His career has been noted for the intense characters he has chosen. He has starred in such movies as The Onion Field, Ghosts of Mississippi (nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor), Against All Odds, Best Seller, Salvador (nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor), True Believer, Holocaust, My Name Is Bill W, Citizen Cohn, The Way We Were, The Choirboys, Eyewitness, Videodrome, Once Upon a Time in America, Cat's Eye, Chaplin, Curse of the Starving Class, Vampires, The Virgin Suicides, Casino, and Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.