Since Jeff asked–
Seductive presences on film–people who, when they show up onscreen, you can’t turn your eyes away: Sergi Lopez, Denzel Washington, Isabelle Huppert, Cate Blanchett, River Phoenix, Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet. Ruth Gordon. The entire cast of “Deadwood,” especially McShane and Olyphant. Ben Kingsley in “Sexy Beast” but not in “Gandhi.” Jeff Turner (I’ll send you the footage). Holly Hunter, Sigourney Weaver, Susan Sarandon. Burt fucking Lancaster. Don Cheadle. Mifune. Takeshi Kitano. Tony Leung and Andy Lau. Dennis Haysbert. Graham Greene, even in “Dances with Wolves.” Samuel L. Jackson. Travolta, one out of five times he’s onscreen. Stanley Tucci, Tony Shalhoub, Hope Davis, Campbell Scott, Oliver Platt (and, despite this, “The Impostors” isn’t so great. But still). James Gandolfini and Edie Falco. Edward James Olmos. Once upon a time, Jeff Goldblum and Peter Weller. Jeffrey Wright. Jonathan Rhys-Meyer. Christian Bale, if well-fed. Philip Seymour Hoffman, John Reilly. Harry Dean Stanton. Vince Vaughn. Scarlett Johanneson. Rosario Dawson. Kimberly Elise.
i would add the gyllenhaal siblings to your list and subtract the highly ridiculous timothy olyphant. i cannot take seriously the idea that his performance in “deadwood” is anything but ludicrous. if that character was wound any tighter he’d be really tightly wound. mcshane, yes, timothy olyphaunt, no.
other compelling presences: hopkins, tim roth, malkovich, larry king, that guy from that movie.
Gyllenhaals–yes. Forgot about them. I like Olyphant in “Deadwood”–but how about, to verify my point, check him out in “Go” (as the semi-deranged ‘e’ dealer) or in “The Girl Next Door”…
And, yes, Malkovich, Hopkins, Roth–although they all have a tendency to choose roles that aggrandize rather than showcase their charisma.
26% of Mike’s luminous presences are female . . .