Angelina Jolie's new muse. A singing talk-show host. One of the galaxy's strongest guardians. Here's a look at the stars we'll be talking about the most in 2015.
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There’s probably no better rocketship to the next level of stardom than one manned by the most famous woman in the world, Angelina Jolie. It’s one thing to be chosen by Jolie to star in her buzzy passion project, Unbroken. It’s another to dig into the grueling role—an Olympic track star-turned WWII soldier-turned Japanese prisoner of war—with 24-year-old Jack O’Connell’s brutal grit and star-is-born vitality. Anyone who watched O’Connell come of age on the British soap Skins knows that the acting accolades he's receiving for his work as Unbroken's Louis Zamperini is no fluke—something confirmed further by O’Connell’s little-seen, hugely-hailed work in this year’s indie Starred Up. Hollywood’s already on to Jolie’s new muse—O’Connell was up for roles in the Star Wars and Fantastic Four reboot—and he’s only going to be in higher demand. Already, he’s rumored to star in Jodie Foster’s next directorial effort alongside Julia Roberts and George Clooney. Heard of them?
ROBYN BECK
The introduction of Lily James’s Lady Rose, young cousin to the Granthams, on Downton Abbey was, at first, concerning. Was the stately costume drama pulling a Brady Bunch on us? Was Lady Rose really just Cousin Oliver in fancy dress? Those concerns quickly dissipated as James’s sparkplug performance confirmed that she wasn't just being used as a trite plot device; her engaging screen presence, equal parts pixie and elegant, was sent to liven up Downton. James isn’t giving up her ball gowns anytime soon, either. She’s living every little girl’s wildest dream in 2015, starring as Cinderella opposite Cate Blanchett and Helena Bonham Carter in Kenneth Branagh’s adaptation of the fairy tale. Then, that dream will take a morose twist when she stars as Elizabeth Bennet in the big-screen adaptation of the popular mash-up bestseller Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
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James Corden’s 2015 will start with him singing with Meryl Streep and end with him settling in to his position as one of only five broadcast late-night TV hosts. Not a bad forecast for the 36-year-old actor, who is already a Tony Award winner and one of the U.K.’s biggest stars. Corden first got Americans’ attentions when he defeated acting giants James Earl Jones, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Frank Langella, and John Lithgow at the 2012 Tony Awards. Interest was piqued further when he was announced, despite being a relative unknown here, as the surprise next host of The Late Late Show, replacing Craig Ferguson in March. And starting Christmas Day, you’ll be able to see him doing right by Sondheim as The Baker in the star-studded film adaptation of the musical Into the Woods. A late-night talk show and an Oscar contender? Your move, Jimmy Fallon.
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Never has shouting at people on the street been so good for a person’s career. Billy Eichner’s Emmy-nominated series Billy on the Street—in which he literally runs up to people on the sidewalk and shouts pop-culture related questions into their faces—has become a viral success story, this past fall even scoring a prime showcase as perhaps the most well-received bit at the 2014 Emmy Awards. Next year will not only see the return of Billy on the Street, but the return of Eichner’s scene-stealing character on the final season of Parks and Recreation and the debut of his hotly anticipated sitcom with New York comedy favorite Julie Klausner (the How was Your Week? podcast). Difficult People has received a straight-to-series order from Hulu and will produced by a little-known comedy powerhouse by the name of Amy Poehler.
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Comedy Central’s sketch comedy show Broad City garnered a lot of media attention in its first season, with critics giving worship to its unapologetic confidence in its refreshingly unpolished presentation. Like a wackier Girls and a less message-y Inside Amy Schumer, Broad City became 2014’s hottest new sketch comedy thanks to the brash, shameless, and, above all, aimless voices of creator Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer. Are they stoners? Are they wayward millennials? Or do they just not give a crap about who they are and just living life? The clarity of their totally eclectic comedic point of view, as much of a paradox as that sounds, elevated Jacobson and Glazer to the status of the industry’s most important young talents. The amount of good will towards the duo should see Broad City’s upcoming second season soar to new highs. And Abbi and Ilana love a good high.
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There was a lot to talk about when Gone Girl hit theaters this fall. There was David Fincher’s surprising, bold direction. Rosamund Pike’s batshit brilliant performance. Ben Affleck’s penis. Neil Patrick Harris’s penis. And yet, in spite of all that, the most common refrain from theater goers after taking in the hit film: “Who was that girl who played Margo?” That girl is Carrie Coon, maximizing every second of screentime in her supporting performance as Affleck’s shocked, skeptical, and supportive twin sister in the thriller. Called the film’s “secret weapon” and the quintessential Hollywood breakout star, Coon hails from Broadway, where she earned a Tony nomination for the 2012 revival of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? She also scored accolades this past year for delivering a most haunting, grounded performance on the polarizing, occasionally brilliant HBO series The Leftovers. The result is a star on the rise not because of her Us Weekly cover potential, but because of her bonafide acting chops.
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The Oscar race is always an insular conversation that starts too soon and cements itself too quickly, the result of which is a list of nominees that can tend towards boneheaded, shortsighted, and misguided, when they're looked back on in hindsight. That will most likely be the case again years from now—if not even months from now—when the lack of awards attention for Carmen Ejogo’s nuanced, stirring turn as Coretta Scott King in Selma is decried as this year’s biggest outrage. Ejogo has thus far been shut out of the major awards races—though Oscar is still a pipe dream—an injustice given how complicated and emotional her performance is. Luckily, the rousing response to the film should announce the star as a major Hollywood commodity. A performance this good should not go unnoticed.
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Being cast in a modern entry in the Star Wars franchise can be a boon or a bust for an actor’s career—just ask Natalie Portman (boon, arguably), Hayden Christensen (jury’s still out), or that dude who played Jar Jar Binks (poor guy). Attack the Block actor John Boyega, who is part of the mysterious ensemble of the new Star Wars sequels, is already getting a sense of the level of scrutiny coming his way. When the first, jaw-dropping trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, a shot of the young actor wearing the iconic storm trooper’s body armor incited ferocious web debate, with Star Wars purists outraged that the black actor wearing the trooper’s uniform is unnecessary political correctness betraying the franchise’s mythology. Boyega already spoke out that critics should “get used to it,” but other pundits wonder if the shot is merely a red herring and Boyega doesn’t play a storm trooper at all. Regardless, expect the young actor’s instant lightning rod status—not to mention role in the biggest film of next year—to make him a major conversation starter in 2015.
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If sex sells, then all bets should be on Jamie Dornan to be the hottest star of 2015. The Irish model-turned-actor plays the enigmatic king of kink Christian Grey in the eagerly awaited film adaptation of the “mommy porn” blockbuster, 50 Shades of Grey. While Dornan’s torso has already been proudly bared in early trailers for the cheeky Valentine’s Day release, reports that the nudity and explicit sex in the film are going to be scaled down from book fans’ randy expectations are already threatening to blue-ball those looking for their next Magic Mike-esque peep show. Nonetheless, expect the film’s producers to promote Dornan to every toned inch of his life next year in support of the film. Not that anyone’s complaining.
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Every once and a while, a fresh-face TV star miraculously comes into critics’ lives who is so different, so upbeat, and so talented that it is impossible not to root for their continued success. Gina Rodriguez, star of the CW’s Jane the Virgin, is one such industry darling. Taking a page out of America Ferrera’s playbook (circa 2006 Ugly Betty), Rodriguez’s eloquence when preaching her body-positive attitude and championing of diversity in Hollywood is matched by her effortlessly winning performance on her recently Golden Globe-nominated show. The thing about a breath of fresh air is that you often didn’t even know you were craving it. Rodriguez embodies every surprising and satisfying about one such breath.
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Each fall brings an entire red carpet’s worth of Hollywood’s biggest movie stars to television, where they slum it in the hopes of reinvigorating their careers or earn some respect for the acting chops to complement their box-office clout. This year, however, overshadowing any praise for the performances of any of those A-listers is the buzz for newcomer Robin Lord Taylor, who is currently playing Oswald Cobblepot—the future Penguin—on Gotham, the Fox crime drama set in the universe of Batman. Few supporting turns are as unusual and captivating, and few takes on iconic supervillains, as Penguin no doubt is, show the promise of being as singular as Taylor’s performance shows signs of becoming. Who cares whether Batman shows up when the Penguin is already busy stealing the spotlight?
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If you have eyes and like pretty things, you’ve probably already been tipped to the career of Cara Delevingne, one of the most prolific supermodels working right now. In 2015, however, you’ll meet Cara Delevingne, actress, as the 22-year-old bombshell is set to star in five movies. She’ll star opposite a who’s who of Young Hollywood, including Jack O’Connell and Dane DeHaan, Tom Stoppard’s adaptation of Tulip Fever. You may have already caught a glimpse of her as a mermaid in Joe Wright’s Hugh Jackman-led Pan. With a Johnny Depp film (London Fields) and a major comic book blockbuster (Suicide Squad) in the works, Delevingne is on a mission to ensure that your eyes are “up here.”
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Typically, scandalous affairs ruin actors’ shot at stardom. But a particularly juicy one is the best thing to ever happen to Ruth Wilson’s career. The newly-minted Golden Globe nominee co-stars in the insanely addictive, if deeply uncomfortable, Showtime drama The Affair, offering a sultry, wounded, and impressively shaded performance as a married woman negotiating a passionate tryst with a married man. Having already captured the attention of the small group of astute viewers who voraciously consumed the BBC drama Luther, Wilson has arrived to the next level of recognition thanks to her sex-filled, and sexy, performance on The Affair. If her poise is any indication, her flirtation with superstardom won’t be just a meaningless fling.
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Tessa Thompson’s character in Dear White People, a satirical take on race and identity in a supposedly post-racial world that really hasn’t gotten a grip on that “post” part yet, is described at one point as “if Spike Lee and Oprah had a pissed-off baby.” That her character pulses with heart and soul and isn’t just a ranting rabble-rouser speaks to Thompson’s performance (and certainly to the sharp writing of the indie hit). What’s likely to make a bigger dent on society, though, is Thompson’s quietly defiant work as a young activist in Selma, which is set to hit theaters in late December. The combination of the two makes Thompson a rare commodity in Hollywood: an It Girl with a message.
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The rag tag group of superheroes that helped blast Guardians of the Galaxy to its status as highest-grossing film of 2014 was made up of a veritable galaxy of stars in their own rights: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, and Vin Diesel. But it's the gentle-giant performance by former WWE wrestler David Bautista that was the surprise highlight of the film. With his understated humor and soulful take on the behemoth Drax the Destroyer, Bautista proved he's more than just brawn and braggadocio—an accomplishment that likely led to the announcement that he's set to play the new villain in the upcoming James Bond entry, Spectre.
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