Josh Hartnett’s 6 Best Performances, From ‘Penny Dreadful’ to ‘Trap’

Josh Hartnett has banked nearly 30 years in Hollywood, beginning with roles in horror flicks “The Faculty” and “Halloween H20: 20 Years Later” and the TV show “Cracker.”

Sure, he landed big roles, like in Michael Bay’s “Pearl Harbor,” but the former teen idol never got much respect for his acting. Now, however, thanks to his roles in “Oppenheimer,” “Trap” and “Black Mirror,” we’re in the middle of a Hartnett-issance

He’s back in action mode in his new thriller “Fight or Flight,” which is, essentially, “Bullet Train,” but on a plane: His mercenary character has to fight off several assassins who want him and his client dead.

Here are the roles where he’s demonstrated he’s definitely got the chops. When he’s good, he’s great, but when he’s bad, he’s even better.

The Faculty

Zeke, Hartnett’s drug-dealing, all-attitude high schooler with the world’s worst haircut, saves the day multiple times in Robert Rodriguez’s 1998 classic alien invasion movie. It’s Zeke who comes up with a way of flushing out who’s an alien and who isn’t and who becomes the ragtag group of teens’ default leader. Just as Zeke promises his clients, this performance is guaranteed to jack you up.

Oppenheimer

Hartnett was a significant part of the star-studded cast in this Oscar-winning biopic: He played Oppenheimer colleague physicist Ernest Lawrence, who invented the cyclotron. The more moderate scientist also warned Oppenheimer — who was later subjected to a devastatingly harsh security hearing — about his relationship with Communist Party member Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh).

Lucky Number Slevin

Hartnett deftly manages the humor in this twisty crime drama, which includes a scene where he’s locked out of his apartment in only a towel. (Fortunately, neighbor Lucy Liu is there to help him out.) He plays a man named Slevin who gets drawn into a mob war between two bosses (Ben Kingsley and Morgan Freeman) and has an unlikely ally in Bruce Willis’ hitman.

Black Mirror: Beyond the Sea

Hartnett and Aaron Paul star as astronauts David and Cliff, who are assigned to a long two-man mission in space. They are able to return to replicas of their bodies on earth to spend time with their wives and children. After David’s family is horribly slaughtered, Cliff offers a way to ease his grief, but instead it makes David even more unhinged. Kudos, of course, to Paul as well for a brilliantly executed dual role.

Trap

In M. Night Shyamalan’s latest, Josh plays Cooper, a doting girl dad taking his daughter (Ariel Donoghue) to a concert of her favorite singer and also the dreaded serial killer known as The Butcher. Once at the show, a vendor tips him off that the heightened police presence is because of a tip that The Butcher would be there. The quick-thinking sociopath repeatedly tries to duck the police in a high-stakes game where he has to pretend everything is A-OK. The ingenuity, the forced smiles and the barely concealed panic build to crescendo where the truth finally comes out.

Penny Dreadful

This delightfully gothic drama, which ran on Showtime from 2014 to 2016, starred Eva Green as clairvoyant Vanessa Ives, with Hartnett as her on-again, off-again lover Ethan Chandler … who also happened to be a werewolf. The series put a new spin on vampires, the Frankenstein legend and other literary characters, including Dorian Gray and gave Hartnett a fantastic chance to showcase his range.

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