Earlier last week I was watching Andrew Dominik's fantastic The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford with a couple of friends. At the end of the movie we were talking about the strong supporting cast and the actor we kept going back to was Sam Rockwell... Sam Rockwell... Sam Rockwell.

Rockwell is terrific as Charley Ford, older brother to Casey Affleck's Robert and on a second viewing of the movie I began to appreciate the nuanced performance he gave. Charlie is a good ol' boy, a criminal, and a friend. He's a good older brother, a man with a jovial streak. He's also a lot smarter than he pretends to be, preferring to play dumb and truckle to Brad Pitt's Jesse James. And for those who have seen it (all twelve of you!), you know how integral a part he plays in the film's final act, where he kind of becomes the soul of the whole movie.

What's remarkable about Rockwell is he does all of these interesting things under the surface and -- many times -- in the background. And he does this time and time again in every movie he's in. Every once in a while he can play the straight man the way he does in another under-appreciated 2007 entry, Joshua. When I think of how great he is in movies like The Green Mile, Matchstick Men and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and then how few people I know that know the guy... I have to wonder: Is he our most underrated actor working today?

It used to be Paul Giamatti, but he's finally gotten some recognition and love. Alan Rickman is up there but at least the Potterheads have his back now. Once upon a time Johnny Depp was a box-office pariah. Mary-Louise Parker has Weeds. Christian Bale is now Batman. Cate Blanchett is nominated for an Oscar every week now. John Turturro did Transformers. William H. Macy started appearing in 18 million movies a year. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Forest Whitaker won Oscars. We could go on like this forever.

Sure there are other guys out there. Jeff Bridges never gets any love. Gary Oldman is one of our great chameleons but never achieved Pacino, De Niro-type success. Maggie Gyllenhaal might break out after the next Batman is released. Joan Allen is one of the best of her generation and she doesn't get nearly enough great roles.

Many of the actors listed above at one time or another were/are considered underrated because they can play almost anything. And this is part of the reason it's so hard for them to find success. Sometimes audiences want their actors a certain way; they're just more comfortable with Tom Cruise playing a cocky a-hole. They don't want to see him try anything else. Rockwell almost never plays the same guy. He's played good guys, bad guys, shady guys, funny guys, flamboyant guys, understated guys... you name it. He's really good at playing cretins and morally ambiguous people, but maybe I say that because he doesn't get nearly enough "leading man" roles (hint, hint Hollywood).

Then again, maybe Sam should stay just where he is: in interesting lead roles in smaller films or great supporting roles in bigger ones. Maybe Rockwell becoming a star will ruin things, kind of like it did with his Matchstick Men co-star Nicholas Cage. Every so often Cage shows us what made him so interesting an actor (Matchstick Men being one of those instances) but there just isn't the same magic. Of course, I wish Rockwell all the success in the world. I only ask he never make a movie like Ghost Rider. Please.

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Dre writes three times a week for Film.com. Email him!