10 Young Movie Stars Taking Hollywood by Storm…According to The Hollywood Reporter. My Thoughts!
A couple weeks back The Hollywood Reporter shared their thoughts on who they believe to be the next movie stars of Hollywood. I wanted to share my thoughts on it and see if I agree or not. Let’s get started!
- Austin Butler: This one isn’t too surprising that he’s on this list, I think anybody in the movie side of social media will have Butler as one of the movie stars of the future. He’s one of these guys that’s been in Hollywood longer than people realize. Of course, his breakout role was in Elvis where he gave this fantastic performance, he so easily was able to transform into Elvis without it feeling like an impression of him. He didn’t end up winning The Oscar, but there’s a strong argument that he should have won. Earlier this year he gave another great performance in Dune: Part II, playing a very different type of character. He was a child star, starring on Disney Channel tv shows back in the late 2000s. Even prior to being cast as Elvis, Quentin Tarantino saw something in him and cast him in Once Upon A Time in Hollywood. Easily, I think he should be included on this list.
- Timothée Chalamet: Another one of the stars of Dune: Part II (he won’t be the last talked about on this list). A lot of people have compared him to Leonardo DiCaprio. I don’t know if I fully see that yet, I think he needs his big movie like how Titanic was for DiCaprio. But he’s certainly made his mark on the younger generations of Hollywood. He’s one of the youngest Oscar nominated stars when he was nominated for Call Me By Your Name. Top level directors like Christopher Nolan, Greta Gerwig, Wes Anderson, Denis Villanueve, and Adam McKay saw talent in him and cast him in their movies. He’s shown that he can be dramatic in roles like Dune, but also do fun charming roles like in Wonka.
- Jacob Elordi: Of the ones on this list, this is probably the one that I’m the most confused by. I get that a lot of ladies love him because they find him attractive due to appearing on Euphoria. He was in Saltburn last year and got a lot of people talking. It even seemed a bit weird to include him on this list because of sexual assault allegations involving him that came out a few months back. There hasn’t been much about it since then, but it was a bit weird to include him when those came out fairly recently. This was another actor that played Elvis, except he didn’t get as much attention or praise for the role. He's going to be in Guiliermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, playing Frankenstein. Maybe his big breakout role that others have had is coming, as of now I don’t fully see it and don’t know if I would include him on this list.
- Paul Mescal: There’s a sense in which you can take everything I said about Elordi and apply himi to Mescal. But I think there’s a few things as to why I would put Mescal on this list. First up, he was Oscar nominated a couple years back for Aftersun. I haven’t seen the movie but his performance was highly praised. AND, he’s the star of Gladiator II and I don’t know what the movie is going to be like. I have no idea if it’s good or not, but if that movie is a hit. If that movie is beloved by critics and audiences, I could see his big break coming this fall when that movie comes out. I have heard a few people say that maybe he'll star in the more indie, smaller budget films. Some of the actors on this might be stars of big blockbusters. That might not be the direction Mescal is taking his career, he could be a very solid actor that shows up in small Oscar type films.
- Jenna Ortega: A lot of people have been compared to being the modern day scream queen. You look at the roles she’s taking, I think that’s a very fair statement. In the year 2022, she did three horror related projects with Scream, X, and Wednesday. She’s appeared in Scream VI and we know season two of Wednesday is currently filming. Even Tim Burton decided to cast her in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice that hits theaters later this year. I think she’ll find her groove, she’ll find her success through being a modern day scream queen. Especially when there’s not a lot of them. Right now, she’s the top scream queen of modern day horror movies. This is another one that was a bit interesting to include on this list, due to the drama with the Scream franchise and Melissa Barrera and what went down with that. Regardless of that, she’s an obvious pick for this list.
- Glen Powell: He’s sort of the old ball out as he’s seven, eight years older than everybody else on this list. But ever since Top Gun: Maverick, his career has really been taking off and he’s become much more famous. The role that I remember seeing and thinking “this guy is going somewhere” was in Hidden Figures, back in 2016. The role that really made him famous was Hangman in Top Gun: Maverick, where he’s great at playing this douchebag that you still find charming. Last year, he was in Anyone But You opposite Sydney Sweeney that got a lot of people talking and was a very successful movie at the box office. 2024 he has two movies coming out with Hitman and Twisters. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s been having conversations with either Marvel or DC about a potential role. But I think it’s only a matter of time before he joins the comic book movie genre. Especially with James Gunn rebooting DC, there’s a lot of roles for Glen to play.
- Florence Pugh: Speaking of actors who’ve been in a comic book movie, Florence Pugh is one of them. I think for a lot of people, Black Widow had a lot of fun paying attention to her. She’s another actress that big filmmakers want her in their movies. So Greta Gerwig cast her in Little Women, that was before her career really took off and got an Oscar nomination for it. Christopher Nolan wanted to cast her in Oppenheimer, then of course another actor from Dune: Part II. She’s done a really good job of doing a bunch of different things. She’s doing the big mainstream blockbusters like with Black Widow, she’s doing prestige with Oppenheimer, she’s done thrillers with Don’t Worry Darling, and she’s done animation with Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. She’s sort of done a little bit of everything and she’s great in everything she does.
- Sydney Sweeney: If this list came out before 2023, 2024 I would have been confused as to why she’s on this list. But since then, I think there’s a lot of reasons as to why she’s on this list. In 2023, she was in Anyone But You that opened soft but had fantastic legs and became a successful movie. In 2024, she was in Madame Web, a movie that nobody liked and everybody thought was awful. But that didn’t weigh on her shoulders for very long as the following months she was in Immaculate, that got a lot of people talking. Recently, she was cast in Edgar Wright’s next movie. She’s doing a really good job of balancing her career with doing rom coms, comic book movies, horror movies, she’s doing a little bit of everything and that’s a very good career move.
- Anya Taylor-Joy: The surprise actor that showed up in Dune: Part II and then last week starred in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. No matter what movie she’s in, no matter what role she plays she’s always great. I had my issues with Split and Glass, I thought she was great. I had my issues with The New Mutants, I thought she was great. The first thing I saw her in was The Queen’s Gambit, I remember thinking “I’m not sure who this person is, I hope she gets more work…and she did”. That was a fantastic performance that captivated me where she’s playing this complex and layered character. She’s doing a great job of working with different directors with M. Night Shyamalan, Edgar Wright, Denis Villnueve, and George Miller. In fact, part of the reason why she got the role of Furiosa was because George Miller saw early footage of Last Night in Soho. One thing I’ve started to notice about her career is for the most part she’s doing darker films. She of course did The Super Mario Bros Movie, which is a fun family film. But she’s doing more adult type blockbusters and dark thrillers, which is very interesting.
- Zendaya: The final Dune alumni on this list, it’s interesting that half of the cast of Dune: Part II is on this list. Zendaya’s career has been very interesting, where a lot of people my age first saw her on Disney Channel, that’s where a lot of people first discovered her. For me, I first saw her in Spider-Man: Homecoming and that trilogy of movies. She was then in Dune (both movies) which is a big blockbuster but a very different type of blockbuster then Spider-Man. Then earlier this year she was in Challengers, maybe my favorite movie of 2024 so far. She gave a fantastic performance in that movie, I want to see her do more dramatic work like that. She’s one of the best modern day examples of Disney Channel child stars to respected dramatic and blockbuster actors. I’m not at all surprised she’s on this list.
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