Bill Murray - Rushmore

With Rushmore, Bill Murray reinvented himself as a 'serious' actor and has since monopolised all the best, most complex, midlife crisis roles. He's any smart indie director's secret weapon if used properly (he was used for too many traditional gags in Lost in Translation and made to be too serious in Broken Flowers). No one got the balance right quite like Wes Anderson did on the first try. (His motivation in Broken Flowers seems to have been: "Constantly look like you're trying to expel a particularly intransigent turd." Ed)