feel are giving us the best performances NOW. Some didn’t seem to get this last week, and chewed me out for not including the likes of Stanley Kubrick or James Cameron. I hope I don’t get any “GAH NO MARLON BRANDO DIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!” posts this week!

Finally, I’d like to note that, while I just listed 10 directors in no particular order last week, this week I’m ranking the actors 10-1. Again, you are welcome to post your own top 10s in response, as well as your feedback on my list.…