Cinema constantly has new talent each and every year, making good films and opening audiences’ eyes to new characters, stories and worlds. June offers three fantastic female performers to watch.
What She’s Been In:
Jennifer Lawrence, 20, started acting in church plays deciding that she wanted to pursue it as a career – graduating early from high school and begging her parents to take her to New York to find a talent agent. She appeared in a few TV series and TV movies before getting her break becoming a series regular on
The Bill Engvall Show on TBS in 2007. The show lasted three years and was not a favorite among critics, but it got Lawrence’s name, face and talent out there for producers and directors to see. She got small roles in the feature films
Garden Party and
The Poker House before landing her first notable role in
Guillermo Arriaga’s (writer of
Babel and
21 Grams)
The Burning Plain. In the film she plays opposite
Charlize Theron and
Kim Basinger, winning an award for best young emerging actor/actress at the 2008 Venice Film Festival. In early 2011, she had a supporting role in
Jodie Foster’s strange dramedy
The Beaver starring
Mel Gibson as a depressed man who copes by talking through a puppet beaver.
Breakthrough:
Lawrence’s breakthrough role came in 2010 with her leading performance in
Debra Granik’s
Winter’s Bone. The film won Best Picture at the Sundance Film Festival in 2010 and was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. Lawrence also received an Oscar nomination for Best Leading Actress. The film is about a young girl, Ree Dolly, in the rural Ozark Mountains of Missouri who must hold her family together when she learns that her good-for-nothing father has put her family’s house and land up as a bond for a court appearance. So, she sets out to find him and save the house. In a very difficult role, Lawrence is brilliant, making imagining anyone else in the role unimaginable (it was among my
favorite performances of 2010).
June Film:
In June, Lawrence stars in
X-Men: First Class opposite
James McAvoy and
Michael Fassbender (also a
star to watch) in the role of Raven (who later becomes known as Mystique). The film is excellent and she has a major role and character arc in it, again showing off her acting talent in somewhat of a challenging part – mixing teenage angst and self-discovery with the isolation and self-deprecating loathing that comes with being different and an outsider. She captures the essence of the role very well. It is about the origins of the X-Men, focusing primarily on Raven, Charles Xavier and Eric Lehnsherr. Directed by
Matthew Vaughn, it is a must see for genre fans. Here is the
trailer.
Upcoming:
Now a hot commodity in Hollywood (after getting an Oscar nod for essentially her first real leading performance and film), Lawrence has a whole slew of films upcoming. In late 2011, she co-stars with
Felicity Jones (who was great in
Cemetery Junction) and
Anton Yelchin (who she played against in The Beaver) in
Like Crazy, which won the 2011 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize (Lawrence is a Sundance good-luck charm it seems). The film is about a British student who falls for a boy in America, only to be separated from him when she is banned from the U.S. for overstaying her visa. In 2012, she stars with
Elisabeth Shue in the horror film
House at the End of the Street about a mother and daughter who move to a new town to discover that their neighbors were murdered by their daughter. And, she won the very coveted role as Katniss Everdeen in
The Hunger Games. Scheduled to be released in March, the film is about a young girl who joins a survival contest in order to save her community. The story is being done by writer-director
Gary Ross (
Pleasantville). Additionally (and hopefully), she will reprise her role as Mystique in future X-Men: First Class sequels. She definitely has a bright future.
Career Highlights:
3)
X-Men: First Class (2011) – leading* [Blu-ray/DVD/
Rent]
*Editor’s Picks
What She’s Been In:
Elle Fanning, 13, is the younger sister of notable child actress (and now actress)
Dakota Fanning. Elle got her start playing the younger version of her sister in both
I Am Sam and the
Taken mini-series (sort of similar to
Rory Culkin). In 2003, she finally got her first role independent to her sister in
Daddy Day Care. In addition to doing a number of TV episode appearances, Fanning started making a ton of supporting performances in films:
The Door in the Floor,
Because of Winn-Dixie,
Babel,
Deja Vu, and
The Nines. In 2007, she got her first leading role in
Reservation Road, co-starring with
Joaquin Phoenix,
Mark Ruffalo and
Jennifer Connelly in a film about a terrible accident and the two families that it affects. She followed up her wonderful performance starring in
Phoebe in Wonderland about a young girl who seeks guidance from her strange drama teacher, as she does not quite fit in the world that surrounds her. Fanning again shined in the role. Next, she won a supporting role in
David Fincher’s amazing
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button playing a younger version of
Cate Blanchett’s character (she also played Blanchett’s daughter in Babel). She brilliantly acts in the small role against
Brad Pitt. She also got a small voice-acting role in
Astro Boy.
Breakthrough:
While Fanning is good in Phoebe in Wonderland and Reservation Road, she blossoms into a wonderful actress and future star in
Sofia Coppola’s 2010 drama
Somewhere, which she won the Young Hollywood Award for Actress of the Year for her performance (the film won the 2010 Golden Lion for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival). In the film, she plays the daughter of a hard-living actor played by
Stephen Dorff. It is a challenging role because the film is primarily just Fanning and Dorff playing out everyday life, only twisted by the strangeness of celebrity. The film and her performance are both beautiful and kind of sad. While it did not make my list of best performances of 2010, it was on the shortlist.
June Film:
In June, Fanning stars with newcomer
Joel Courtney and
Kyle Chandler in
J.J. Abrams’s
Super 8. The sci-fi mystery is about a group of friends in the summer of 1979 who are making a film together when they begin to notice strange happenings around their small town and decide to investigate. Fanning plays a member of the group of friends and the crush of Courtney’s character. She is steals a number of her scenes beguiling both the other characters and the audience, playing both the drama and comedy given to her character marvelously. It is a must see for sci-fi and adventure fans, and has a great nostalgic/homage feel and tone to it. Here is the
trailer.
Upcoming:
With great performances in Somewhere and Super 8 and a strong resume of supporting performances, Fanning is set to become a big star in Hollywood in her teens. In 2011 (though the second two could be pushed to 2012), she is set to star in three great films. Working first with
Cameron Crowe in his new dramedy
We Bought a Zoo, she co-stars with
Matt Damon and
Scarlett Johansson. Scheduled for a December release, the film is about a father who moves his young family to Southern California to renovate and re-open a struggling countryside zoo. Then, moving on to her next role with an excellent director, she has a supporting part in
Francis Ford Coppola’s
Twixt Now and Sunrise, which stars
Val Kilmer. The film has been described as a gothic thriller that concerns
Edgar Allen Poe. Production was finished last year, but it still has no release date. Lastly, she is set to co-star with
Alfred Molina,
Neve Campbell,
Claire Foy,
Sebastian Koch, and
Max Irons in
Vivaldi, a biography of Antonio Vivaldi – a priest who became a music teacher to illegitimate daughters of Venice’s courtesans. All three have great potential. As she continues to develop her talent and take on new roles and characters, expect big things.
Career Highlights:
1)
Reservation Road (2007) – leading [
DVD/
Rent]
2)
Phoebe in Wonderland (2008) – leading [
DVD/
Rent]
3)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) – supporting* [
Blu-ray/
DVD/
Rent]
5)
Super 8 (2011) – leading* [Blu-ray/DVD/
Rent]
*Editor’s Picks
What She’s Been In:
Melanie Laurent, 28, began her film career in 1999 with
The Bridge, after
Gerard Depardieu discovered her on the set of
Asterix et Obelix contre Cesar. She was there with a friend, who was watching her father work on the set. Depardieu liked her and got her a role in his next film. Laurent continued to take small roles in many French films and TV movies including the excellent films
The Beat That My Heart Skipped (which she is very good in, despite having a tiny role) and
Days of Glory. Then in 2006, she got the lead in
Don’t Worry, I’m Fine, which was well received by critics leading to her winning the
Cesar Award for Most Promising Newcomer. She also co-starred with a number of good French actors (like
Romain Duris,
Juliette Binoche and
Fabrice Luchini) in
Cedric Klapisch’s
Paris, which she was quite good in. Another well received film in the States was
The Concert, she plays a violin virtuoso. She has also directed two short films, and has plans to continue directing both film and in the theatre.
Breakthrough:
While Laurent has starred in a number of good French films, she was completely unknown in the States when
Quentin Tarantino cast her in his WWII snuff fantasy
Inglourious Basterds. Laurent plays the lead role of Shosanna, a Jewish girl whose family is murdered by Nazis in front of her. She moves to Paris and takes over the operation of a theatre. When the opportunity comes to kill Hitler and other high ranking Nazi officials, she puts a plan in motion. Laurent is fantastic in the film, in what is truly a star-making performance (and one of my favorites of the
year).
June Film:
In June, Laurent stars in her second American film – the indie
Beginners opposite
Ewan McGregor,
Christopher Plummer and a very cute Jack Russell terrier. It is directed by writer-director
Mike Mills and is about a man whose life is jolted when he finds out that his father is gay and has terminal cancer. He has also failed to find a deeply meaningful relationship, and then he meets Anna (played by Laurent). The film has received good reviews from critics in advanced screenings and will hopefully win Laurent more praise allowing her to appear in more films in the States. Here is the
trailer.
Upcoming:
Laurent has a few projects due in 2011 in France. In the States, her WWII film about the 1942 Vel’ d’Hiv Roundup called
The Round Up (La Rafle in French), which co-stars
Jean Reno and
Gad Elmaleh, may get a limited release. It has received mostly positive and mixed reviews. She is also rumored to be up for a role in Quentin Tarantino’s new film
Django Unchained (due in December 2012) a western about a freed slave who looks for revenge on his former master (
Leonard DiCaprio is also rumored to be starring in the film as the villain).
Career Highlights:
1)
The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005) – supporting* [
DVD/
Rent]
3) Don’t Worry, I’m Fine (2006) – leading [Not available in the U.S.]
6)
The Concert (2010) – supporting [
DVD/
Rent]
7)
Beginners (2011) – supporting* [Blu-ray/DVD/
Rent]
*Editor’s Picks
