I've always thought that because Swinton leans so much into eccentric both in real life and so much of her movie work that we constantly underestimate her as an actress. Early in her career she had this bold sexuality and risk taking in so many brilliant films - from her debut in Orlando to brilliantly erotic Female Perversions to the dark work of the Deep End to her incredible performance in We Need To Talk ABout Kevin.

I recently had an occasion to watch Michael Clayton for which she deserved won her Academy Award. iT'S A brilliant performance in a different sense because Swinton who usually plays such self-assured characters spends the entire film putting up the FRONT of one and behind the scenes she's always on the verge of falling apart. Her Karen is not so much a villain but a professional who has nothing but her job and who is terriifed that exposure will not so much destroy her company as the life's she built for herself as one.

So much of Swinton's work can lie between darkness and desperate and she can cross between them in a way that only the greatest actresses of our time -Cate Blanchett, Nicole Kidman, Jodie Foster - are capable of doing so brilliantly. Ebert was one of Swinton's biggest boosters while he was alive - all the films I've mentioned are among his favorite during his career and I have even touched some of the work he raved about with her! - and everything she does is always fascinating, even if ithe rest of the material is beneath her (which let's be honest, it rarely is) The only thing she hasn't done (as far as I know) is a brilliant limited series. BBC, HBO, your move.