It’s far from uncommon for celebrities to have to go through some form of physical transformation for a role. Actors playing superheroes need to work out so that their body has the muscles needed to make their superpowers believable. However, sometimes getting in shape for a role actually means getting out of shape, and Ben Foster apparently did it with bread and jam.

Foster co-stars with Sydney Sweeney in the new biopic Christy about boxer Christy Martin. This required a lot of work on Sweeney’s part to get into boxing shape, but it apparently also required Ben Foster to simply gain weight in order to portray Martin’s promoter and husband Jim. Foster told The Guardian he and Sweeney both ate a lot of Uncrustables on the set, resulting in him gaining so much weight that she believed his double chin was artificial. He explained…

Foster was apparently quite excited that Sydney Sweeney couldn’t tell the real thing from a really good prosthetic, as it meant he was succeeding in gaining the weight that he needed. Foster apparently consumed a lot of burritos along with the Uncrustables, Which, if you’re not aware, are basically jam sandwiches, as the name suggests, without the crust. As far as diets go, it's not the worst.

Sydney Sweeney apparently also ate the sandwiches “endlessly.” The difference was that she balanced the calories with workouts that were probably equally endless. This allowed her to transform the calories into muscle, while her co-star just gained weight. At least they got to share some food together.

Honestly, considering the meals that some people have to eat in order to get in the proper shape for roles, it sounds like Sweeney and Foster got off easy. Many actors have a hard time with the diet that goes along with getting in screen shape. It doesn’t sound like anybody had to consume Dwayne Johnson levels of food or limit their intake to protein. Although I’m curious, when you’re already eating Uncrustables all the time, what do you eat as a cheat meal?

While Sydney Sweeney and Ben Foster both did their part to bring their real-life characters to life, that work has yet to yield much in the way of results. While Sweeney has largely received solid reviews for her performance, the movie, Christy, had one of the lowest box office opening weekends in modern movie history. Despite Christy's poor performance, the movie is reportedly a financial success, in part due to its small budget.

Sydney Sweeney seems to be everywhere these days, with several projects on the 2025 movie calendar, not to mention the highly anticipated Euphoria Season 3. Some are thinking she might even ride this wave all the way to the Academy Awards with her new sports biopic Christy, which depicts the rise of boxer Christy Martin. Critics saw the movie ahead of its release, and while some think Sweeney delivers a “knockout” Oscar-worthy performance, others aren’t convinced.

Christy takes audiences through a pivotal stretch of Christy Martin’s life and career, during which she lived closeted and in an abusive marriage. Ben Foster co-stars as her coach and husband Jim Martin. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle lauds Sydney Sweeney for giving “the knockout performance of her career,” writing:

Jocelyn Noveck of the AP also praises Sydney Sweeney’s “ferocious commitment” in the upcoming LGBTQ+ movie, giving it 2.5 stars out of 4. Christy starts out as a standard sports biopic, with Martin becoming a trailblazer for women in boxing, but the third act shifts to focus on the horrific abuse she suffered and barely survived. Noveck continues:

Matt Fowler of IGN rates it a “Good” 7 out of 10, saying he would have liked the third act to focus more on Christy Martin’s life as a survivor of abuse, rather than on Jim Martin’s “nastiness.” Sweeney’s name will likely be on awards ballots, Fowler says, writing:

Christy Lemire of RogerEbert.com agrees Sydney Sweeney gives her all, as she meets both the physical and emotional challenges of her character. Ultimately, though, she can’t save the otherwise-by-the-book sports underdog story. Lemire rates the movie 2 out of 4 stars and says:

Kristy Puchko of Mashable, meanwhile, isn’t buying this performance as Oscar-worthy. Sydney Sweeney’s Southern accent comes and goes, and she can’t throw a convincing punch, Puchko says. The actor’s range doesn’t reach where Christy needs it to, but she’s not fully to blame. The critic continues:

The movie holds an overall 66% Rotten Tomatoes score, so it’s clear that there are some issues with Christy. The big question is whether or not Sydney Sweeney’s transformative performance is enough to overshadow the film’s other shortcomings.

We don’t have to wait any longer to find out! Christy is in theaters as of Friday, November 7.

Sometimes, all it takes is one joint appearance in a movie or television show for two popular actors to become known as an acting duo, and sometimes they prove to work so well together that they go on to star in even more projects together. We’ve come up with a list of 32 acting duos who have worked together multiple times, so you can see if you’ve watched all of the times these talented stars have been on screen with each other.

Tina Fey And Amy Poehler

Obviously, this funny duo began their most famed time together while starring on Saturday Night Live, but Tina Fey and Amy Poehler didn’t let the good times end there. The women were both in Mean Girls, starred in the movies Baby Mama and Sisters, and used their talents to great effect when co-hosting the Golden Globe Awards for several years.

Robert De Niro And Al Pacino

Two legendary actors make for a legendary acting duo, and while Robert De Niro and Al Pacino are frequently mentioned in the same breath, they’ve only been featured in four films together. Two of those movies, however, are absolutely the reason people often talk about them together as they count The Godfather Part II, Heat, Righteous Kill and The Irishman as their joint efforts.

Julia Roberts And George Clooney

Now, these two actually have made quite a few movies with one another, and largely with both in on-screen roles. Of course, it’s hard to forget that George Clooney and Julia Roberts are in all three of the Ocean’s Eleven films, but they’ve also starred in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (which Clooney also directed), Money Monster and the 2022 rom-com Ticket to Paradise. The erstwhile Danny Ocean also produced August: Osage County, while Roberts starred.

Jane Fonda And Lily Tomlin

Frequently we see an acting duo together multiple times because they really are buddies in real life, and that’s true for Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. After first starring together in the 1980 hit 9 to 5 (with Dolly Parton, of course) they eventually re-teamed for the Netflix series Grace and Frankie (which ran for seven seasons), as well as the dark comedy Moving On and 80 for Brady.

Emma Stone And Ryan Gosling

This duo has produced some well-known and beloved comedies and dramas over the years, as Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling first starred together in Crazy, Stupid, Love in 2011, moving on to Gangster Squad in 2013 and the Oscar-winning musical La La Land in 2016. Stone even once said she couldn’t “imagine” her life without Gosling, so these two will probably be friends forever.

Salma Hayek And Antonio Banderas

Salma Hayek and Antonio Banderas sharing the screen in Desperado caused considerable heat, along with igniting a very real friendship, so it’s no surprise that they’ve now worked together a number of times. They’ve also been in the casts of Four Rooms, Frida, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Spy Kids 3: Game Over, Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard and both Puss in Boots animated movies. That’s a lot!

Dwayne Johnson And Kevin Hart

We’ve already born witness to a rather lengthy history of Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart ripping on each other during their (apparently) laugh and roast-filled friendship, and the two megastars have, indeed, brought that chemistry to the big screen multiple times. The duo counts Central Intelligence, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and its sequel, Hobbs & Shaw and DC League of Super-Pets as the titles they’ve appeared in together.

Matt Damon And Ben Affleck

If this isn’t a classic acting duo by now, there are none. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have been “bizarrely close” friends since childhood, and they first joined forces to great effect by penning and starring in Good Will Hunting (after having both appeared in School Ties), which won them the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. They also worked on Dogma in the 1990s, then, after nearly 25 years, they joined forces again to write and star in The Last Duel, and since then have also worked together on Air and the upcoming RIP for Netflix.

Denzel Washington And Don Cheadle

If only these two powerhouse stars had already been in more movies together…Denzel Washington and Don Cheadle’s first pairing was as P.I. Easy Rawlins and his loyal but unpredictable friend, Mouse, in 1995’s Devil in a Blue Dress. While their work in the film garnered critical acclaim, it would be over 15 years before they teamed again for Flight.

Sanaa Lathan And Taye Diggs

We should never underestimate the power of a franchise when it comes to popular on-screen pairings. Sanaa Lathan and Taye Diggs appeared in The Wood together in 1999 and then went on to star in The Best Man, its sequel and the Peacock mini-series, The Best Man: The Final Chapters. The duo also played the lead couple in the rom-com, Brown Sugar in 2002.

Scarlett Johansson And Chris Evans

Co-starring in a franchise with the same people will take an acting duo far, but Scarlett Johansson and Chris Evans have surpassed even the typical standard where that’s concerned. Thanks to their joint time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, they’ve appeared in a whopping seven movies together (including their mid-end credits cameo in Captain Marvel), and prior to their time as blockbuster movie-making superheroes they starred in The Perfect Score and The Nanny Diaries, bringing their current total to nine.

Anthony Mackie And Chris Evans

If you did enjoy many of those MCU movies, then you know that Chris Evans rubbed elbows with Anthony Mackie quite a bit there. But, did you also know that the two have been in XX non-Marvel movies together? Playing It Cool, What’s Your Number, and Ghosted also star/feature both actors and if you add in all their shared time in tights on screen, their total is also at nine.

Emily Blunt And Dwayne Johnson

The first time was a hit, so why not join forces again, right? Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson famously delivered winning chemistry in Jungle Cruise, and are coming back together for the upcoming drama The Smashing Machine. The two are also said to be willing to return for Jungle Cruise 2, whenever that can finally get off the ground.

Chris Pine And Ben Foster

The third time has been the charm so far for Chris Pine and Ben Foster. The duo famously portrayed bank-robbing brothers in Hell or High Water, joined up for The Finest Hours, and made it a three-peat in 2022 for The Contractor.

Margot Robbie And Will Smith

If it seemed that there could have been a little something extra going on between Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn and Will Smith’s Deadshot when you watched 2016’s Suicide Squad, then it might have been because you picked up on the chemistry the duo first built in Focus from the year before.

Margot Robbie And Brad Pitt

This big screen coupling made quite a showing for themselves across less than a decade, as Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt have starred in The Big Short, Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood and Babylon. 

Margot Robbie And Leonardo DiCaprio

Just imagine, had it not been for this pairing, we might not have the megastar who is Barbie actor/producer Margot Robbie right now. Her role in Wolf of Wall Street as the second wife of Leonardo DiCaprio’s corrupt fraudster propelled her career, and by the time they starred in Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood together Robbie was a major star.

Halle Berry And Hugh Jackman

We, again, have a superhero franchise to thank for bringing two great talents together, as Oscar winner Halle Berry and Hugh Jackman both have four of the X-Men movies among their credits. The duo also starred in Swordfish and Movie 43.

Awkwafina And Michelle Yeoh

This duo counts two megahits in their joint credits, with Awkwafina and Everything Everywhere All At Once Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh both having starred in Crazy Rich Asians (and we’re still waiting for that rom-com sequel) and the MCU entry Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

Michelle Yeoh And Jackie Chan

Michelle Yeoh has been a star for several decades, and part of that reason is because of her breakout role in the 1992’s Supercop, which also starred Jackie Chan. But, they’ve made a number of other films with each other, including Supercop 2, and Hong Kong action films Twinkle, Twinkle, Lucky Stars, Project S, and both voiced characters in Kung Fu Panda 2, along with having starred in a 1984 watch commercial together.

Angela Bassett And Laurence Fishburne

While Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne were famously nominated for Oscars for their lead roles as Tina Turner and Ike Turner in 1993’s What’s Love Got to Do with It?, the duo was actually first together on screen for Boyz n the Hood in ‘91. They then later teamed up for Akeela and the Bee in 2006.

Julia Roberts And Richard Gere

If this isn’t a famous acting duo, then none are, despite their only making two movies with each other. Of course, Julia Roberts and Richard Gere starred in the mega-hit classic rom-com Pretty Woman and teamed up again for Runaway Bride in 1999.

Jennifer Aniston And Jason Bateman

For a while there, Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman, who are friends in real life, were kinda on a roll. Their first joint film was The Break-Up in 2006, and since then they’ve filmed four additional movies with one another: The Switch, Horrible Bosses and its sequel, and 2016’s Office Christmas Party.

Kate Hudson And Matthew McConaughey

Who can forget the glorious chemistry created by Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey in How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days? No one, that’s who! This is why they made a second rom-com, Fool’s Gold, just five years later.

Kirsten Dunst And Jesse Plemons

It’s not unusual for an acting duo to become friends in real life, but Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons took that a few steps further after working on the TV series Fargo together. Not only have they since starred in the film The Power of the Dog (which netted each their first Oscar nomination) and the A24 drama Civil War, but they married in 2022 and have two sons.

Meg Ryan And Tom Hanks

We could hardly leave Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks off of this list, as the famed actors have co-starred in two of the biggest romantic comedies of all time. Everyone knows them for making Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail hits, but before all of that, they led one of the weirder rom-coms made with Joe Versus the Volcano, and reunited for the 2016 drama Ithaca, which Ryan directed.

Drew Barrymore And Adam Sandler

People often mention Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler as an acting duo they want to see more of and with good reason. The two have made magic in the classics The Wedding Singer, 50 First Dates and Blended.

Adam Sandler And Chris Rock

This pairing goes back decades, to the time when Adam Sandler and Chris Rock starred on Saturday Night Live together in the ‘90s. Since then, the real-life buddies have appeared in seven movies together, with The Longest Yard, Grown Ups and its sequel, The Week Of and Top Five counted among that number.

George Clooney And Brad Pitt

Of course, George Clooney and Brad Pitt helped to make the Ocean’s Eleven franchise a hit, but the friends additionally teamed up for the live TV movie 8, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (which Clooney directed), Burn After Reading and the 2024 films If and Wolfs.

Keegan-Michael Key And Jordan Peele

The duo of Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, who first became recognizable during their time on MadTV, eventually went on to their own acclaimed sketch comedy series, Key and Peele. But, while making names for themselves on other series and in a number of movies, they continue to work with one another on projects like Keanu, Toy Story 4 and Wendell & Wild.

Awkwafina And Simu Liu

It was the MCU that first brought Awkwafina and Simu Liu together in the hit film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and while we’re still waiting to see when that franchise will bring them back together, 2024 saw them team up again for the action comedy, Jackpot!.

Jane Fonda And Robert Redford

Dedicated film fans probably know that legends Jane Fonda and Robert Redford starred together in Barefoot in the Park and The Electric Horseman, but their joint movie appearances do go beyond that. They also starred in The Chase in ‘66 and reunited for Our Souls at Night in 2017, and both had their film debuts in 1960’s Tall Story.

As you can see, film history is packed with acting duos who’ve worked together more than once, and that will probably always be the case.

A lot has happened since we last saw Will Smith in 2021’s award-winning biographical drama King Richard. The “Fresh Prince” made news for multiple reasons at the 2022 Academy Awards, the first being the now infamous Chris Rock slap, which was followed up by an Oscar win and emotional acceptance speech. Months later, Smith is appearing in Emancipation, director Antoine Fuqua’s historical action drama about a man escaping the American South at the height of the Civil War.

But, the star of films like The Pursuit of Happyness, Empire of the State, and Suicide Squad isn’t alone in the Emancipation cast, as he shares the screen with talented actors like Ben Foster, Charmaine Bingwa, Mustafa Shakir, and others in one of the most anticipated movies on the 2022 movie schedule. Let’s break down the rest of the stars of the new Apple TV+ original movie.

Will Smith (Peter) 

Leading the Emancipation cast is Will Smith, who takes on the role of Peter, an enslaved man who escapes from Louisiana in hopes of becoming a free man and reuniting with his family, all while the Civil War is being fought. The movie and Smith's character are based on the story of Gordon, a.k.a. “Whipped Peter,” whose scarred back was featured in an early photograph in the late 19th Century.

Smith is no stranger when it comes to empowering and inspiring dramas, as the Academy Award and Emmy winner has movies like The Pursuit of Happyness, Ali, and Concussion which all appear on the list of his best performances. This is on top of his blockbusters like Independence Day, the Bad Boys movies, and the Men In Black franchise. 

Ben Foster (Jim Fassel) 

Ben Foster appears in the Emancipation cast as Jim Fassel, a determined and ruthless Confederate tracker with a reputation of stopping at nothing to track slaves who have escaped into the marshy wilderness of southern Louisiana.

Foster, who has played villainous roles in movies like 3:10 to Yuma and The Program throughout his career, has also given commanding performances in everything from Taylor Sheridan’s Hell or High Water to Galveston, which was based on a novel by True Detective creator Nick Pizzolatto. Foster also portrayed Angel in 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand earlier in his career.

Charmaine Bingwa (Dodienne) 

Next up for the Emancipation cast is Charmaine Bingwa, who takes on the role of Will Smith’s on-screen wife, Dodienne, the woman he is so desperately trying to find while escaping captivity.

Although she doesn’t have as many memorable roles as Smith or Foster, Bingwa has been putting together an impressive resume the past few years, with appearances on shows like The Good Fight and a list of movies that includes Black Box, Trees of Peace, and Kapo, as well as multiple short films and smaller TV programs. 

Mustafa Shakir

Mustafa Shakir shows up in Emancipation as a character named Andrew Cailloux, one of the Union soldiers Peter crosses paths with on his journey to freedom.

All those Cowboy Bebop fans who were shocked and saddened by the Netflix show’s quick cancellation will certainly recognize Shakir from his portrayal of Jet Black. Speaking of former Netflix shows, Shakir also appeared on Luke Cage, on which he portrayed the character known as John “Bushmaster” McIver. Over on the film side, Shakir has appeared in movies like Double Play, Brawl in Cell Block 99, and Hide and Seek. 

Gilbert Owuor (Gordon) 

Gilbert Owuor shows up in Emancipation as Gordon, one of the fellow slaves on the run with Will Smith’s Peter. 

Prior to landing a role in Antoine Fuqua’s Apple TV+ exclusive historical drama, Owuor took on small roles on shows like The Newsroom, True Blood, Castle, and Goliath, as well as appearances in a list of movies that includes Montana Story, No Man of God, and Mute, to name a few. 

Michael Luwoye (John) 

Michael Luwoye appears in the Emancipation cast as John, one of the other slaves who escapes into the Louisiana wilderness alongside Will Smith’s character in the new drama film.

Before sharing the screen with Smith in Emancipation, Luwoye made a name for himself on the stage with appearances in regional and off-Broadway productions of Guys and Dolls, Tick, Tick… Boom!, Invisible Thread, and Cardboard Piano, before landing the titular role in the Hamilton national tour and later Broadway run from 2018 to 2019. He has also appeared on TV shows such as The Gilded Age and Prodigal Son. 

Ronnie Gene Blevins (Harrington) 

Veteran character actor Ronnie Gene Blevins appears in Emancipation as a Confederate soldier by the name of Harrington.

Probably one of the most prolific names in the Emancipation cast, Blevins has landed small roles on several dozen TV shows throughout his career, including Sons of Anarchy, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, True Detective, Animal Kingdom, and most recently, Tulsa King. His film appearances include Seven Psychopaths, Joe, The Wave, and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. 

Grant Harvey (Leeds) 

Taking on the role of another Confederate soldier by the name of Leeds in Emancipation is Grant Harvey, who has been on some big-time shows the past few years.

Everyone who watched the incredibly popular 2022 Netflix series Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story saw Harvey appear briefly as Officer Mueller, one of the cops that entered the killer's apartment. His other TV credits include Big Sky, Station 19, NCIS, 9-1-1: Lone Star, and All Rise, to name a few. 

Aaron Moten (Knowls) 

Aaron Moten appears in the Emancipation cast as Knowls, Fassel’s sidekick and fellow slave tracker.

Earlier in 2022, Moten appeared alongside Mark Walhberg in the faith-based, Father Stu, which came after several years of appearing on various TV and streaming series. This includes the Netflix original comedy show Disjointed, the Amazon dramedy series Mozart in the Jungle, and NCIS. 

Steven Ogg (Howard) 

And then there is Steven Ogg, who takes on the role of a Confederate sergeant named Howard in Emancipation. 

Probably best remembered for legendary portrayal of the homicidal yet fan-favorite character Trevor Philips in Grand Theft Auto V, Ogg has gone on to appear on TV shows like The Walking Dead, Better Call Saul, Westworld, and Snowpiercer, as well as movies like The Escort, The Short History of the Long Road, and most recently the Shudder exclusive horror anthology film, V/H/S/99. 

Emancipation is currently streaming for anyone with an Apple TV+ subscription.

Stream Emancipation on Apple TV+.

It’s amazing the lengths actors will go through in order to truly embody the roles they play. In order to provide an accurate portrayal of a Holocaust survivor in his latest film The Survivor, Ben Foster went through the wringer to play real-life Holocaust survivor Harry Haft who fought fellow inmates to survive the Auschwitz concentration camp. Holocaust survivors have been through both physical and mental anguish that is unimaginable to most. In order to become the role of this real-life Holocaust survivor, Foster reveals that he made himself lose 60 pounds.

Imagine having to lose a ton of weight only to have to gain it back that much sooner. It reminds me of the time when Christian Bale changed his weight losing 62 pounds to be in The Machinist only to gain 100 pounds back six months later for The Dark Knight. Ben Foster had to lose and gain weight much quicker for The Survivor, explaining to Variety that he lost weight for the camp scenes only to gain weight for the boxing scenes five weeks later.

Ben Foster could have taken the easy way out in letting CGI effects lend their magic to his physical transformation, but he instead decided to put physical work into the role himself. Wanting to tell a moving story about a Holocaust survivor like Harry Haft clearly made Foster want to feel what his character is feeling-- and therefore authentically connect with audiences. The Leave No Trace actor is among a number of stars who have gone through physical transformations as a form of method acting for their complex roles. Matthew McConaughey went through an unbelievable diet of shedding 2.5 pounds a week to play a real-life HIV positive patient in Dallas Buyers Club. The same can be said for Benedict Cumberbatch losing weight in The Couriers when he lost 21 pounds to play real-life businessman and engineer Greville Wynne. This shows it’s only natural for actors to want to provide true vision and justice to their real-life characters for the audiences watching.

Method acting may seem like a challenging feat, but can seemingly also make work for the actor much easier if they truly go through what their character experiences- good or bad. Ben Foster continued to speak to Variety about the importance of using your body as a way to get into character to undergo his character’s struggles.

Ben Foster has also talked about how his method acting caused him to experience Harry Haft’s nightmares even though he did not share the same trauma as his character did in real life. The somewhat underrated actor has taken himself to extreme lengths before for his roles like when he played Lance Armstrong in The Program. Since the whole film revolved around Lance Armstrong’s involvement with performance enhancers, Foster took those same drugs under medical supervision to gain an understanding of their effects. What a relief that this actor did not lose himself to the role like Heath Ledger or Jim Carrey were thought to during their careers.

Considering the daring lengths Ben Foster is willing to go through for his roles, I hope his role in The Survivor will give him the award recognition he has deserved for so long. Be sure to take a look at Ben Foster’s talented transformation in The Survivor coming to your HBO Max subscription on April 27th. 

Adam Sandler’s not taking a break after Hubie Halloween. The famous actor/comedian is already filming his next big movie for Netflix, and he won’t be alone. This feature is adding some pretty huge names to its cast.

The Sandman's new movie is called Hustle (not to be confused with Anne Hathaway’s The Hustle), and it's about a washed-up basketball scout who discovers an incredible street basketball player in China, lifting his hopes that he could make it back in the NBA. Netflix has taken to social media to announce Hustle's all-star cast. Check it out:

While these aren't the typical actors Adam Sandler works with, it’s still a killer cast that should help raise the profile of the movie a bit. Hustle is being directed by Jeremiah Zagar, written by Taylor Materne and Oscar nominee Will Fetters, and produced under Adam Sandler’s banner, Happy Madison Productions, as well as Lebron James’ and Maverick Carter’s SpringHill Entertainment.

After Netflix acquired Hustle from Legendary, the company pitched it to Adam Sandler, who came on after Will Fetters cleaned up the script and Jeremiah Zagar signed on as the director. As you might already know, Adam Sandler and Netflix have a strong working relationship together. This will be Adam Sandler and Lebron James' first time working together, although Uncut Gems did see Sandler starring opposite Kevin Garnett, another NBA all-star.

It’s hard to say if Hustle will lean more toward drama, like Uncut Gems, or if it’ll be a solid mix between comedy and drama. It certainly doesn’t look like his latest goofball comedy Hubie Halloween. Considering the dramatic cast, I’m betting Adam Sandler will play the comedy part, while Robert Duvall, Queen Latifah, and Ben Foster will lean into the dramatic roles they’ve been known for.

Queen Latifah has primarily been working on a variety of TV series, with the latest being the mini-series Hollywood. For Robert Duvall’s part, this will be his latest movie since 2018’s Widows. Ben Foster had recently been seen in the movies Galveston and Leave No Trace.

One thing you might have noticed from the photos above is Adam Sandler suddenly rocking a full beard. He’s had facial hair before, of course, but this beard takes it up a notch. We reported earlier this month that Adam Sandler admitted no one liked his beard very much, but he was doing it for an upcoming role. Well, now we know the beard is for his role in Hustle.

There’s no word yet on when Hustle will be available on Netflix. Considering they’re just getting started filming now, it’s likely not going to land anytime soon. For more updates on Hustle, stay tuned to CinemaBlend.

Critics are spilling gallons of ink about Ben Foster's turn in the off-the-radar father-daughter drama Leave No Trace, which is ironic because Foster's character in the movie often has very little to say. In Debra Granik's hotly anticipated follow up to her Oscar-nominated Winter's Bone, Foster plays Will, a former soldier adjusting to life back home who prefers to life way off the grid with his daughter, Tom (Thomasin McKenzie). But when CinemaBlend spoke with Foster as he drums up awards support for Leave No Trace, he explained that the absence of dialogue for Will was a conscious choice, elaborating:

That's a significant amount of dialogue chopped from a script that Debra Granik no doubt worked on for months -- years, even. And it likely changed the character drastically. But changed him in a way that fit Ben Foster's approach.

Will, in Leave No Trace, is a man who can't get comfortable in his own skin. Back from war and embracing fatherhood, Will wants to raise Tom the best way he knows how. To him, though, this means dropping out of society and living amongst a surprise group of citizens who call the woods home.

Leave No Trace continues to show that Debra Granik excels as a storyteller focused on people we don't normally see on the big screen. Much like in Winter's Bone, she has incredible control over the way that characters are presented, with their layers both visible and invisible to the audience.

So when I asked her if she immediately trusted Ben Foster's decision to make changes to Will's dialogue, she surprised me by saying no. Then she elaborated:

Debra Granik went on to explain that while she can have inherent trust in an actor she has hired -- be it Ben Foster or Thomasin McKenzie for Leave No Trace, or even Jennifer Lawrence for Winter's Bone -- it's crucial that a writer-director remembers how much time has been spent honing a script before a performer got a chance to analyze it. And in addition, the script is going to get another pass in the editing room, anyhow. So rash decisions on the set aren't always advisable.

The powerful and memorable Leave No Trace shows that Ben Foster and Debra Granik made wise decisions in the process by stripping away dialogue that might have painted a broader picture of Will (and even of his daughter). But the actor, and the movie, are saying the most by saying very little at all, and that silence could carry them to awards consideration.

You can stream Leave No Trace now on virtually all of your preferred streaming platforms, from Amazon Prime to Google Play. It will be interesting to see how the movie is received as year-end critics' lists start to form, especially around the performances of the two leads, who are spectacular.

As if someone was reading our minds on a regular basis, it was announced last weekend that director Robert Rodriguez is looking to bring the long developing remake of Escape From New York to the big screen. So with such a dynamic director behind the camera, you can expect not only a lot of fun in front of the camera, but also some top notch casting. After all, the man's not a contemporary of Quentin Tarantino's for no good reason. But just who could take the role of Snake Plissken and make it as balls out exciting as Kurt Russell did in John Carpenter's 1981 original?

Well, in the 36 years between the original film's release and now, there have been quite a few actors that came along and walked the line between bad ass and wise ass that Plissken has always occupied in our hearts and minds. And these 10 contestants are the ones that should be on Rodriguez's short list, with a couple of them undoubtedly being on that list already as he's worked with them in the past. So join us now as we slither through these select few people who could possibly come close to that 80s Kurt Russell magic synonymous with Snake's legacy.

Ben Foster

Snake Plissken needs an actor that knows how to take the bad guys to task, and do so with a smile on his face. We need to identify with him, but at the same time know that he's going to do some stuff we might begin to question. After watching Ben Foster in his turn as Chris Pine's brother in Hell or High Water, he became one of the first people we'd cast in this role in a heartbeat. Even with his total resume laid out on the line, we'd be sold to cast Foster as the next stage of Snake's pop culture lifespan. But recalling the mix of raw threatening energy and good ol' boy charm, piss and vinegar, just makes us thrill at the prospect of Ben Foster turning New York city into his own playground.

Antonio Banderas

Robert Rodriguez and Antonio Banderas are like peanut butter and chocolate: they've been paired before, they'll be paired again and we'll line up for our fair share whenever they decide to do it again! In the case of the Escape from New York remake, it'd pair the two together for a project that'd harken back to the days of Desperado and Once Upon A Time In Mexico. Except Snake is a bit more of an anti-hero than El Mariachi ever was, which should be fun when played with Banderas' darker sensibilities. It's also been way too long since Antonio Banderas has gotten to shoot stuff up and spout witty lines, so this is too good a possibility to pass up.

Alexa Vega

Now, let's say for a moment that Robert Rodriguez wants to go in a really different direction with Snake Plissken and gender swap the character. Snake is a pretty gender neutral name, last we checked, so why not bring in long time Rodriguez contributor Alexa Vega into the mix? She's already worked on some action friendly projects with the director, such as Machete Kills and Sin City: A Dame To Kill For, and she's young enough that a franchise wouldn't be out of the picture. Also, it'd be kind of cool to see how the role of Snake would change with a female actor taking the lead, and it's the sort of experimentation that can make a remake like this really sing.

Chris Pine

Hewing closer to the short list a major studio would probably draft up once Escape From New York's remake was announced, Chris Pine's name seems like a natural to be linked to Snake Plissken. That said, Pine has definitely shown range outside of any typical studio picture, in both Hell or High Water and Stretch. Pine is definitely up for getting crazy while staring danger dead in the eye, and he just has one of those faces that screams Snake. You could practically imagine him speaking in a low, menacing drawl similar to that of Kurt Russell as you're reading this sentence.

Gael Garcia Bernal

With what could arguably be the most varied range roles in his personal canon, Gael Garcia Bernal definitely has what it takes to play Snake Plissken. Bernal's experience in everything from independent dramas to a Spanish language Will Ferrell comedy, he's flexible enough that you could drop him in any project, and he'd fit. But between the cheerful defiance of authority in Mozart In The Jungle, and the pulse pounding action he endured in Desierto, it's that combination that wins Gael Garcia Bernal a spot on this list.

Chris Pratt

You can blame James Gunn for this one, as casting Kurt Russell as the father of Chris Pratt's Star-Lord in Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 2 showed us just how alike the two actors are. In fact, it could even be said that Peter Quill feels like a Marvel/Disney version of Snake Plissken, only with more humanity and the ability to give a shit about the people he's working with. Those could easily fall away though, and Pratt's natural swagger and command of the screen take after his soon-to-be on screen dad's earlier masterworks. From here on out, you're probably going to hear Pratt's name as an automatic option whenever a Russell picture is being remade.

Diego Luna

Above any other role on Diego Luna's resume, Cassian Andor from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is the one that really sold us on Luna becoming the next Snake Plissken. Charming when he has to be, yet dangerous all the time, Cassian was a vital piece to the operation that stole the Death Star plans. He's also a dyed in the wool anti-hero for a good portion of the film, which also helps sell his credibility in the role. So naturally, if Diego Luna can navigate through Imperial forces to complete such a task, rescuing the president from post-apocalyptic New York should be a walk in the park.

John Leguizamo

It's no secret that Robert Rodriguez loves to work with Latino and Latina actors, and we've definitely played that fact to the hilt with previous contenders we've put onto this short list. But if there's anyone who could use an awesome career resurrection in the vein of so many others Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino have brought into the modern world, John Leguizamo is certainly one of them. With his work in the John Wick franchise laying down some serious framework, Leguizamo would not only be a perfect fit for the gruff and grumpy side of the character, but he's also a shoo-in for the wise cracking part of the deal. Giving him a chance to take on a wild future New York, with all of the gangs and freaks waiting to take a piece of him, would be a glorious cherry on top of an already legendary career.

Michael Biehn

Dipping into the Robert Rodriguez stable of character actors for one final time, we can't help but think that Michael Biehn would be a fantastic Snake to bring Escape From New York into the 21st century. As if plum roles in films like Terminator, Aliens and Tombstone didn't prime us to automatically cast this fellow 80s bad-ass in Rodriguez's new iteration of Snake Plissken's infamous adventure, his work with the director only reinforces our feelings. Playing the sheriff in Planet Terror has familiarized him with the director's unique touch, so this is only another hand in glove combo that could serve the material perfectly. Well, maybe there's one last person that could do justice to Snake Plissken.

Kurt Russell

If something's not broken, then you really shouldn't try to fix it. Which is why we think if Robert Rodriguez is going to give Escape From New York some serious thought, he should consider making a call to Kurt Russell and inviting him to grow out his hair and don the eye patch once more. The only real drawback is the fact that casting Russell does limit Rodriguez's remake in terms of how much it can innovate or diverge from the original. Still, with his action franchise cred being renewed with Furious 7, having the OG Snake riding again would not only help us forget Escape From L.A. ever existed, it kind of makes sense.

Things have heated up very quickly for Laura Prepon and Ben Foster. The actors announced their engagement after dating for a few months, and about a year after Foster ended his previous engagement to actress Robin Wright.

Laura Prepon showed off her shiny new engagement ring while on the red carpet for the premiere of her new film The Girl on the Train on Tuesday, and cuddling up with Ben Foster. A source later confirmed to E! News that the couple is indeed engaged. If you didn't even know that Prepon and Foster were dating, you're not alone. The actors have been keeping their relationship very low-key, and have only been sighted together a few times since they reportedly began dating this summer.

Ben Foster has been engaged twice before now, both times to House of Cards star Robin Wright. Foster and Wright first became engaged in 2014 after dating for two years, but Wright broke it off the same year, reportedly due to her growing work schedule and a difference in maturity levels. Then, the couple tried a second engagement in 2015, but it only lasted a few months.

Both Laura Prepon and Ben Foster share links to the controversial Church of Scientology, which many are speculating is what brought them together. Prepon has been vocal about her devotion to Scientology for nearly a decade, beginning when she was dating fellow Scientologist actor Christopher Masterson (brother of her That '70s Show co-star Danny Masterson) in the mid-2000s. While Foster has not explicitly spoken about his connection to Scientology, many sources have claimed that he is involved with it. Foster is also heavily involved in the practice of Transcendental Meditation.

And love must be in the water at Litchfield prison, because Laura Prepon was actually the second Orange Is the New Black star to announce her engagement this week. On Tuesday, Samira Wiley (Poussey Washington on the Netflix hit) announced her engagement to her girlfriend Lauren Morelli. The two actually met on the set of Orange Is the New Black, on which Morelli is both a writer and producer, and began dating in 2014.

Maybe there could be a double wedding on the horizon? I know a prison theme doesn't exactly scream "romance," but I'm sure they can find some way to make it cute, maybe? Until then, Prepon is starring in the novel adaptation The Girl on the Train and Wiley has a recurring role on the current season of FX's You're the Worst.

When they start out, most fledgling actors simply want to earn a livable wage in the profession. Obviously, when they leap this first hurdle, they then look to broaden their careers and see how far up the Hollywood echelon they can go. Some even reach a level where they’re recognized on the streets for their work, while a handful are even mobbed everywhere they go.

But, after originally excelling, some actors never quite reach the level of fame that you assumed they would. In fact, here are 8 actors who should actually be way more famous than they actually are. Wouldn't you agree?

John Hawkes

John Hawkes is the kind of actor that you not only immediately recognize, but who also improves a film just through his presence. It’s easy to see why, because he just oozes a rugged, workmanlike screen presence that is seldom seen anymore. Hawkes is also one of those rare actors who is able to move from the small to the big screen without an issue, bringing the same level of intent and talent to every performance. Hawkes’ workmanlike appeal comes from the fact that he has been a jobbing actor now since 1985. Over the course of the last 31 years, he has appeared in From Dusk 'Til Dawn, Rush Hour, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, The Perfect Storm, Miami Vice, American Gangster, Lincoln, Everest, Martha Marcy May Marlene, The Sessions, and Winter’s Bone. The latter three saw him receive numerous award nominations, while he even received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for Winter’s Bone.

Because of this, you’d have hoped for a Paul Giamatti or, maybe pushing it a tad, Philip Seymour Hoffman boost to his career. That has yet to materialize. But until it does, we’re all just happy for him to make even the most tedious of projects better.

Gina Torres

There was a period in the early 2000s when it looked like Gina Torres was about to become a bona-fide leading lady in the action genre. Her performances as Cas in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions had proven that she had the cinematic muscle to flourish on the big screen, and this was boosted exponentially through her performance in Joss Whedon’s Serenity. Not only did she go toe-to-toe with leading man Nathan Fillion (another actor who probably should be more famous) but her performance suggested that this was just the beginning.

Unfortunately, further roles of this ilk never materialized. In fact, her biggest role since the release of Serenity was in I Think I Love My Wife, the 2007 Chris Rock comedy. Instead, she has excelled on the small screen, taking leading roles in Suits and Hannibal. But despite her prowess on these shows, it’s hard not to wonder what might have been if she’d been given further cinematic chances.

Ben Foster

It says a lot about Ben Foster’s talent that despite appearing in the X-Men franchise, more was expected from the 35-year-old American. After bursting onto the scene opposite Justin Timberlake and Emile Hirsch in Alpha Dog, Ben Foster followed this up with performances in the huge Hollywood productions of X-Men: The Last Stand and 3:10 To Yuma, while his role in The Messenger earned him numerous awards nominations back in 2000. Ben Foster was in the perfect position to take Hollywood by storm.

Unfortunately, it just hasn’t panned out that way. Sure, his work in The Mechanic, Lone Survivor, and Ain't Them Bodies Saints was impressive, but they all mostly flew under the radar. As has his performance as Lance Armstrong in The Program, which, once touted for a potential Oscar nomination, is instead being released under the radar almost a month after the Academy Awards ceremony. There’s still hope though, because he’s leading the way in Warcraft this summer. But if Warcraft is a flop, like the recently flopped The Finest Hour, Ben Foster will have to think long and hard about his next role, otherwise he could descend in obscurity.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead

While on the face of it, Mary Elizabeth Winstead has a wholesome girl next door appeal, her performances are each underlined with a drive and intensity that permeates into her films. That’s why she has been perfect for a whole host of scream queen roles, which have seen her pop up in Final Destination 3, Black Christmas, Death Proof, and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. But she’s also made sure to compliment these turns with more dramatic and complex roles, with her performance in Smashed being one of the finest of the last 5 years.

Yet these have never quite earned her the recognition she deserved, while even her parts in big budget productions (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, A Good Day To The Die Hard) didn’t push her further up the Hollywood ladder due to a poor box office return and critical response, respectively. That should all change with 10 Cloverfield Lane though. Because if its box office matches the critical reception it recently received, then Mary Elizabeth Winstead should have a franchise all to herself.

Jacki Weaver

Twice nominated for Best Supporting Actress Academy Awards for her performances in 2010’s Animal Kingdom and 2012’s Silver Linings Playbook, 68-year-old Jacki Weaver only came to the attention of American moviegoers in the last half a decade or so. But she was actually a huge star in Australia from the 1970s, thanks to her work in Stork, Alvin Purple, Peter Weir’s Picnic At Hanging Rock, and Caddie, which saw her win her second Australian Film Institute Award.

Unfortunately, Jacki Weaver was unable to find role in film or television as she got older, which is why she wasn’t able to make the leap into American movies. Instead, the world of theater reaped the rewards of cinema’s oversight, as she played a role in several huge Australian productions, including A Streetcar Named Desire, and Death Of A Salesman. Sure, Jacki Weaver’s turn in Animal Kingdom finally allowed her to get her Hollywood debut with The Five-Year Engagement. But it should have come earlier. And if it had, she could have been rivaling the stature of Judi Dench, Helen Mirren and Maggie Smith. Great company to keep.

Adam Pally

Adam Pally has the sort of rapscallion on-screen personality that would suit itself perfectly in Hollywood comedies. I mean, anyone who has ever seen Happy Endings or The Mindy Project knows just how consistently funny he can be, while still emanating a warm and likable persona that means you just want to become BFFs with him. But Adam Pally is yet to find the movie roles that have brought out the best of his comedic sensibilities.

That’s not for the want of trying though, because Adam Pally has appeared in several low-budget comedies over the last two years (Slow Learners, Life After Beth, The To Do List) that have each failed to pop. While his appearances in bigger-budgeted comedies have either not been widely released (Search Party) or were just plain awful (Bad Grandpda). It speaks volumes that his most memorable role, to date, came in Iron Man 3 as Gary The Cameraman. But even though he was in the blockbuster for just a few minutes, Adam Pally still provided laughs, and proved that he should be given bigger parts.

Ellen Page

OK, so we all know who Ellen Page is. Having first wowed audiences with her performances in Hard Candy, a role that won her the Best Actress at the Austin Film Critics Association, and Juno, which quadrupled down on this success as she received Academy Award, BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild nominations, she then followed this up as Kitty Pryde in X-Men’s The Last Stand and Days Of Future Past, as well as Inception. Obviously she has done well for herself. Which, considering how she can swerve from comedy to drama so deftly, while always remaining on point with her characterization, was always likely to happen.

But, barring Days Of Future Past, Ellen Page has somewhat disappeared from the movie landscape over the last six years. Hopefully this is just a brief blip in her career though, and we all know that she has acting ability to slip back in as if she’s never been away. The worry is though is that there just aren’t enough challenging roles out there for her that are different to what she’s already done. If that’s the case then shame on Hollywood.

Toby Kebbell

Fantastic Four’s catastrophic failure last summer wasn’t just bad news for 20th Century Fox, it was also devastating for those of us who have been watching Toby Kebbell’s rise ever since his debut in the cult British thriller Dead Man’s Shoes. Since then Toby Kebbell has proven himself with stand out roles in Control and RocknRolla, before then steadily building his Hollywood reputation by appearing in Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, War Horse, and Wrath Of The Titans. His villainous double whammy in Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes and Fantastic Four was supposed to move him further up the echelon.

But while Dawn fared well, Fantastic Four’s failure stagnated his progress. But since he's appearing in Warcraft, Ben-Hur, and Kong: Skull Island, all of which are due out in the next 18 months or so, it's safe to say that Toby Kebbell is still right on track.

Method actors consistently wow us with their ability to push their bodies as well as their minds to the absolute limits to achieve the best possible performances. Ben Foster has eaten dirt to play a Navy SEAL, and lived on the streets to accurately portray the Los Angeles homeless. Now, in his upcoming filme, The Program – which chronicles the conspiracy behind cyclist Lance Armstrong’s use of performance enhancing drugs – Foster may have taken his method acting to its absolute extreme.

The actor recently spoke with The Guardian regarding the lengths he went to perfect his performance, as well as his decision to take the same performance-enhancing drugs used by Armstrong himself:

The actor explained that while the drugs work, they take a serious toll on the user – a toll he has only just begun to recover from. Foster’s use of performance-enhancing drugs to accurately portray Armstrong seems unique to this particular role. He revealed that while he had played drug addicts in the past, he never felt the need to indulge in his research because in those instances, as the outward effects could be readily seen. In the case of Armstrong, however, the whole film revolves around his surreptitious use of the illicit substance, so the only real way for Foster to truly get a sense of their effects was to use them himself -- although it should be stated that Foster had the strict supervision of a medical professional to undergo such treatments.

Directed by Stephen Frears, The Program centers on Armstrong’s recovery from testicular cancer, and his use of performance-enhancing drugs to win seven consecutive Tour de France victories. The drugs are not a tangential topic of The Program, they are the central focus, the crux upon which the film builds its story. Judging from the trailer, Foster seems to have nailed Armstrong’s persona and mannerisms, it also makes us wonder: did the use of the drugs actually play a role in him perfecting the performance?

Method acting has become increasingly common, as well as controversial over the years. Aside from Ben Foster, men like Christian Bale and Daniel Day-Lewis have immersed themselves in their roles – taking tolls on their bodies and minds – in order to perfect their characters. Perhaps the most notably controversial method performance over the last few years was Heath Ledger, whom many believe lost himself in his now iconic turn as The Joker in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. It begs that question: how far is too far for the sake of a performance?

Foster overtly states that he would not recommend this method of research to his fellow actors, which seems to answer that question. We will find out how effective his methods were when The Program hits theaters later this month.

Hollywood has a huge year coming in 2016, with titles like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Captain America: Civil War, a new Star Wars movie, and much more hitting theaters – but before all those big blockbusters hit, we will have Duncan Jones’ Warcraft. After years of development, the epic video game adaptation has been scheduled for release on March 11, 2016 – which surely has gamers around the world glowing with glee. And while there’s still a great deal of time to wait before the film hits theaters, this weekend we learned a ton of new details about the movie that should get fans very excited.

The annual Blizzcon was held down in Anaheim, California these past few days, and during a presentation about the upcoming Warcraft movie (via SlashFilm), it was revealed who the fantastic actors in the movie’s cast will be playing. We’ve broken it all down for you below, so read on!

Dominic Cooper is King Llane Wrynn

Dominic Cooper is a pretty classy, awesome dude playing the young Howard Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but Warcraft will be bumping him up to royalty. Playing the leader of the city of Stormwind, Cooper will be playing the brave King Llane Wrynn – who also wears some pretty kick ass armor and carries a big sword.

Travis Fimmel as Anduin Lothar

As one of the stars of Vikings, Travis Fimmel is definitely no stranger to wielding huge weapons and getting muddy and bloody on a battlefield – which should allow him to fit into Warcraft quite easily. As Anduin Lothar, he is the central protagonist on the Alliance side and a brave warrior who has made incredible sacrifices for the good of the people of Azeroth.

Ben Foster is Medivh "The Guardian"

While Ben Foster is best known for his independent and character work, he does have a history of blockbuster roles – the most notable being X-Men: The Last Stand - and he will be returning to that world in Duncan Jones’ Warcraft. As Medivh, a.k.a. The Last Guardian, he is a part of an ancient line that has long been fighting off the forces of the Burning Legion, and possesses great power as a wizard/sorcerer.

Robert Kazinsky is Orgrim

To introduce us to the Orc side of things we have Robert Kazinsky as Orgrim, a warrior who is destined to wield a great weapon known as the Doomhammer, Kazinsky is perhaps best known for his TV work, last year starring in a handful of episodes of True Blood, but those of you who are fans of Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim will remember him as Chuck Hansen, one of the two Australian Jaeger pilots.

Toby Kebbell is Durotan

Toby Kebbell displayed incredible skill working with performance capture this past summer playing the villainous Koba in Matt Reeves’ Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and he is once again wearing grey pajamas and ping pong balls in Duncan Jones’ Warcraft. But he’s not just playing any old Orc in the movie – he’s playing Durotan, the Chieftain and leader of the Frostwolf Clan. Orgrim serves by his side as his right-hand man.

Paula Patton is Garona

The beautiful Paula Patton will also be going the performance-capture route in Warcraft playing Garona, a half Orc warrior who is emotionally pulled between two different opposing sides, and must determine where her loyalties lie. The actress has her fair share of ass kicking experience having starred alongside Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol - and one can imagine those skills came in rather useful for this new film.

Clancy Brown is Blackhand "The Destroyer "

A character nicknamed The Destroyer is going to need to look and sound like he has zero issue ever ripping his opponents apart, and Duncan Jones has made a great choice bringing Clancy Brown into the fold. Blackhand is one of the greatest warriors on the orc side, and we can probably expect that he will be one of the most intimidating characters in Warcraft. Brown not only brings a good deal of height to the part – standing a few inches over six feet – but also a booming, deep voice that should make both enemies and movie-goers pee themselves a little.

Ruth Negga is Lady Taria

Like Dominic Cooper, Ruth Negga is another actor making their way from the Marvel Cinematic Universe to the world of Warcraft - but while Howard Stark and Raina from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. have never been on screen together, the two stars will be married in the new movie. In Duncan Jones’ blockbuster, Negga will be playing Lady Taria, the Queen of Stormwind and King Llane Wrynn’s most trusted ally.

Daniel Wu is Gul’dan

Characters like Durotan and Ogrim certainly sit in positions of power within orc society, but none are above Gul’dan, the supreme leader of the orcs. He was the first orcish warlock, and has become consumed with a dark magic that even he cannot fully control. Bringing the character to life will be Daniel Wu, whose recent credits include the sci-fi indie Europa Report and RZA’s The Man with the Iron Fists.

Ben Schnetzer is Khadgar

Of the Warcraft cast members mentioned here, Ben Schnetzer has perhaps the shortest resume – but he is coming off of a performance in the critically-beloved historical drama Pride. In Duncan Jones’ movie, he will play the young Khadgar, a magic-wielding mage who has been described as being on a "daring quest for truth.

One of 2016's most anticipated films is Warcraft, though there's still so little we know about it. The complex gaming saga is being distilled into a big screen fantasy world by director Duncan Jones, but Legendary Pictures has been reluctant to deal out any Warcraft secrets. Cast member Ben Foster, however, has opened up a bit and revealed some details previously unknown.

Foster, as it turns out, has some wizardly skills in the massive fantasy epic, telling IGN about the nature of his character.

Medivh is actually a well-known character to many fans of the game, a wizard corrupted at birth who eventually led demons to seize the land before dying at the hands of good friend Lothar (who may or may not be of the Hill People). He rises from the dead within the game narrative to become a mysterious prophet during the Third War. But don't call him Gandalf. He's not Gandalf at all. He's nothing like Gandalf.

Foster's always been one of the standout actors of his generation. It's rather unfortunate that he has the stench of X-Men: The Last Stand on him because he's got a spectacular body of work. Seemingly shunning leading man stardom, Foster has contributed to moody dramas like The Messenger and Lone Survivor, and will next be seen bringing gravitas to an untitled Lance Armstrong biopic. And if you've seen Alpha Dog, you likely can't forget his work there.

Foster's seriousness makes one wonder how he ended up in a video game adaptation, though to hear him talk about it, he's pretty amped to do Warcraft.

Warcraft also stars Colin Farrell, Paula Patton, Travis Fimmel, Toby Kebbell, Dominic Cooper, Rob Kazinsky, Daniel Wu and Clancy Brown, and it's scheduled for release March 11th, 2016.

Duncan Jones' Warcraft may be delayed to 2016 thanks to J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: Episode VII taking over the December 2015 spotlight, but that doesn't mean that the movie is doing anything to slow down pre-production. Over the last few months we've heard a few actor names swirling around the video game adaptation and today, according to The Hollywood Reporter, a few more have signed on. The trade's sources tell them that Ben Foster, Toby Kebbell and Robert Kazinsky have all penned deals to star in Warcraft while Dominic Cooper is currently in final stages of negotiations.

The group of actors join a cast that already includes Paula Patton, who got some action cred starring in Brad Bird's Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, and Travis Fimmel, who has become a rising star in Hollywood thanks to his role on series Vikings. Colin Farrell has also been in talks to possibly star in the movie, but the trade curiously doesn't mention his name.

The film was announced back at San Diego Comic-Con this past summer and was introduced with a "tonal trailer" that gave audiences the sense of what the film will be like (you can read more about it HERE). Jones, who scripted both of his previous films - Moon and Source Code - is co-writing the movie with Charles Leavitt, whose previous credits include Blood Diamond, K-PAX, as well as the upcoming Jeff Bridges fantasy Seventh Son.

Most of the actors in the movie doesn't have any video game adaptation experience, but that soon won't be the case for Cooper. Early the next year the star will be featured as the main villain opposite Aaron Paul in Scott Waugh's Need For Speed. You can catch him in the trailer for the movie that launched last month.

The rest of the cast has hardly been taking it easy lately and will have to carve out time in their schedules for Warcraft. Foster, who will soon be seen in Peter Berg's dramatic war film Lone Survivor, is currently hard at work filming Stephen Frear's untitled Lance Armstrong biopic; Kebbell, who was most recently in The Counselor, has Dawn of the Planet of the Apes coming out next year; and Kazinsky currently plays a recurring role on HBO's True Blood.

Jones is an excellent filmmaker who has been talking a big game when it comes to Warcraft, but one has to wonder if the film will actually be able to succeed with the video game adaptation stigma. The director has certainly started assembling a cast that could help him reach that goal.

We're still waiting for director Stephen Frears' latest film, Philomena, to hit theaters, but already we're getting our first look at the filmmaker's next work. Production on Frears' upcoming biopic about infamous cyclist Lance Armstrong began at the end of last week and today, courtesy of Empire, we have our first look at star Ben Foster in full costume as the movie's subject.

Foster first became attached to the project back in July, and now we know that he is surrounded in the film by a stellar supporting cast. Chris O'Dowd, who is best known for his work in Bridesmaids and will soon have a small role in Thor: The Dark World, will portray David Walsh, the Irish sports journalist who began to suspect early on that Armstrong was using performance enhancing drugs. Jesse Plemons, who earned widespread acclaim for his performance in the final season of Breaking Bad, is predicted to be playing one of Armstrong's cycling teammates, while Love Me If You Dare's Guillaume Canet is expected to be one of Armstrong's rivals. John Hodge, best known for his collaborations with director Danny Boyle on films like Trainspotting, The Beach and Trance, is handling the script.

Studios have been trying to get a Lance Armstrong movie off of the ground ever since the seven time Tour de France admitted that he cheated. In addition to Frears' film, director Jay Roach is attached to direct a version of the story called Red Blooded American, while J.J. Abrams and the folks over at Bad Robot are also planning a take. Beating them all to the punch, however, is director Alex Gibney, who filmed a documentary about the scandal, titled The Armstrong Lie, that will be getting a limited release starting November 8th. It has already premiered at multiple film festivals, including Venice, Toronto, Hamptons and London, and you can watch the trailer for the movie below:

Frears' Lance Armstrong biopic doesn't have a release date just yet, but we can probably expect it some time next year. In the meantime, Frears' Philomena will be arriving in theaters just in time for Thanksgiving on November 27th. The film tells the story of a political journalist (Steve Coogan) who works to help an aging woman ?(Dame Judi Dench) reconnect with the child that was taken away from her decades earlier:

Following his reputation-obliterating doping scandal, seven-time Tour De France winner Lance Armstrong would probably appreciate vanishing from the headlines for a while. But that’s unlikely to happen with a batch of biopics about the sullied sports star in development. Deadline reports two-time Academy Award nominee Stephen Frears is the latest to enter the fray on Armstrong-inspired dramas, meaning there are three we know about in the works.

Working Title will produce the picture, which boasts a screenplay by John Hodge, best-known for his collaborations with Danny Boyle, including Trainspotting, A Life Less Ordinary, and Trance. The untitled film will include Armstrong’s famous battle with cancer, and his later downfall via the world’s biggest doping scandal in professional sports. Reportedly Ben Foster, who most recently hit theaters in the Mark Wahlberg action movie Contraband, is in final negotiations to shoulder the role of Armstrong. And of course Frears will direct.

Memorably, Frears has helmed two biopics before: the widely acclaimed Helen Mirren marvel The Queen, which painted a sympathetic portrait of Queen Elizabeth II during the time of Princess Diana’s death; and the bubbly Mrs. Henderson Presents, which told the salacious story of a London widow who built a thriving and groundbreaking burlesque review in World War II England. Both figures, who incurred a lot of negative attention at the time these films focus on, got a humanizing and even compassionate portrayal in Frears’ telling of their life stories. This might suggest Armstrong would likewise get a similar shake in this proposed biopic.

This joins a pack of Armstrong biopics that includes one being developed at Warner Bros. Theirs—also presently untitled—is set to be directed by Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery helmer Jay Roach, who has recently moved into docudramas with Game Change and Recount before making the Will Ferrell/Zach Galifianakis comedy The Campaign. Scott Z. Burns (Side Effects, Contagion) has been hired to pen the adapted screenplay. Aside from including the shamed cyclist’s story, this project also has the distinction of owning the life rights of Armstrong’s US Postal Service racing teammate Tyler Hamilton, who memorably gave a crushing confessional interview on 60 Minutes. You can revisit the more damning moments of that appearance below:

The third project is a biopic from Paramount Pictures and Bad Robot based on the New York Times sportswriter Juliet Macur’s book Cycle Of Lies: The Fall Of Lance Armstrong. J.J. Abrams will produce and has claimed he’s talking with Bradley Cooper to star. However, when Cooper was asked about the possible project, he said he knew nothing about it. Since then, no news has surfaced.

There’s little likelihood all three of these films will come to fruition. Already, a Jake Gyllenhaal vehicle from Sony—that predated this doping scandal—has crashed and burned. But with Frear’s film looking to shoot this fall it seems to have the edge on Warner Bros. and Paramount’s projects. While it’s usually irksome when dual biopics pop up close together (Capote/Infamous, Hitchcock/The Girl), the heart-sickening story of Armstrong’s seems even more likely to incite public aversion. Or maybe that’s just me.

This poll is no longer available.

Shia LaBeouf had some beef with the producers as well as lead star Alec Baldwin while working on the Broadway play Orphans, leading to the actor leaving the production only yesterday. However, no one seems to be sweating the dismissal too much. That’s because Orphans has already replaced the actor, favoring another child actor turned adult star for the role.

3:10 To Yuma’s Ben Foster has signed on for the Broadway play. The 32-year-old actor actually rose to fame as a child in the show Flash Forward and more recently has played a brooding artist in Six Feet Under and a killer in the aforementioned Yuma, making him presumably a good fit for the Orphans character, Treat, who is described as “unstable” and “malevolent” by the NY Times. According to that outlet, Foster had previously auditioned for the role, but lost out to LaBeouf.

Orphans initially starred Tom Sturridge, Alec Baldwin and LaBeouf in a play. Now the latter has dropped out, things are likely going to be a little tense when Foster joins the show, as problems have occurred on set between the producers, LaBeouf and Baldwin since the play’s February 11 rehearsals. While the situation was a tough one, everyone seems to want to move forward with the play and assumedly leave the past behind them.

On LaBeouf’s end of the spectrum, the actor has been publishing e-mail snippets between himself and some of the other people involved with Orphans. If you want to get into the dirty details, you can check those out on his Twitter account.

Though MGM was underwhelmed by David Fincher's The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo—reducing it to a "modest loss" —the thriller was heralded by critics blown away by Rooney Mara Oscar-nominated turn as the incomparable Lisbeth Salander. Since then, major filmmakers have been lining up to work with the fast-rising starlet, including Terrence Malick, Steven Soderbergh, and Spike Jonze. Basically, Mara has her pick of projects for the foreseeable future, so it speaks well of the upcoming Ain’t Them Bodies Saints that she is now attached to star.

Deadline reports that Mara, Ben Foster and Casey Affleck are all presently circling the project which is said to be a contemporary crime drama in the vein of Bonnie and Clyde. Whether that means a pair of crooks who have a twisted love life that binds them together through their exploits, or that it's meant to shake up our expectations of the genre (or both) remains to be seen as no further plot details or even vague character descriptions are being released at this time.

Nonetheless, this film is already looking pretty good on paper—well—aside from its awkward title. Of course, the aforementioned, attached talented trio bodes well for Ain't's execution, but so does it's writer-director David Lowery, who garnered buzz last year with his short film Pioneer, which went on to win the Grand Jury Award at SXSW. The celebrated storyteller developed the screenplay for Ain’t Them Bodies Saintswithin the illustrious Sundance Writers Lab. And now it seems the script is ready to roll with casting kicking off and financing being lined up. Yet what's most enticing about this proposed production is not just the combined screen presence and performance savvy of Mara, Foster and Affleck, but the fearlessness of these three who have each been known to take on incredibly risky material for better or worse. It may not guarantee Ain’t Them Bodies Saints will be as groundbreaking as Bonnie and Clyde, but it does promise to be intriguing.

The title of the Peter Berg-directed Lone Survivor may make it sound like it will be a one-man show, but let's hope that's not the case because the trio of talent that could board the film would be totally wasted if the project only focused on one of them.

According to Deadline, Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch and Ben Foster are currently in talks to sign on for the new Berg movie, which was first announced last May. The movie is based on the book by Marcus Luttrell about a group of four Navy SEALs who were captured by the Taliban while on a mission to kill a terrorist leader in 2005. As you can probably guess by now, Wahlberg, Kitsch and Foster, should they sign on, will play three of the four members of the team with Wahlberg taking the role of Luttrell.

Berg wrote the script for the film after being embedded with a SEAL team in Iraq, though this isn't the filmmakers first time in the desert as he previously directed The Kingdom with Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper, Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman. While this would be the first time that both Foster and Wahlberg have worked with Berg as a director, Kitsch has worked with him closely, both on the television series Friday Night Lights - which Berg co-created - and Battleship, which is due out this summer.

Navy SEALs seem to be the "in" thing these days, with Act of Valor opening at number one last weekend and movies like Kathryn Bigelow's untitled Kill Bin Laden project and John Stockwell's Code Name: Geronimo currently in development. Let's just pray that Hollywood doesn't let the bubble burst like they let happen with vampires.

Another young talent in Hollywood has just decided to make the transition to directing. Not long ago, multi-talented artist Joseph Gordon-Levitt announced plans for his first foray behind the camera with a comedy that he also wrote and will star in alongside Scarlett Johansson. A few days after, Going the Distance screenwriter Geoff LaTullippe landed a deal at Paramount to direct one of his own screenplays. And now actor Ben Foster has joined the freshmen by lining up his own directorial debut.

Screen Daily first broke the news that the very talented performer (when he's not going comically way over the top, like in Alpha Dog) will be making the move from in front to behind the camera. While details about the project are being kept under wraps, the film is being set up at US producers Jay Van Hoy and Lars Knudsen's Parts & Labor Production Company and will be made under the watchful eye of Oren Moverman. I think it's fair to say that Moverman has clearly developd a kinship and certainly some influence over the actors he works with since Woody Harrelson wants to work on anything the writer/director creates (The Messenger, Rampart) and now he's stepping in the produce Foster first film. It's really a prefect match because I think Foster's finest work to date was for Movermen in 2009's Messenger.

Foster's film, due to start shooting sometime this summer, is part of a budding slate for Parts & Labor which includes films from Gregg Araki, Adam Rapp and Robinson Devor. The production company plans to make several low budget (three to five million) character driven projects, citing their wonderful work with Mike Mill's excellent Beginners as a case example. Lars Knudsen of P&L said these new projects fit within their frame because they "understand how to maintain or creative production values at these low budgets. That’s how we’re approaching the company... You need to find that price point where it’s attractive for everyone." If they can continue to produce films as unique and interesting as Beginners, and by the sounds of these projects they are certainly trying, then this model is definitely attractive for everyone.

The cast of John Krokidas’ upcoming Beat generation film Kill Your Darlings was already looking especially promising, with Daniel Radcliffe, Elizabeth Olsen, Jack Huston and Dane DeHaan on board to star. Four more notable and talented actors have joined the project.

Kill Your Darlings is described as a thriller, which follows a murder that takes place in 1944 and brings together poets Allen Ginsberg (Radcliffe), Jack Kerouac (Huston), and William Burroughs. Olsen is set to play the part of Edie Parker and DeHaan has been cast for the part of Lucien Carr.

IndieWire posted the news today that Michael C. Hall, Kyra Sedgwick, Ben Foster and Jennifer Jason Leigh have joined the cast of Kill Your Darlings. Foster is set to play Burroughs, while Hall will play “Burroughs' longtime friend who falls victim to the murder.” IndieWire doesn’t have any details on who Leigh and Sedgwick will be playing.

While Foster plays Burroughs in this film, Viggo Mortensen is set to portray Burroughs in Walter Salles’ upcoming film On The Road (not to be confused with the 2009 film The Road, which also starred Mortensen). It should be interesting to see how both actors take on the roles and how they compare with one another as far as each film’s take on the poet.

TV viewers may recognize Michael C. Hall for playing the title character in Showtime’s Dexter, or David from HBO’s Six Feet Under. Meanwhile, Kyra Sedgwick has more than two decades worth of credited roles in film and television. Among her most recent roles is a part in Man on a Ledge, not to mention her starring role in TNT’s The Closer.

And while many may associate Jennifer Jason Leigh for playing the role of Stacy in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (or maybe that’s just me), she also has a lengthy list of film and television credits, including The Machinist and a part on Showtime’s Weeds. Needless to say, there are plenty of notable names to bring some added attention to the already intriguing Kill Your Darlings.

The Mechanic is a remake of the same-named 1972 Charles Bronson movie about a hit man training an apprentice with a connection to one of his victims. Jason Statham has stepped in to the Bronson role as the titular mechanic. He won’t spend much time in this movie fixing cars. Ben Foster is the apprentice, and if you’re wondering whether he can pull off playing a badass, just pick up a copy of 3:10 to Yuma.

Yesterday the movie’s first poster debuted, now it has a trailer too. Watch the first trailer for The Mechanic below or in higher-res on MSN.

It seems clear from the trailer that Donald Sutherland is the victim and Ben Foster must be his son whom Statham’s character begins training. Perhaps out of guilt? Perhaps out of respect for the man he killed? Sutherland’s character seems as though he’s some sort of mentor to Statham’s.

However it plays out, there’s a lot of potential here. The trailer really fires on all cylinders, this could easily be Jason Statham’s best movie, the kind of film his fans have been waiting for. Jason Statham’s In Bruges? Maybe. He’s done plenty of great action movies and The Bank Job proved he could act, but he’s never really done a movie which fully utilized both of those talents. This could be it.

For more on The Mechanic visit the Blend Film Database.

Trying to define the term “A-lister” with any sort of consistency is like trying to describe why ninety-five percent of the population seems to think Jennifer Aniston is sexier than Kate Winslet. If you were listing their features on paper, I’m not sure you’d have ninety-five tally marks next to Aniston. Kate Winslet has stunning eyes, a beautiful smile, a nice figure, but she’s more classically beautiful, which, oddly, works against her on the sexy scale. Jennifer Aniston just is sexier. And using that full-proof logic, let me now bring forth the rambling, semi-coherent definition which we’ll be using for the purposes of this piece of ordered deliciousness.

An A-lister is the person Hollywood goes to when they want a sure thing. Their name goes on the poster along with their face. Everyone else ends up somewhere in the background. They’ll carry at least a strong portion of the running time (though sometimes less than half), and ultimately, the success or failure of the film will affect their earning power more than anyone else’s. They’ll have an uncanny knack for getting their ideal projects greenlit and it wouldn’t seem weird if you heard two different tables at the same restaurant having a conversation about said person. They don’t necessarily need to be on a Julia Roberts level, but they do need to be better known for their acting than Jeff Daniels. He’s the cut off point. My mom knows who Jeff Daniels is, and has seen some of the stuff he's been in, but I guarantee I will never in my life hear her ask when his next movie is coming out.

None of the actors and actresses on this list are more known for their acting skills than Jeff Daniels is, but we, the visionaries here at Cinema Blend, believe someday they will be. We believe someday our moms will be asking when their next films will be out, and three, perhaps even four, separate restaurant tables will be espousing some sort of opinion on which of their movies they like best. We believe they will leave us with an amazing collection of brilliant movies and quite a few we’d rather forget. We believe someday we’ll be able to say things like “That wasn’t as good as Aaron Paul’s last movie” without getting blank stares. We believe there’s a Tom Cruise in here, a few Vince Vaughn’s and maybe even a Lauren Bacall. We believe these things because we can’t help ourselves and because one of us is one-sixteenth Gypsy. Here’s a look at twenty up and coming actors who will one day lead big-budget event films and Oscar-worthy dramas. Their mere interest in a film will inspire rewrites and the removal of studio tape, and by their forties, we’ll be playing Sporcle quizzes trying to remember all their acting credits.

Amber Heard

Amber Heard is one of the most devastatingly beautiful girls in a town full of devastatingly beautiful girls. Her A-list looks have helped get her this far, and odds are that alone won't be enough to get her farther. Still, I'm betting Amber has something bigger and better than early-life hotness in her. Not because she can act necessarily, the jury's still out on that, but because she seems willing to try. See Amber could very easily sit back and be another Blake Lively, but she hasn't done that. Her career so far makes one thing very clear: She's a gamer. She's good looking, yes, but she keeps getting work because she's pretty much up for anything. Got a weird indie-movie where she'll be engaged in a naked threesome? Count her in and forget the body double. Nic Cage doing some crazy, hell-themed, car-revenge movie and you need someone to play his badass chick sidekick? Sign her up. Need a babe to play Seth Rogen's underage girlfriend in a stoner-action comedy? Amber Heard is there. Amber Heard's approach is no-holds barred, an actress who's actually there because she seems more interested in acting than being a brand. She doesn't have a list of things she won't do in her contract and because of that I think her big break will happen at any minute. I'm betting it'll be as frequently naked muse Chenault in The Rum Diary, if that long since finished Johnny Depp movie ever released. But even if it isn't, she'll be big some day anyway, because Amber Heard is up for anything.

Anton Yelchin

Remember that scene in Step Brothers where Rob Riggle tells Will Ferrell he wants to punch him in the face? Not for any particular reason, of course, there's just something about that suck hole that needs punching. That's how I feel about Anton Yelchin's passive-aggressive, one hundred and eight pound frame at the start of every movie. There's just something about him that bothers me, makes me want to yell “man up” during random intervals until he feels self-conscious and changes, but as the movie goes on, I always start to hate these Anton Yelchin characters a little less. Then by the end, I'm cheering as they go skinny dipping with Amanda Seyfried and make out with Kat Dennings. I don't know why it happens, perhaps it's because Anton Yelchin's emaciated frame is Oliver Twisty, but more than likely, it's because these characters are supposed to come off as effeminate douches until they slowly start to figure it out. Such is the power of Anton Yelchin that he could convince me to hate him, the bastard.

Donald Glover

Donald Glover is the next Tina Fey. I mean that. He's a creator as much as he is a performer, a guy who when he wants to do something is willing to simply step up and make it happen himself. He's prolific. A fountain of creative genius. He already starred in, co-wrote, and produced one of the funniest movies of the decade. It's not Donald Glover's fault that people weren't smart enough to see it. You really should run out and buy a copy of Mystery Team. On Community he's one half of the funniest comedic duos since Larry and Balki, but he's destined for bigger things than Bronson Pinchot. People were half-joking when they started a grass roots campaign to convince Sony to make Donald the next Spider-Man, but would anyone have minded if they'd taken the internet seriously and actually cast him? Probably not. He's too talented, too likable, for just about anything (even something as ill-conceived as Sony's Spider-Man reboot) he does to suck. He'll be huge, he'll do it all on his own, his way, through talent, hard work, and sheer likability. No, he's not related to Danny Glover.

Emma Stone

Emma Stone has proven she can be a charming-ish love interest (Superbad), a solid supporting actress who can occasionally carry a scene (Zombieland), and now, with last month's release of the enjoyable Easy A, she's proven she can topline an above-average comedy that actually makes its budget back. That leaves her with a choice. She can either attempt to become Anna Faris, a not really worthwhile goal she will fail at, or she can try to be the next Jennifer Aniston, a more reasonable use of her talents she can definitely succeed at. It'll all come down to genre choices. I can't tell you how many reviews of Easy A I've read that have called Emma Stone a funnywoman. She's not. Gilda Radner was a funnywoman. Emma Stone is a good actress with excellent comedic timing. She's more than capable of servicing comedic material, but trying to force laughs on her own will ultimately prove a different story. Here's to hoping she goes the Jennifer Aniston route, and in doing so, takes a few more Office Space's than Along Came Polly's.

Terry Crews

I'm voting for Camacho. That needs to be on a bumper sticker, somewhere. Terry Crews is heading into his mid-forties and he's been working non-stop in film and television for more than a decade on more than forty different projects. You might think that at his age, after so much work, if he was going to make it big it would have happened by now. But Samuel L. Jackson was forty-six before Quentin Tarantino recognized what he could do, and made him a mega-star by casting him in Pulp Fiction. That's where I see Terry Crews. He's the kind of actor who only really gets big late in life, the kind of guy whose talent doesn't really mature until he's long past his sexual prime. Terry Crews is just getting going. He's becoming that guy that everybody recognizes from somewhere, and would probably like to vote for in a dystopian future where everyone's dumb and our president is a retired wrestler. He can play the warm and caring father, or kill with comedic timing. He can flex his muscles and hold his own with the likes of Stallone and Rourke. Everything, whether it's an Old Spice ad or a gun battle, is a little bit better with Terry Crews in it. It's just taking the world a little while to figure it out and now it's only a matter of time before he hooks up with the right filmmaker and gets his own Royal with Cheese.

Tom Felton

I'm not convinced, but if interviews and Youtube videos are any indication, Tom Felton sucks. Which doesn't mean he's a terrible actor—the opposite in fact is true. While his cameo in Get Him To The Greek gains him more street cred with me, his incredible performances in the Harry Potter franchise are what gains him street cred with 95% of everyone else. Which is sort of funny, because Tom Felton/Draco Malfoy only accounts for like 7% of Harry Potter references. Outside of Harry Potter, Felton's been writhing in the muck of a bunch of gritty indie flicks that only like 3% of the population has seen (.5% accounted for by Felton's family members) —case in point, you ever heard of 13 Hours or The Disappeared? This equivocating has caused Mr. Felton to be about as popular as banana peppers on a Subway sandwich. Of course, Vegas odds says there's like a 4% chance of him somehow ending up on the A-List. Because I'm a risk taker, and because I'm pretty sure Felton might just be an acting genius, I'd take the over in a second (22% of you should be smart enough to, too).

Anna Kendrick

On the surface Anna Kendrick seems eternally suited to be pigeonholed in the thankless role of best friend to whoever it is they've hired to play the movie's lead. The girl she's playing best friend to will have better hair, and Anna Kendrick would be doomed to spend her character actress life in a world revolving around the part someone else is playing. But Kendrick's better than that and while she may not have the best hair in whatever movie she's in, no matter how she's used there's always the sense that she's that girl you know, and will probably meet again. She seems real, in a way so few others have, and when given the opportunity to do something other than play the best friend, she knocked it out of the park. Maybe she'll keep playing the supporting role for a few more years, but when you watch Anna Kendrick there's the sense that she has something pretty great inside her somewhere. She seems real, in a way too few Hollywood actresses do. She's more than just the lead character's best friend, she's your best friend too, and too rare to leave her stranded at fourth billing in someone else's film.

Kieran Culkin

Eighty percent as cute and every bit as talented as his more famous older brother Macaulay, Kieran Culkin took a seven year hiatus from Hollywood after his Golden Globe-nominated lead performance in Igby Goes Down, only to recently return in a few juicy supporting roles including off-beat man whore Wallace Wells in Scott Pilgrim Vs The World. Brooding, angsty and always delightfully eccentric, Kieran Culkin usually comes off like that kid in Honors Math who ditches out the side door to chain smoke and read Phillip K. Dick novels. In all honesty, it's probably bad for society that we romanticize those underachievers, the Will Hunting's of the world, but how could we not when people like Kieran Culkin tinge their middle fingers with infectious rebellion and at-all-costs individuality.

Chloe Moretz

We stopped being amazed by child actors who actually seemed good at their job, some time not long after Haley Joel Osment proved it was possible for kids not to suck on screen in The Sixth Sense. Haley Joel was a big deal, and every kid actor that came after him, no matter how good, is not. But Chloe Moretz is at least as good as Osment and as a bonus, she has parents who don't really seem to care about traumatizing her all that much. It's probably not good for her eternal soul and I worry that all that time she spent covered in sticky red entrails during the filming of Kick-Ass may have turned her into Dexter, but if she can avoid the massive drug problems of similarly treated child actors then Chloe Moretz could grow up to be something pretty good. Or even if she does turn into a coked out party kid as she gets older, there's still the chance she'll end up turning into Drew Barrymore, hopefully minus a starring role in Poison Ivy 7.

Gillian Jacobs

Gillian Jacobs is the kind of woman who looks like she doesn't need to wear makeup, the kind of girl who you feel certain rolls out of bed looking that way, and only looks cuter when her hair is messed up. She's one of the most underrated components of NBC's Community, going toe to toe with Joel McHale as the empowered female who secretly would rather be the girl next door. Gillian has wicked comedic timing and she's versatile too. Whether she's playing a day-shift stripper in Choke or a British party crasher in Helena at the Wedding every scene sparkles just a little more when she's in it. One look at her and she just seems like she's destined for something bigger, like she should be replacing Julia Roberts as the new queen of rom-coms, or at the least providing a less uptight, judgement-free alternative to the ones starring Katherine Heigl. At some point Jacobs is going to hook up with Judd Apatow and blow the world away, until then enjoy her on TV and plan for the day when your wife will own all of her movies on DVD.

Clark Duke

The first time I saw Sex Drive, I turned to my roommate and said, “Hey, that's the kid at the party in Superbad.” “No,” he said, “That's the kid from Greek.” Such is the it factor of Clark Duke, that his second feature film and first major supporting role would immediately remind me of his only other film, a one-off bit part he's not even credited for, and remind my roommate of a show on ABC Family. There's just something about his mannerisms that is really funny, like if a 1976 Chevy Chase took two years off to eat excessively and somehow grow more sure of himself. Clark Duke is a throwback. He's the chubby, cocksure, loud idiot for the internet generation. God only knows if he'll reach the lofty heights of Belushi, but I'm pretty sure he'll smash a few guitars along the way.

Michael Pitt

I've known Michael Pitt was going to be famous for the last ten years. Remember Finding Forrester? He's the kid who can't come up with Coleridge, even though his last name is Coleridge. I remember watching the nervous sweat pool around his cheeks and thinking this kid's got it. Then, the next year he showed up in Bully, playing a stoner that impulsively joins a murder plot because he wants to have sex with one of the girls involved. Again, awesome. Same thing in Hedwig And The Angry Inch and The Dreamers and Funny Games. Now, Michael Pitt is the second lead on Boardwalk Empire, Scorsese's new HBO Prohibition drama. Do I really even need to tell you he's awesome in it? This kid has literally been the best thing about almost every film he's been in, the only thing holding him back has been his penchant for taking obscure indie films most people don't see. There's a way to be groundbreaking and at least partly mainstream. Someday Michael Pitt will mark his territory in that place and at that point, he'll have turned into his generation's Gary Oldman.

Mia Wasikowska

In the space of a single year, this year, Mia Wasikowska has managed to play the lead in one of Hollywood's most financially successful blockbusters while at the same time tackling a pivotal supporting role in one of the year's most critically acclaimed indies. And still, almost no one seems to know her name, let alone how to spell it. That won't last long. She has too much range. She does quietly complex almost unlike any other young actress you've seen lately on screen, and she has a knack for channeling that into bravery and strength when it's needed. Mia has a kind of ethereal grace, the kind you'd get from Grace Kelly, combined with an inexplicable layer of Christina Ricci oddity. She's beautiful, without looking exactly like anyone else you've already seen on screen. Maybe she'll get caught up in corset dramas, that seems to be where she's most comfortable, but expect to see more of her.

Aziz Ansari

A good comedy needs three things: a funny premise, talent and momentum. Sometimes that momentum can come from a flawless script, but more often than not, it channels from the main actor either through energy or cleverness. Jim Carrey, Chris Farley, these guys are house of energy comedians, they come at you with all they've got, hoping to infect you with their determination. Woody Allen, Christopher Guest, these guys are clever, improving and subtly bouncing off what's given with a relentless wit that builds throughout a film. At twenty-seven years old, I've seen Aziz Ansari do both. From the brilliant Funny People Randy spin-off to the low-energy retorts of Tom Haverford on Parks And Recreation, Aziz Ansari is quietly one of the most talented comedians we've seen in years. He can carry the show like at the 2010 MTV Movie Awards or he can steal a scene here or there like in Observe And Report. It's like young Bill Murray and old Bill Murray fucked and had a dark-skinned baby. Good God, people would not pay money for that sex tape.

Joel McHale

Now nearly 40, you have to think with a hit TV show like Community under his belt that Joel McHale is more interested in putting a new pool in his backyard than getting even more famous, but it's probably going to happen to him anyway. His eerily perfect combination of easygoing charm and biting, sarcastic wit in a Hollywood ready body is too much for anyone, let alone a studio exec sure to see dollar signs, to resist. The current incarnation of Saturday Night Live isn't going to crank out any more new movie stars any time soon and we have to find the next Adam Sandler somewhere. Maybe it'll be Joel McHale, who probably believes he's far more likely to end up mirroring Rodney Dangerfield's career path than Billy Madison's, but you never know when he'll hallucinate a girlfriend stealing penguin. He did a good job in Soderbergh's otherwise blah The Informant! last year. It's only a matter of time before the movie world starts to notice, and craves more of his lanky, cynical talents.

Ben Foster

Ben Foster has played a psychotic prisoner in My Name is Earl, a learning disabled teen in Freaks and Geeks, and a confused and sexually frustrated artist in Six Feet Under… and this eclectic bibliography only accounts for his early television work. Whether he's playing a psychotic, erotic cowboy in 3:10 to Yuma or a panicked yet determined brother in Alpha Dog, Foster always keeps his audience in rapt attention. Maybe it's the nuance of crystal eyes. Maybe it's that dreamy/scary effect he shrugs out like its nothing (somewhere there's a girl all ready to change him). All I know, is back in the day Foster and fellow coworker Jewel Staite (of Stargate: Atlantis fame) were on this show that nobody remembers, with a title everyone knows (Flash Forward). It was about two kids, one a class clown, one a girl who tried to act grown-up, trying to make it through the ups and downs of middle school together. When Foster's teenage self entered that set, he walked on-screen like he was some Ellis Island immigrant knowing he had arrived. He may make famous for his off-kilter good looks, he should make famous for his acting skills, but I think he could make it on charisma alone.

Aaron Paul

Aaron Paul is a brilliant actor, but perhaps more importantly, he's handsome and creepy and depending on how he's dressed and how his face looks, either an intellectual member of high society or a learning-disabled product of inbreeding. He easily waffles between extremes with the slightest alterations. Johnny Depp can do that too, one minute a conquering hero, a merciless villain the next, all while never saying a word. It's all in the face, that handsome, yet up to no good smirk, the one that won Aaron Paul an Emmy for his work on Breaking Bad. Do yourself a favor and check out the remake of The Last House On The Left or his turn as Sarah's ex-Mormon boyfriend Scott on HBO's Big Love. I haven't the slightest idea where Aaron Paul will end up in ten years, but I can promise you the path to get there will be littered with a lot of strange films.

Jaden Smith

Jaden Smith is going to be a massive movie star, whether you like it or not, and whether he deserves it or not. His dad is Will Smith, one of the only big Hollywood box office draws left on the planet, and Will has sort of made it his mission to turn Jaden into his heir apparent. It's happening, you can't stop it. The good news is that Jaden might not actually be bad at it. The Karate Kid remake was one of the few movies worth seeing this summer and while most of the credit goes to the brilliant work of Jackie Chan, Jaden wasn't half-bad for a 12-year-old. He has a famous Dad, he probably doesn't have to try that hard, but he seems to be trying hard anyway. Maybe Jaden has inherited enough of his father drive, determination, and flat out talent that we won't mind all that much when he's shoved down our collective throats. At least he hasn't tried to become the next Jonas Brother, he could have done that you know, and it would have worked. The kid, for now at least, seems genuinely interested in acting. He'll be a star and maybe this is one case when nepotism isn't such a bad thing.

John Francis Daley

John Francis Daley is either going to be huge, or he's going to be exactly as big as he is now for several years to come before fizzling out. I really can't make up my mind. You see, common sense tells me his time has passed. Even though he's barely twenty-five years old, the last half-decade has been dominated by hyper-intelligent, socially-awkward, shyly cute nerds like Michael Cera and Jesse Eisenberg. John Francis Daley is nothing, if not that character. He's been playing that character since he was called Sam Weir on Freaks & Geeks. Hell, he's still playing that character (now named Dr. Lance Sweets) on an above-average crime show on network television. He's like the bizarre-o Matthew Grey Gubler. For the love of God, those two should be churning out scientist double date comedies like Harvard-educated Cheech and Chong's, but alas, the two crime crushers have yet to connect. I think maybe John Francis Daley might headline a few thinking man's Rom Coms at some point, but maybe that's only because I've learned what the likes of Seth Rogen, James Franco, Linda Cardellini and Busy Phillips had to teach me: being associated with Judd Apatow gets you a couple of Scooby Doo flicks and an invitation to the Hanks Family Thanksgiving, at worst.

Justin Timberlake

Like Michael Vick, John Travolta and Disney's non-Pixar animation department, Justin Timberlake has been written off an almost uncountable number of times. He went from Star Search to The Mickey Mouse Club to N Sync to pop superstardom, all of which involved handsomeness, likeability and singing. Then, out of nowhere, he went from Saturday Night Live guest host to Alpha Dog to Black Snake Moan and now to The Social Network, literally crushing every performance like acting was his primary skill. And the sick thing about it is, it just well may be, all while ignorant purists keep writing him off. I can't tell you how many times before The Social Network came out people told me, "Yeah, it sounds great, but it's got Justin Timberlake." We need to face facts, people. Justin Timberlake is not only handsome beyond words, he's an excellent actor who throws himself into the work. If you gave me three possible outcomes for JT's future: fading away, continuing on as an above-average supporting performer or achieving Hollywood success beyond his musical achievements, I would undoubtedly put it all on the latter, even if he did start his career as a Mouskateer.

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