A beloved character actor who has become a favorite for directors like Steven Spielberg and the Coen Brothers, Tim Blake Nelson is one of the definitive “that guys” in cinema. Nelson rarely appears in leading roles, but he’s generally one of the best parts of whatever project he happens to be involved in.
Nelson has been an acclaimed performer on both the big and small screen, as his role in HBO’s limited series Watchmen earned him some of the best reviews of his career. On the big screen, these movies stand as his best so far.
10 'Kill the Messenger' (2014)
Kill the Messenger tells the critical true story of the San Jose Mercury News reporter Gary Webb (Jeremy Renner), who chronicled the United States government’s involvement in funding the drug war in Columbia through the cocaine trade. Over the course of his investigation, Webb interrogates several key witnesses, including Nelson’s character, Alan Fenster.
Nelson is captivating in his limited screen time; Fenster is a committed Los Angeles attorney who pries deep within the case and exposes some of the shocking details that had been denied from the public. It’s evident that he’s outraged by the conspiracy.
9 'The Report' (2019)
Similar to Kill the Messenger, The Report is an expertly crafted political thriller in which procedural conversations are exhilarating as a result of the extraordinary writing. The film tells the incredible true story of Daniel Jones (Adam Driver), the whistleblower who uncovered the United States military’s use of torture in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Nelson appears as the Office of Medical Services physician Raymond Nathan, who discloses critical information to Jones about the effects of waterboarding on captive prisoners. He expertly conveys the severity of the procedure.
8 'The Thin Red Line' (1998)
Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line may have been released the same year as Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan, but the two World War II epics couldn’t be any more different from each other. While Spielberg’s film is a small-scale story about one mission involving a singular squad of soldiers, Malick examines a grandiose view of the conflict with a massive ensemble of some of Hollywood’s best actors.
It’s a much more spiritual and less patriotic version of a World War II epic. Nelson is just one of the countless actors who pops up; he briefly appears as Private Lysander Tills.
7 'Nightmare Alley' (2021)
Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley may be one of the most underrated films of the past decade; del Toro examined the nature of performance and the fate that comes for all deceivers with the story of the con artist Stan Carlisle (Bradley Cooper) and his attempts to prove that he has mystical abilities.
Nelson appears as the carnival ringleader that ultimately dooms Stan to his fate. At the film's end, a desperate Stan desperately seeks a job, only to be tricked into becoming one of the “freaks” he would have sold for profit earlier in his career.
6 'Minority Report' (2002)
Minority Report is a science fiction mystery that plays as an even more creepy conspiracy thriller today than it was two decades prior to its initial release. The film explores the concept of a “Precrime” unit of the police force that determines the guilt of a criminal before a crime has actually been committed.
It’s an effective analysis of over-policing, flaws within the justice system, and the use of artificial intelligence within law enforcement. Nelson is fairly intimidating in his role as Gideon, a Precrime guard who doesn't think to question his orders.
5 'Just Mercy' (2019)
Anyone excited for what director Daniel Dustin Cretin will do with the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe entry Avengers: The Kang Dynasty should definitely check out his earlier film Just Mercy. The 2019 legal thriller explores the real defense case led by attorney Bryan Stevenson (Michael B. Jordan) to free an innocent death row prisoner, Walter McMillan (Jamie Foxx), from his charges.
Nelson appears as one of the star witnesses, Ralph Myers. In one of the standout scenes, Myers admits to being coerced by the police to report false testimony about McMillan’s guilt in a murder case.
4 'Lincoln' (2012)
While many biopics tell the entirety of their subject’s life, Spielberg’s Lincoln only examined the last few months of the titular President’s (Daniel Day-Lewis) life. The film hinges on the critical passing of the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which frees all men from imprisonment.
Lincoln must work with political rivals in Congress to find enough votes to pass the vote. Nelson appears in an important role as the Democratic lobbyist Richard Schell, who begrudgingly agrees to go against his party to help Lincoln support the Amendment’s passing.
3 'Old Henry' (2021)
Nelson is generally considered one of his generation's greatest character actors, but the 2021 western drama Old Henry gave him the rare chance to play a leading role. He gives one of his most emotional performances as a lonesome former gunslinger who raises his son in a small home to escape his past.
Henry is forced to pick up his old lifestyle when outlaws venture into his territory and threaten his son. It’s a role similar to Clint Eastwood’s iconic performance as William Munny in Unforgiven.
2 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' (2000)
Nelson often works with the Coen Brothers, as he has the perfect quirky vibe to his performances that fits within the directors’ creative stories. O Brother, Where Art Thou? is set in the deep South during the 1930s and follows the convicts Ulysses (George Clooney), Pete (John Turturro), and Delmar (Nelson) as they escape imprisonment and set out on an epic quest to return home.
The film serves as a loose retelling of the stories of The Odyssey. Clooney, Turturro, and Nelson have great chemistry; it’s evident that all three men are working together by the nature of the circumstances.
1 'The Ballad of Buster Scruggs' (2018)
There is no film that embodies what a special talent Nelson is better than his titular role in the Coen Brothers’ western anthology comedy The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. The film assembles six short films that all revolve around the nature of death. The first installment, aptly titled “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” follows a singing gunslinger (Nelson) with the fastest hand in the West.
Nelson is absolutely hilarious, as nothing about Buster’s violent lifestyle seems to deter his sense of optimism. He even performs the film’s Oscar-nominated musical number “When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings.”