Eva Green

Being pretty and talented is barely enough to cause a ripple in Hollywood. And if you want to really make waves, to take roles for the art instead of just the paycheck, you need to be a part of that magical Five Percent—that group with a maddening alchemy of good looks, preternatural skill, and mysterious intangibles that elevate them above us mere mortals. Eva Green is one of those people. She’s stunning. She’s possessed of a ferocious talent. She’s fucking crazy on screen, and through quiet seduction, she brought the summer of 2014 to its knees.

It started when she became the beating black heart of this spring’s 300: Rise of an Empire, making an otherwise unnecessary sequel worth the price of admission thanks to her frightening, powerful, sexy Artemisia. Then she laced up her corset to anchor Showtime’s Penny Dreadful, playing the gothic temptress Vanessa Ives to maximum slow-burn effect. Then she graduated from dreadful to sinful in the long-awaited Sin City: A Dame To Kill For. Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez’s joint venture may be crashing headlong into the crushing expectations of its hype, but the critics are hailing Green, with outlets like The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, and WIRED calling her performance as the titular dame representative of everything the movie could have been if it had lived up to its promise.

Green has been chewing up screens with fearless role selections and uncompromising performances since breaking out in Bernardo Bertolucci’s 2003 film The Dreamers. Later this fall she’ll do it again, starring alongside Shailene Woodley in White Bird in a Blizzard, but for now, the summer is hers. (by Jordan Crucchiola)

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Source: Wired