Jodie Foster has had an incredible career that included amazing work both in front of and behind the camera, and multiple Academy Awards, but she hasn’t made it without some scars. Some scars are likely emotional, but she has some real physical scars that she’s carried with her most of her career, when she was attacked by an actual lion as a child.

In a recent conversation with W Magazine, Jodie Foster was asked if she has any scars, and she recounts a story, which she’s spoken of before, where she was grabbed by a lion on the set of the Disney film Napoleon and Samantha when she was a child actor. Foster explained:

Napoleon and Samantha follows a young boy named Napoleon, played by Johnny Whitaker, who adopts an old lion owned by a clown, alongside his grandfather. After the grandfather passes away, Napoleon runs away, in part to protect the lion, and he brings his friend Samantha, played by Foster, with him.

The film was Foster’s big screen debut and would mark the beginning of a long collaboration with Disney that would go on to include the original Freaky Friday and Candleshoe, the movie that would prevent Foster from taking the role of Princess Leia in Star Wars.

Needless to say, being picked up by the jaws of a lion is high on the list of the most terrifying things I can think of. Maybe the fact that Disney uses computer-generated lions now is really a good thing. Luckily, Foster admits that while she remembers the event, a lot of the details are fuzzy because she went into shock. However, one of the details she does recall is actually kind of hilarious, though maybe not so much at the time. Foster continued:

According to other reports of the event, the lion that grabbed Foster wasn’t the main lion being used in the film, but a stand-in. Still, Foster showed some pretty impressive early career focus by being willing to go back to work with the same lion after the attack. She said:

Unfortunately, you can’t watch Napoleon & Samantha with a Disney+ subscription if you want to see the result of this wild and dangerous ordeal. The movie is one of far too many older Disney films not available on the platform.

Robert De Niro has been professionally acting for over 60 years, but it was in the mid-1970s that he started becoming the household name we know him as today. After impressing in 1973’s Mean Streets and 1974’s The Godfather Part II, the latter of which netted him an Academy Award, 1976 brought Taxi Driver, where he played the Oscar-nominated role of Travis Bickle. De Niro starred opposite an adolescent Jodie Foster in his second collaboration with director Martin Scorsese, but I just learned that the she thought the elder actor was “really uninteresting” when they were working together.

Foster herself revealed this while speaking at the Marrakech Film Festival (via Variety) after receiving a tribute award. After sharing how Robert De Niro “took me under his wing” during Taxi Driver and ran lines with her at coffee shops. However, because he was taking a Method approach with playing Travis, the mentally unhinged Vietnam War veteran (or is he?)-turned-cab driver, Foster actually found him to be boring during this time, saying:

Remember, Jodie Foster was just 12 years old during Taxi Driver’s summer 1975 shoot, so it’s understandable why she would have felt that way about Robert De Niro during this period. Even though she was clued in on him going Method at the time rather than being informed about it after the fact, like she said, Travis Bickle isn’t exactly the most interesting person to hang out with. She wasn’t getting to know the real De Niro, so I probably would have been bored too during those lunches.

Fortunately for Jodie Foster, who starred as child prostitute Iris in Taxi Driver (one of the best ‘70s movies), eventually the two reached a “breakthrough” once Robert De Niro have her a better understanding of his acting preparation process. She continued:

I’m glad things turned around between the two actors, otherwise the rest of Taxi Driver’s principal photography would have been pretty awkward between Robert De Niro and Jodie Foster. I’d like to think that the latter reaching that “epiphany” helped her score her own Oscar nomination for performing Iris. Alas, it was Beatrice Straight who Best Supporting Actress for Network at the 49th Academy Awards ceremony, while De Niro lost out to Peter Finch in the Best Actor category from the same Sidney Lumet-directed movie.

If you’re inclined to stream Taxi Driver after reading about this portion of Jodie Foster’s filming experience, that can be done with an HBO Max subscription. That’s also where you can watch Foster’s turn as Liz Danvers in the most recent season of True Detective, while Robert De Niro will next be seen reprising Jack Byrrnes in Focker-In-Law when it opens November 25 on the 2026 movies schedule.

More than three decades after The Silence of the Lambs won the big five at the Oscars, one rumor refuses to die: that stars Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster clashed—or at least kept a frosty distance—on set. The myth has morphed over the years into a grab bag of alleged “feud” details, usually tied to Hopkins’ unsettling performance as Hannibal Lecter and the idea that Foster avoided him between takes to protect her headspace as Clarice Starling. Hopkins took a moment from his busy 2025 movie schedule to finally weigh in on the rumor.

Anthony Hopkins recently appeared on an episode of The Armchair Expert podcast with Dax Shepard. During the conversation, Hopkins addressed the long-circulating chatter head-on, saying the vibe with his co-star was professional and decidedly not "spooky." It’s as definitive a correction as we’ve had in years, and it comes straight from Lecter himself. As he explains it:

That’s a clear counterpoint to a story Foster has told. In 2016, on The Graham Norton Show, she addressed the same rumors and remembered the set very differently. As she recalled:

It’s a fascinating split in perspective—and not as odd as it sounds. As imposing as Lecter looms in our collective memory, he and Clarice actually share the screen for only about 16 minutes of a nearly two-hour film. Given that limited overlap, it makes sense they could pass whole shooting days with little interaction, even as each recalls the experience in very different ways.

Jonathan Demme’s film is famously precise, possessing tight blocking, direct-to-lens close-ups and long takes that force Clarice and Lecter into a psychological duel. That on-screen electricity rarely requires real-life animus; it usually comes from two actors trusting the same plan and director. The Welsh actor's comments point to precisely that.

Jonathan Demme’s film is famously precise, possessing tight blocking, direct-to-lens close-ups and long takes that force Clarice and Lecter into a psychological duel. That on-screen electricity rarely requires real-life animus; it usually comes from two actors trusting the same plan and director. The Welsh actor's comments point to precisely that.

Hannibal Lecter landed like a lightning strike in 1991, cementing him as one of the greatest horror movie villains, but that was with less than 25 minutes of screen time, and every syllable hits like a scalpel. Performances that iconic tend to spawn myths to explain the power. Sometimes those stories get juiced in the retelling. Hopkins’ version demystifies the rumors just a tad.

By the Hearts in Atlantis star’s account, the “feud” talk is way off base, and debunking it doesn’t dull the movie one bit. The Silence of the Lambs is still a masterclass in performance and tone, driven by two leads who knew precisely what the film needed. His clarification just underscores a simple truth: great on-screen chemistry doesn’t require off-screen drama.

Want more Hopkins right now? His latest film, Locked (co-starring Bill Skarsgård), is streaming with a Hulu subscription. You can also grab his new memoir, We Did OK, Kid: A Memoir by Anthony Hopkins, wherever books are sold.

As for The Silence of the Lambs, you can revisit Lecter in all his horrifying glory with a subscription to AMC+.

Some of the most enduring stars got their starts more than six decades ago, and they are still going strong today. Stars like Harrison Ford, Dame Judi Dench, Jeff Bridges, and even Jodie Foster have been acting their whole lives, and their amazing careers will live on forever. Here is our list of amazing actors who started in the 1960s and are still working today.

Robert Duvall

After cutting his teeth with some television appearances starting in 1959, Robert Duvall made one of the most memorable film debuts of all time as Boo Radley in 1962's To Kill A Mockingbird. Duvall hasn't stopped stealing scenes in the 60+ years since. He's starred in some of the greatest movies ever, like The Godfather, and won an Oscar for Tender Mercies. His most recent credit is The Pale Blue Eye from 2022.

Sally Field

Sally Field is truly America's sweetheart. Her breakout role came on the classic TV show Gidget, and she's starred in some legendary movies and TV shows ever since. With roles in movies as diverse as Smokey and the Bandit, Forrest Gump, and Fried Green Tomatoes, Field has proven she can handle any role she takes on.

Clint Eastwood

There are no bigger legends in Hollywood history than Clint Eastwood. Not much has been said here. His career started in earnest with Spaghetti Westerns, and he's been directing and starring in movies ever since.

Jane Fonda

Jane Fonda is Hollywood royalty as the daughter of Henry Fonda, so it's no surprise that she started her career at a young age. Her first credit goes all the way back to 16960's Tall Story, and she's still starring in movies today, like 2023's 80 for Brady.

Morgan Freeman

Morgan Freeman's career really didn't take off on screen until the 1980s (though he had plenty of credits in the '70s, too). He started mostly on stage in the 1960s and kept his focus there until landing a TV gig in 1971 on PBS's The Electric Company. Today, he remains one of America's most beloved stars.

Shirley MacLaine

Shirley MacLaine made her film debut way back in 1955 and by the 1960s was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. Her star has never dimmed in the decades since, either, with memorable roles in Downton Abbey and the live-action The Little Mermaid in 2018.

Dustin Hoffman

When you burst onto the scene in a movie like The Graduate, as Dustin Hoffman did in 1967, it's pretty much a guarantee you're going to be a star. In the 60 years since that seminal movie, Hoffman has won countless awards and starred in everything from comedies like Tootsie to dramas like Rain Man, getting nominated for Oscars for both (and winning his second for the latter).

Faye Dunaway

If you look at a list of the best movies of all time, you'll notice Faye Dunaway in the credits of many of them. Starting with Bonnie and Clyde in 1967, right up until the 2020s. She took a small hiatus in the teens, but has been back working regularly since.

Kurt Russell

Kurt Russell's career started when he was just a kid, often starring in Disney projects. It's even Hollywood folklore that Walt Disney's last words were when he scrawled Russell's name on a piece of paper. Though there is no way to know when the note was written. Still, for the better part of seven decades, Kurt Russell has been a Hollywood superstar.

Helen Mirren

Dame Helen Mirren (you know they are important when they get a title like "Dame") started in film in 1966, and that was after having already started acting professionally on stage in the UK. She's never stopped, including starring in the recent hit MobLand on Paramount+

Anthony Hopkins

Sir Anthony Hopkins' first credited film role came in the Shakespeare adaptation The Lion in Winter in 1968 alongside Peter O'Toole and Katharine Hepburn. He's since become one of the most beloved actors of his generation and has won countless awards and accolades.

Jodie Foster

If you look at Jodie Foster's credits, you might think she started in the 1970s as a teenager, but she was starring in commercials as far back as 1967 when she was just three years old.

Jeff Bridges

When you have a legend for a father like Jeff Bridges with Lloyd Bridges, its not hard to understand how he got his start so young. His amazing career in the decades since can only be credited to his immense talent, charm, and charisma on and off screen. And that's not, like, my opinion, man, it's a fact.

Rita Moreno

Puerto Rican superstar Rita Moreno can do it all. She can act, she can sing, and she can dance, and she's been dancing into our hearts since she first way back in 1950! For those of you counting, that's EIGHT decades of excellence.

Judi Dench

Like Dame Helen Mirren, Dame Judy Dench started in the theater, especially doing Shakespeare plays. Her first professional stage credits date back to 1957, and right up through the 2020s, she's been a favorite of millions. One of the best actors of her generation, it's crazy she's only won one Oscar (for Shakespeare in Love).

Harrison Ford

The first thing you might think of when you think of Harrison Ford is Star Wars or Indiana Jones. It's true that it was those movies in the late '70s and early '80s that made him a superstar, but his career started humbly with roles in movies like A Time for Killing and Luv in 1967.

Sophia Loren

For more than 70 years, Sophia Loren has been a star in Europe and the United States. She started in her native Italy in 1950 before coming Stateside in 1958 when she signed on to star in movies for Paramount. Before long, she was a superstar on both sides of the pond.

Warren Beatty

Like his co-star in Bonnie and Clyde, Faye Dunaway, Warren Beatty has been a star in Hollywood for decades. He's also been discerning in the roles he's taken over the years, so he doesn't have a long list of credits like most of the people on this list. That's not because his star dimmed. He's just particular, and that is something we all strive for.

Barbra Streisand

What can we really say about Barbra Streisand? She's a legendary singer and actor, and she's equally well-known for both. There are few stars as enduring and amazing as "Babs."

Robert Redford

Though he is officially retired now, Robert Redford is still one of the biggest Hollywood stars today (and ever). His career started with early roles on shows like The Twilight Zone, and by the time he hung up his cleats, so to speak, the star of The Natural was one of the biggest stars in the history of the industry.

Blythe Danner

Like many on this list, Blythe Danner started her professional career on Broadway and Off-Broadway in the 1960s. Her first movie credit came in 1972, but by then, she was a seasoned pro. She may be best known as the mother of Gwyneth Paltrow these days, but that is selling her way short, as she's been an award-winning actress for decades.

Al Pacino

Famously, Al Pacino entered the American consciousness in 1972's The Godfather, but he'd been working for a few years at that point, mostly on stage. His film debut was in Me, Natalie, alongside Sopranos cast member Nancy Marchand. He has been widely considered one of the best actors of his generation ever since.

Ellen Burstyn

Though her breakthrough didn't come until 1971 with The Last Picture Show, Ellen Burstyn had been picking up small roles on TV shows for years at that point. She has since gone on to win an Academy Award, a Tony Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, a BAFTA, and a Golden Globe Award. Not too shabby.

Robert De Niro

When you ask someone who the best actor of the last 60 years is, there is a decent chance Robert De Niro will be the name that comes out of their mouth. For many, many decades, De Niro has been stealing scenes and working his tail off to be the best actor he can be. He's gained weight for roles, dropped weight for others, and gotten completely cut for still others. All the while delivering his trademark charm and skills.

Cher

If you could turn back time and you were taking bets in the 1960s that Cher would still be one of the biggest stars in the world in the 2020s, you would probably get pretty good odds that she wouldn't be. She's proven everyone wrong, winning an Oscar for Moonstruck and continuing to wow audiences with her concerts.

Martin Sheen

It's hard to say just what role Martin Sheen will be best remembered for long after he's gone. Will it be Jeb Bartlett on The West Wing? Captain Benjamin L. Willard in Apocalypse Now? Carl Fox in Wall Street? Robert E. Lee in Gettysburg? What is for sure is that Sheen, who landed his first movie role in 1967, will be remembered fondly by millions of fans.

Vanessa Redgrave

English actress Vanessa Redgrave got her star in period pieces like A Man For All Seasons and Camelot in the 1960s. She parlayed that into a decades-long career that is still going, including a role in Cold Storage in 2025.

Ian McKellen

For modern generations, Ian McKellen is known for his roles as Gandalf the Grey and Magneto, but his career is so, so much more. One of the great Shakespearean actors of the last 60 years, he's been starring on stage and screen since the mid-'60s.

Candice Bergen

Candice Bergen found her biggest fame in the 1990s with Murphy Brown, but her career started way back in 1966 in the Sidney Lumet film The Group. She was a model before that, and has turned in role after beloved role on TV and in films.

Ron Howard

These days, Ron Howard is pretty much sticking just to directing, and he's an ace director to be sure. He famously started his Hollywood career as a kid in the 1950s and became a child star in the '60s as Opie Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show. He later starred in Happy Days, before getting behind the camera and becoming one of the great directors of his time.

Goldie Hawn

Goldie Hawn first became a household name in 1968 when she starred in Laugh-In. She's been a star ever since, including starring in a slew of box office hits in the '70s and '80s. There is no question she is one of the funniest actors of her generation, and now she's also the mother to some big stars, too, in Wyatt Russell and Kate Hudson. Not a bad legacy to leave.

Patrick Stewart

Like others on this list, Patrick Stewart will be best known for roles that came in the second half of his career, like Captain Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Professor X in The X-Men series. Of course, his career is much more than those two roles. It's a career that started in TV in the '60s on British shows like Coronation Street and Civilisation.

Jodie Foster is 62 years old and, because she's been acting since she was two years old, she's achieved six decades of success both in front of and behind the camera. She’s had an incredible career, winning multiple Oscars as an actress as well as other accolades. She has a preference for directing, though, and that perspective really shone through while she discussed today's crop of young actors.

The Maverick star has been spending more time in front of the camera of late than she has in recent years. She tells Variety that she has little interest in “acting for the sake of acting” and that for her, the work has to really speak to her in some way for it to be worth doing. This is apparently what separates Foster from her younger counterparts, as she says many young actors seem to just want to act, and they don’t care how or where. She said…

It’s certainly true that Jodie Foster had done more by the age of 18 than many actors achieve in an entire career. She had over 40 film and TV appearances on her resume by that point. She had an iconic role in Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver but also starred in some early Disney projects, including the original version of Freaky Friday and the kid-friendly mystery Candleshoe. (The latter of those two films was likely the reason Foster didn’t play Princess Leia in the original Star Wars.)

Foster certainly did take a different approach starting in 1980, which was the year she turned 18. Her roles became much more mature, and that resulted in a lot of acclaim and a pair of Best Actress Oscars. She notably played a rape survivor in The Accused and later took on her most famous role as Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs alongside Anthony Hopkins.

We can see some of Foster’s thought process at work in the roles she didn’t take. Despite her incredible success with The Silence of the Lambs, she didn’t return to her role for the sequel, Hannibal. Anthony Hopkins wishes he'd done the same.

To be clear, Foster doesn’t seem to indicate there’s anything wrong with acting for its own sake, and not caring so much about it. In many ways, that probably makes acting a lot easier. It’s just not the way Foster herself works, and the way she’s approached Hollywood has certainly worked for her.

The Academy Award for Best Actress has been handed out every year since 1929 — it was initially awarded to star Janet Gaynor for her roles in 7th Heaven, Street Angel, and Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans — and in the near-century since, it's been presented 97 times to 79 actresses. Winning that coveted statuette is unsurprisingly a dream come true for many a big-screen performer, but the award does come with added attention on the actress's next projects. Will whatever they work on next be as critically acclaimed or commercially successful? Here are 32 films that Oscar-winning actresses did after taking home the Academy Award, and how they were received.

Emma Stone

The whole La La Land Oscars brouhaha at the 2018 ceremony was quite memorable, but clearly so was star Emma Stone's performance as aspiring actress Mia Dolen opposite Ryan Gosling's jazz pianist Seb Wilder. One of Stone's best movies, the role earned the star her first Best Actress win (she would strike gold yet again with her 2024 victory for Poor Things). Her next performance also stirred up awards buzz: she was nominated for a Golden Globe and a Critics Choice Award for portraying tennis legend Billie Jean King in the sports drama Battle of the Sexes.

Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep's history with the Academy Awards is long and legendary: over her decades-spanning career, she's been nominated for a record 21 Oscar nominations, winning thrice. After taking home the Supporting Actress statuette for Kramer vs. Kramer, Streep got her first big Best Actress win for one of her most iconic performances: as the titular character of the devastating 1982 drama Sophie's Choice. Her next role was just as haunting: as Karen Silkwood in the 1983 thriller Silkwood, for which she earned yet another Best Actress nod.

Michelle Yeoh

Along with kicking major butt, Michelle Yeoh made history with her starring role as Evelyn Quan Wang in the 2022 action-dramedy Everything Everywhere All at Once, for she became the first Asian performer to win the Academy Award for Best Actress. Following that notable win in 2023, the Wicked star lent her voice to the sci-fi flick Transformers: Rise of the Beasts as Airazor, a Maximal warrior who transforms into a peregrine falcon. That title earned largely mixed reviews, and it currently sports a 51% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Jessica Chastain

After losing out on the Oscar for Zero Dark Thirty, Jessica Chastain took the Best Actress trophy home for her transformative role as televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker in the 2022 bio-drama The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Her next project was far less successful with awards bodies — the action-spy thriller The 355 was both a critical and commercial bomb, reportedly losing Universal an estimated $93 million. Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph wrote: "Despite the strong cast, this is the film equivalent of a corn-syrup-based fizzy drink being passed off as chic in taller, slimmer cans."

Frances McDormand

Three-time Best Actress winner Frances McDormand took home her first Oscar in 1997 for her instantly iconic performance as Minnesota police chief Marge Gunderson in the classic Coen Brothers dark comedy Fargo. Later that year, the acclaimed performer joined a heavyweight lineup of actresses — including Glenn Close, Cate Blanchett and Jennifer Ehle — in the World War II drama Paradise Road. However, despite that acting clout, the film received mixed reviews, with its approval rating at a lowly 43% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Brie Larson

Child actor turned Marvel superhero Brie Larson took her career to a whole new level with her performance as kidnapping victim Joy "Ma" Newsome in the 2015 survival drama Room, for which she swept the subsequent awards season and took home the Best Actress Oscar. In 2016, the Lessons in Chemistry lead starred in another survival drama, this time the Ben Wheatley-directed action-comedy Free Fire. CinemaBlend's own Gregory Wakeman wrote of the film: "Free Fire has enough gun blasts and violence to entertain, but ultimately lacks the requisite surprises or savvy to be anything more than a frivolous diversion."

Olivia Colman

Olivia Colman's Best Actress win for her portrayal of Queen Anne in the black-comedy period piece The Favourite was a deserved yet delightfully shocking moment at the 2019 Oscars. Her next role was equally strange, but less acclaimed: she appeared alongside Kaitlyn Dever, Jim Gaffigan and Walton Goggins as snake-handling fundamentalists in the horror mystery Them That Follow. Though it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, it earned mixed reviews from critics.

Cate Blanchett

One of the most versatile actors in the industry — she's played Queen Elizabeth I and Bob Dylan, for crying out loud! — eight-time Oscar nominee Cate Blanchett secured her first Best Actress win in 2014 playing a neurotic former socialite in the Woody Allen-directed dramedy Blue Jasmine. And speaking of versatility, the Aussie star followed that awards win with a voice role in the animated fantasy sequel How to Train Your Dragon 2, which got its own Oscar nod for Best Animated Feature.

Sandra Bullock

Rom-com queen Sandra Bullock received her first Best Actress nomination and win in 2010 for her portrayal of Leigh Anne Tuohy in the biographical football drama The Blind Side. Her next film credit was the Stephen Daldry-directed 2011 drama Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, which did manage to score a Best Picture nod but not without controversy. Chris Krapek of The Huffington Post called the film "not only the worst reviewed Best Picture nominee of the last 10 years, [but] easily the worst film of 2011."

Katharine Hepburn

Hollywood icon Katherine Hepburn earned four Academy Awards for Best Actress out of 12 nominations across her illustrious film career—a record for any performer. The leading lady's first Oscar win was in 1934 for the Pre-Code drama Morning Glory (the rest would come later in the star's life), which she followed up with John Cromwell's Spitfire. Some viewers found Hepburn miscast as "hillbilly" faith healer Trigger Hicks — the film has a 35% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Nicole Kidman

Nicole Kidman didn't win the Best Actress Oscar for one of her most beloved performances, as cabaret star Satine in Moulin Rouge! but she instead secured the big win only a year later for playing English writer Virginia Woolf in The Hours. The Babygirl star's first post-award project was the 2003 avant-garde thriller Dogville, written and directed by Lars von Trier. Though the film prompted quite a polarizing response from critics at the time of release, it did end up on several best-of-the-decade roundups, including The Guardian and Paste.

Jennifer Lawrence

If they didn't already love her from her work in the David O. Russell dramedy Silver Linings Playbook, the world certainly fell for Jennifer Lawrence when she charmingly tripped up the stairs to accept her Best Actress statuette in 2013. That fall, she would reprise her role as Katniss Everdeen in the second Mockingjay movie, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which is widely considered the best installment of The Hunger Games film series (it's got a solid 90% Rotten Tomatoes rating) and earned Lawrence a Critics' Choice nod.

Helen Mirren

Dame Helen Mirren is a regal onscreen presence no matter what the role, but her performance as Queen Elizabeth II in the 2006 docudrama The Queen welcomed her among the Hollywood royalty known as Oscar winners. However, despite the film title, she didn't strike gold with her next project: the Nicolas Cage-led adventure flick National Treasure: Book of Secrets, alongside Jon Voight, Harvey Keitel, Ed Harris and Diane Kruger. Per Rotten Tomatoes, critic consensus said of the 35% "Rotten" movie: "A talented cast goes to waste in the improbable National Treasure: Book of Secrets."

Jodie Foster

One of Hollywood's most acclaimed child stars — she was only 12 years old when she starred opposite Robert De Niro in the Martin Scorsese masterpiece Taxi Driver, earning her first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress — Jodie Foster successfully segued into more adult fare with the 1988 legal drama The Accused. As an assault survivor Sarah Tobias, Foster received a Best Actress win—it wouldn't be her last, with the star winning the same award for her next film release, one of the greatest horror movies of all time, The Silence of the Lambs.

Halle Berry

Halle Berry made Oscar history when she became the first African-American woman ever to win the Academy Award for Best Actress, for her performance as a struggling widow in 2001's Monster's Ball. After becoming an Oscar winner, Berry became a Bond Girl — bikini-sporting NSA agent Jinx, to be exact — in the 2002 spy flick Die Another Day, opposite Pierce Brosnan as 007. However, the latter is widely considered to be the worst entry in James Bond's canon.

Julie Andrews

A legendary performer across both screen and stage, Julie Andrews won her Best Actress Oscar in 1964 for a truly iconic role: as the titular nanny extraordinaire in Mary Poppins. And she didn't stop there — the very next year, she would get yet another Academy Award nomination for an equally beloved character, as The Sound of Music's Maria, the sweet, singing governess to the Von Trapp family. Talk about an epic filmography!

Kathy Bates

One of the best Kathy Bates performances, as obsessive superfan Annie Wilkes in the 1990 Stephen King thriller Misery, earned the talented actress her first Academy Award nomination and win. (She would have three more Oscar nods across her decades-spanning career.) Bates' next film role was in the South African drama The Road to Mecca, based on the Athol Fugard play of the same name — the performer was praised for both her acting and her accent work.

Hilary Swank

Before there were transgender characters like Emilia Pérez (Emilia Pérez), Sin-Dee Rella (Tangerine), or Raymond Rayon (Dallas Buyers Club), there was Brandon Teena, the real-life trans man at the center of the 1999 drama Boys Don't Cry. Hilary Swank's harrowing, career-making performance as Teena earned the star her first Best Actress award, with critics like Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman calling the actress a "revelation" in the film. Reactions to her next movie, the 2000 supernatural thriller The Gift, were far more mixed. A. O. Scott of The New York Times wrote: "The picture is saved from mediocrity by [director Sam] Raimi's smooth competence, and by the unusually high quality of the acting."

Renée Zellweger

After prior Best Actress nominations for two of her best movies, Bridget Jones' Diary and Chicago — plus a Best Supporting Actress win for Cold Mountain — Renée Zellweger finally got her big Best Actress win for her portrayal of Judy Garland in Rupert Goold's Judy. After taking a multi-year break from acting, Zellweger's much-anticipated next film credit will be a return to a beloved role, in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.

Natalie Portman

Natalie Portman was so convincing as a troubled ballerina in the 2010 psychological thriller Black Swan that she thought the film was a docudrama while making it. So, it's no surprise, then, that her tour-de-force performance garnered the star an Academy Award for Best Actress. Ever one to keep you guessing genre-wise, Portman's next role was in the 2011 stoner fantasy-comedy Your Highness, which sadly was a box office bomb and received largely negative reviews from critics.

Cher

The "Goddess of Pop" Cher officially added the title of "Oscar winner" to her already legendary showbiz career with her 1988 Best Actress triumph for one of her best movies, the acclaimed rom-com Moonstruck. Her next movie role came two years later as Rachel Flax, the saucy single mom to young Winona Ryder and Christina Ricci in the 1990 dramedy Mermaids. The heartfelt title has been dubbed an "underappreciated 1990s coming-of-age gem" by The Guardian, which singled out Cher's performance as "nothing short of magical."

Kate Winslet

One of the greatest performers of her generation, it took Kate Winslet a whopping six Oscar nominations before she finally took home the Academy Award for Best Actress, for playing a former Nazi camp guard in 2008's The Reader. Her next onscreen role was in the 2011 black comedy Carnage, by disgraced director Roman Polanski. The film received positive reviews, with critics praising the performances of the cast, including Winslet's — she earned a Golden Globe nod for Best Actress in a Motional Picture Musical or Comedy.

Julia Roberts

After a decade that solidified her as rom-com royalty, Julia Roberts proved her dramatic bonafides by winning the Best Actress Oscar for playing the title role in the 2000 legal drama Erin Brockovich, one of her best movies. America's Sweetheart returned to her romantic comedy roots with her next film, fittingly entitled America's Sweethearts, though critics weren't too sweet on the movie. It only holds a 33% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes, with the site's consensus reading: "Despite its famous cast, the movie lacks sympathetic characters and is only funny in spurts."

Susan Sarandon

After Oscar nominations for Atlantic City, Thelma & Louise, Lorenzo's Oil and The Client, Susan Sarandon was finally named Best Actress by the Academy for playing Sister Helen Prejean in 1995's Dead Man Walking. Her next film was the decidedly lighter kids' flick James and the Giant Peach, in which Sarandon voiced the character of Miss Spider. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with Randy Newman's score earning an Oscar nod; however, the film was a box office failure, grossing $300,000 less than its budget.

Marion Cotillard

French movie star Marion Cotillard became the first actor to win an Academy Award for a French-language performance for her transformative turn as legendary singer Édith Piaf in the 2007 music biopic La Vie en Rose. Her next film credit was another biographical drama — this time, the Michael Mann-directed gangster film Public Enemies, alongside Johnny Depp and Christian Bale. Though many critics praised the leading performances, reviews were mixed, with the title holding a 68% Rotten Tomatoes rating.

Marlee Matlin

Marlee Matlin's acting debut in 1986's Children of a Lesser God saw the actress making Oscar history not once but twice: she became the first deaf performer to ever win an Academy Award, as well as the youngest winner in the Best Actress category. The CODA star followed up that momentous victory with the 1987 Western Walker, starring Ed Harris, Richard Masur and Peter Boyle. The historical drama was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 38th Berlin International Film Festival but received very polarized reviews and was a failure at the box office.

Gwyneth Paltrow

Fun fact: Gwyneth Paltrow wasn't initially supposed to star as Viola de Lesseps in the 1998 Bard-inspired romantic comedy Shakespeare in Love — Julia Roberts was. But Gwyn is no doubt grateful the latter ultimately left the production, as the role won her a Best Actress Oscar. Her next project was equally acclaimed: 1999's Anthony Minghella-helmed thriller The Talented Mr. Ripley scored five Academy Award nominations.

Audrey Hepburn

Screen legend Audrey Hepburn won her first Oscar in 1953 for her debut starring role, as Princess Ann in the classic black-and-white comedy Roman Holiday. The British beauty would later be nominated four more times for films like her first post-award project, the 1954 Billy Wilder-directed dramedy Sabrina, as well as The Nun's Story, Breakfast at Tiffany's and Wait Until Dark.

Sally Field

The Academy likes her, they really like her — yes, Sally Field has won not one but two Best Actress statuettes, the first being for her inspiring performance in 1979's Norma Rae and the second five years later for another one of her best films, Places in the Heart. Following her first win, Field reprised her role as Carrie, or "Frog," in 1980's Smoky and the Bandit II opposite her real-life love Burt Reynolds. Though the sequel was a box office success, prompting a third film, it received almost entirely negative reviews from critics.

Charlize Theron

One of the best Charlize Theron roles was also the star's most remarkably unrecognizable: the South African-born actress earned a Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of real-life prostitute and serial killer Aileen Wuornos in the 2003 crime drama Monster. Her next big-screen performance was the 2004 war drama Head in the Clouds, which saw Theron acting opposite her then-romantic partner Stuart Townsend. The film was a critical and box office failure; in the San Francisco Chronicle, Walter Addiego wrote: "If not for the presence of Charlize Theron, it's hard to imagine this film would have attracted anywhere near the kind of attention it's gotten."

Reese Witherspoon

Reese Witherspoon proved she was more than just a musical sidekick with her Oscar-winning performance as June Carter Cash in the 2005 Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line. The Legally Blonde star was next seen in the harrowing 2007 political thriller Rendition opposite Jake Gyllenhaal, Meryl Streep and Peter Sarsgaard. However, "the impressive cast cannot rescue Rendition, which explores complex issues in woefully simplified terms," reads the critics' consensus on Rotten Tomatoes, with the film at a paltry 47% approval rating.

Elizabeth Taylor

Through much of the mid-20th century, celluloid icon Elizabeth Taylor was one of MGM's most bankable stars. In fact, her final film for the studio — 1960's Butterfield 8, playing glamorous call girl Gloria Wandrous — earned the movie star her first Academy Award for Best Actress. Her next performance was just as iconic: as the titular Egyptian queen in the 1963 historical epic Cleopatra, which received nine Oscar nominations and four wins, though, alas, none for Taylor specifically.

Think of your favorite movie character of all time. There is a good chance that the actor who ended up playing that part is not the first actor the studio approached. See for yourself by taking a look at this list of celebrities who decided to pass on a movie role that would turn out to make cinematic history.

Will Smith (Neo In The Matrix)

It is actually pretty easy for us to picture what the Matrix movies might have been like with Will Smith as Neo. However, the Academy Award winner seems to believe that Keanu Reeves was the better choice to play the chosen one in the mind-bending, dystopian sci-fi movie classic, claiming in a video on his YouTube channel that he would have "ruined it."

Jodie Foster (Princess Leia in Star Wars)

Fresh off her Academy Award-nominated breakthrough role in 1976's Taxi Driver, a teenage Jodie Foster was offered the chance to be a part of the Star Wars movies as Princess Leia Organa. As she revealed to Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, the two-time Oscar winner had a contractual obligation to an unnamed Disney movie, allowing Carrie Fisher to win the role.

Tom Hanks (Jerry Maguire In Jerry Maguire)

Tom Hanks was on top of the world with two Oscar wins (for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump) when he was offered to play a sports agent down on his luck in Jerry Maguire. He ended up passing on the eponymous role from Cameron Crowe's 1996 dramedy and later told Access Hollywood (via FandomWire), "I think you look at it now and it couldn’t have been anybody other than Tom Cruise," who would receive a nod from the Academy for his performance.

Leonardo DiCaprio (Patrick Bateman In American Psycho)

Christian Bale once told GQ that every one of his roles was first offered to Leonardo DiCaprio and one confirmed example is Patrick Bateman in 2000's American Psycho. The future Oscar winner told The Morning Call that he passed on playing the sadistic yuppie because he felt the script “didn’t mean anything in the end," but rumor has it Bale's stepmom, Gloria Steinem, convinced DiCaprio that it would be bad for his post-Titanic, romantic heartthrob reputation at the time.

Jean-Claude Van Damme (The Predator In Predator)

The titular terrifying alien enemy from 1987's Predator looked a lot different when Jean-Claude Van Damme was still in the role, according to THR's oral history. The Belgian actor star actually shot some footage in the original insect-like suit before deciding he would rather not be hidden in his own movie, leading to a redesign of the costume and the casting of 7'2" Kevin Peter Hall.

Jack Nicholson (Michael Corleone In The Godfather)

While we cannot imagine anyone other than Al Pacino as Michael Corleone, Jack Nicholson probably would have been great in the Godfather movies. However, the three-time Oscar winner refused the offer, explaining to Movieline in 2004 (via ScreenRant) that he believed "Italians should play Italians."

John Travolta (Forrest Gump In Forrest Gump)

When speaking with MTV News (via Collider), John Travolta revealed that he had no regrets about turning down the title role of the Best Picture Oscar winner Forrest Gump and it is no wonder why. Not only did Tom Hanks embody the role to Oscar-winning acclaim but Travolta found career-rejuvenating success with Pulp Fiction in 1994 instead.

Burt Reynolds (James Bond In Live And Let Die)

In 2015, Burt Reynolds told USA Today that, when approached to be Sean Connery's replacement in the James Bond films, he believed the public would not accept a 007 with an American accent. However, he would later come to believe that, "It was a stupid thing to say. I could've done it and I could've done it well."

Eddie Murphy (Winston Zeddemore In Ghostbusters)

While appearing on The Tonight Show in 2019, Eddie Murphy was asked by Jimmy Fallon if it is true that he passed on playing Winston Zeddemore in Ghostbusters. The comedian confirmed that it was true but added that it allowed him the opportunity to lead an even bigger hit from 1984: Beverly Hills Cop.

John Lithgow (Seth Brundle In The Fly)

Jeff Goldblum's iconic role from David Cronenberg's 1986 remake of The Fly was previously offered to John Lithgow, who told IndieWire that he said no, not wanting to play "something so grotesque.” Having witnessed Seth Brundle's transformation into a half-human, half-insect in the intense body horror movie, we cannot say we blame him.

Tom Selleck (Indiana Jones In Raiders Of The Lost Ark)

Having already worked with Harrison Ford three times before, George Lucas was reluctant to cast the Han Solo actor as Indiana Jones, opening up the opportunity for a rotation of actors, including Tom Selleck. As he recalled on Today, the actor was forced to pass on 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark, due to his commitment to the CBS crime drama, Magnum P.I.

Christopher Lee (Dr. Loomis In Halloween)

While already a horror movie icon at the time for his acclaimed portrayal of Dracula and role in 1973's The Wicker Man, Christopher Lee could have added one of the all-time best horror movies, 1978's Halloween, to his resume. According to The Digital Fix, he would come to regret the decision to pass on the role of Michael Myers' psychiatrist, Dr. Sam Loomis, who was immortalized by Donald Pleasance instead.

Christina Applegate (Elle Woods In Legally Blonde)

Before Reese Witherspoon made Elle Woods an icon among fictional lawyers in Legally Blonde and among fictional politicians in the sequel, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde, the role was offered to Christina Applegate. The former Married... with Children star later explained to Entertainment Tonight that she was afraid of repeating the ditzy blonde but jokes it was a "stupid move."

Emily Blunt (Black Widow In Iron Man 2)

Scarlett Johansson was perfect as Natasha Romanoff but Emily Blunt would have made a killing as the Avenger also called Black Widow. The English actor explained to Howard Stern that she could not originate the role for the MCU in 2010's Iron Man 2 because she was contractually obligated to appear in that year's adaptation of Gulliver's Travels.

Emma Watson (Mia In La La Land)

Playing Mia in 2016's La La Land earned Emma Stone her first Oscar win but the role of the aspiring actor had originally gone to another Emma: Emma Watson. The Harry Potter movies star said in a SiriusXM Town Hall interview (via Us Weekly) that her commitment to Beauty and the Beast and the hard work required to star in the musical led her to pull out.

Gwyneth Paltrow (Rollergirl In Boogie Nights)

Heather Graham made her mainstream breakthrough in 1998's Boogie Nights as "Rollergirl" – a role that was previously offered to Gwyneth Paltrow. The future Oscar winner told Howard Stern (via Us Weekly) that she passed because she feared the role, which required her to completely disrobe and simulate lewd acts on camera, would "kill" her conservative grandfather.

Jennifer Hudson (Precious In Precious)

Jennifer Hudson had previously said in her memoir, I Got This: How I Changed My Ways And Lost What Weighed Me Down, that she turned down the title role of Precious because she did not want to take a role that involved her weight. The Oscar winner later retracted that statement when speaking to The Huffington Post, explaining that Was not interested in what the role, which ultimately went to Gabourey Sibide, would have required her to do at that point in her career.

Matt Damon (Jake Sully In Avatar)

Sam Worthington became a household name when he led James Cameron's astonishingly successful sci-fi epic, Avatar, as Jake Sully – a role previously offered to Matt Damon. The Oscar winner once joked to Access Hollywood that not participating in the 2009 film cost the movie "a lot."

Ian McKellan (Albus Dumbledore In Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban)

The Lord of the Rings movies' Gandalf actor, Sir Ian McKellan, could have added another famous wizard to his resume and become the Harry Potter franchise's new Albus Dumbledore. Instead, the part went to Michael Gambon after, as he told BBC News, McKellan turned it down because he couldn’t “take over the part from an actor who I’d known didn’t approve of me,” referring to the late Richard Harris who was a vocal critic of the actor.

Drew Barrymore (Sidney Prescott In Scream)

Given Drew Barrymore's A-list status in 1996, audiences assumed that she was the lead of Wes Craven's Scream, which could have been the case, as she confirmed on Hot Ones. However, she requested to be killed off in the beginning as Casey Becker, knowing it would shock the audience, paving the way for Neve Campbell to become a Scream Queen in the role of Sidney Prescott.

Angela Bassett (Leticia Musgrove In Monster’s Ball)

Halle Berry became the first Black Best Actress Oscar winner for her performance in Monster's Ball as Leticia Musgrove – a role that was offered to Angela Bassett. According to EW, the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever star felt the part of a Black call girl was too stereotypical.

Sean Connery (Gandalf In The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring)

Sir Ian McKellan mentions in an oral history about the Lord of the Rings series for The Independent that an earlier choice to play Gandalf the Grey was Sir Sean Connery. New Line Cinema executive Mark Ordesky notes that the former James Bond actor passed on the role of the wizard simply because he "did not get it."

Bette Midler (Annie Wilkes In Misery)

Despite having no qualms about playing an actual evil witch in 1993's Hocus Pocus, Bette Midler did have some reservations about playing Annie Wilkes in Rob Reiner's adaptation of Stephen King's Misery from 1990. The actor and singer told Variety that was interested in playing the sadistic nurse because of her violent, unfunny, and irredeemable qualities.

Warren Beatty (Bill In Kill Bill)

In 2003, Quentin Tarantino told BBC that he originally started writing the title role of Kill Bill with Warren Beatty in mind because he wanted to work with him and the Oscar winner was set to play the target of Uma Thurman's vengeful Bride for a bit. However, after realizing that David Carradine was a better fit, followed by consideration of the time commitment and martial arts training involved, the actor and filmmaker amicably agreed to part ways.

Michelle Pfeiffer (Clarice Starling In The Silence Of The Lambs)

Michelle Pfeiffer once told Today's Hoda Kotb (via People) that her reasons for passing on roles in the likes of Pretty Woman and Basic Instinct typically had to do with scheduling conflicts. However, she told The New Yorker she passed on playing Clarice Starling (which ultimately went to Jodie Foster) in 1991's The Silence of the Lambs because the “evil” in the film made her nervous.

Al Pacino (Han Solo In Star Wars)

In his memoir, Sonny Boy, Al Pacino reveals that, before Harrison Ford was cast in Star Wars, he was offered the role of Han Solo. The Oscar winner explains that he could not "make anything out of" George Lucas' script and chose not to play the pilot of the Millennium Falcon.

Bela Lugosi (The Creature In Frankenstein)

According to the book, The Immortal Count: The Life and Films of Bela Lugosi by Arthur Lennig (via SlashFilm), the star of 1931's Dracula had the opportunity to play two Universal Monsters in the same year, having also been offered to play The Creature in Frankenstein. However, the actor believed such a role was "beneath him," paving the way for Boris Karloff to rise up in the ranks of horror royalty as Dr. Victor Frankenstein’s creation.

Haley Lu Richardson (Dani Ardor In Midsommar)

Haley Lu Richardson, known for one of the best M. Night Shyamalan movies, Split, passed on the role of Dani Ardor in Ari Aster's 2019 sophomore effort, Midsommar. The A24 horror masterpiece was ultimately led by Florence Pugh, whom Richardson told Backstage she has nothing but praise for, despite not yet having the courage to watch the movie.

Julia Roberts (Annie Reed In Sleepless In Seattle)

The two most prestigious queens of the rom-com genre would have to be Julia Roberts and Meg Ryan but only one could play Annie Reed in Sleepless in Seattle. Roberts told InStyle (via ABC News) that she was offered the part but could not do it, adding that Ryan and Tom Hanks "are just such a jewel of a fit in that."

Jamie Lee Curtis (Regan MacNeil In The Exorcist)

Jamie Lee Curtis became horror royalty with her feature film debut in 1978's Halloween but her reign could have begun earlier if not for one thing: her mother, Janet Leigh. Curtis told EW that, when she was asked to audition for Regan MacNeil in 1973's The Exorcist (which would go to Linda Blair), the Psycho star spoke on the then-13-year-old's behalf and refused the offer.

Lee Marvin (Quint In Jaws)

Robert Shaw's performance as Quint in Jaws is nearly as famous as the man-eating shark itself but the English actor was actually not Steven Spielberg's first choice. The filmmaker told Vanity Fair that he previously approached Lee Marvin but the Dirty Dozen star was not interested.

Sarah Michelle Gellar (Amber In Clueless)

Elisa Donovan's character in Clueless, Amber, very nearly went to the future star of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sarah Michelle Gellar. Adam Schroeder, the co-producer of the 1995 high school movie classic, told Vanity Fair that the actor's commitment to the soap opera All My Children at the time forced her to recede from consideration.

For more than 100 years the Walt Disney Company has made some of the most popular and beloved films of all time. The best Disney animated movies are classics and Marvel and Star Wars have provided numerous modern blockbusters It seems like everybody loves at least the occasional Disney movie and today nearly every film the studio releases is an event unto itself.

But that hasn't always been the case. There have been entire eras in Disney's history where the vast majority of what the studio released was forgettable, and even in years when Disney released great films, they sometimes would also release less than memorable ones. Many of these you can watch with a Disney+ subscription but several are apparently so forgotten even Disney doesn't acknowledge them by making them available.

Dragonslayer

In the history of sword and sorcery films, Dragonslayer tends to get overlooked. Even if you do remember it, there's a decent chance you had no idea it was technically a Disney movie, as it was a far cry from their normal output in the early '80s and thus the Disney name was largely left off the film.

The Island At The Top Of The World

A wealthy industrialist charters an expedition into the Arctic to search for his son who has gone missing from a whaling vessel. The movie has no major stars and is seen by some as an attempt to recreate the magic of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, swapping out the submersible for an airship.

The Adventures Of Bullwhip Griffin

The year before Roddy McDowell appeared in the iconic Planet of the Apes he starred in the much less memorable The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin. As the title character, McDowell plays the butler of a young boy during the California Gold Rush. The movie has some laughs and some music from Disney's intrepid songwriting duo the Sherman Brothers, but it doesn't have songs you'd remember.

Baby: Secret Of The Lost Legend

Baby...Secret of the Lost Legend is a movie where the guy who played The Greatest American Hero discovers a dinosaur that still lives in the modern day. What could go wrong? While everybody loves a good dinosaur movie, Jurassic Park this is not. The dinosaur effects were only possible in the '80s and there's a reason nobody since then remembers it.

The Great Mouse Detective

After Disney's golden era of animation but before the Disney Renaissance of the '90s, there are several films that fall through the cracks. In between the bomb that was The Great Cauldron and the smash hit that was The Little Mermaid, there was The Great Mouse Detective, a movie that wasn't at either extreme and thus tends to get overlooked.

Blackbeard's Ghost

Dean Jones and Suzanne Plushette, who would both make several movies for Disney, co-star in the film about a high school track coach who accidentally finds himself haunted by the ghost of Blackbeard the pirate, played by the great Peter Ustinov. The movie was actually reasonably successful in its day but it's had difficulty surviving the test of time.

The Castaway Cowboy

James Garner plays a man who jumps ship from where he was forced to work and finds himself washed up in Hawai'i. He ends up helping out a woman and her young son who are trying to survive farming the land. Even James Garner has admitted he didn't love the movie, and it seems most agree with him.

Candleshoe

Jodie Foster made several movies for Disney as a child actor. Most notably the original Freaky Friday. Candleshoe, in which Foster cons her way into a wealthy household, is far less iconic. The most notable thing about is that it is the film that prevented Jodie Foster from taking the role of Princess Leia in the original Star Wars

Condorman

Decades before Disney bought Marvel, the studio's first superhero movie, Condorman is about a comic book writer who fashions a functioning flying suit as part of the creation of his new hero character. He then ends up involved in a real espionage plot where finds himself in over his head and eventually has to rely on his superhero alter ego to escape. There's a reason this one didn't become a franchise.

Emil and the Detectives

Child detectives foiling a bank robbery is just the sort of movie that you would expect from Disney in 1964. However, the movie is based on a German novel, and thus would not have been that well known to most American audiences. Perhaps that's why this film was largely forgotten.

The One And Only Genuine Original Family Band

The second consecutive Disney live-action musical to star the duo of Leslie Ann Waren and John Davidson, The One And Only Genuine Original Family Band, is mostly known for a really long title and being the last movie that The Sherman Brothers worked on as employees of Disney. Unfortunately, the music is a far cry from Mary Poppins.

The Happiest Millionaire

The Happiest Millionaire is one of the last films that Walt Disney himself produced before his death. It was meant to be the movie that might follow in the footsteps of Mary Poppins as a major awards contender. But the movie is very long, and only has one memorable song in its entire three-hour run time.

Third Man On The Mountain

The only claim to fame that Third Man on the Mountain has is that it allegedly inspired the Matterhorn Bobsleds roller coaster at Disneyland. Unfortunately, chronology makes that claim dubious. Even so, the fact that most people don't know the story is just another reason this film remains largely forgotten.

North Avenue Irregulars

Old ladies in church versus organized crime. That's the elevator pitch for North Avenue Irregulars and it's a perfect example of a late '70s live-action Disney movie. Utterly inoffensive, and utterly forgettable.

Now You See Him Now You Don't/TheStrongest Man in The World

It's possible that you do remember The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, the Disney movie that starred frequent Disney movie star Kurt Russell as a college student who gets a computer-like brain. But did you know that Russell's character from that film Dexter Riley, appeared in two sequels? I didn't think so.

Ride A Wild Pony

There comes a point when you get the feeling that Disney just threw darts to decide what their next movie would be. The only questions were which cute animal would be involved and what semi-exotic location would be included in a story with what sort of children. Ride a Wild Pony fills in those blanks with a story about a boy and girl fighting over a pony in Australia.

So Dear To My Heart

While you've certainly heard of Disney's controversial film Song of the South even if you've never seen it, you're less likely to know So Dear to My Heart. It's a sort of spiritual sequel as it came out a couple of years later and also combines live-action sequences with animation. It tells the story of a young boy's attempts to raise a lamb. The movie was well-loved by Walt Disney himself, but few others have given it much thought since its release.

Unidentified Flying Oddball

A twist on Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. This one follows a NASA astronaut and android duplicate back in time. It's not as much fun as that sounds.

The Watcher In The Woods

One of the last film roles for screen icon Bette Davis, The Watcher in the Woods was actually pulled from theaters so its wild ending could be reshot. It didn't help and the movie was still panned, which is a shame because it's about as close to a horror movie as Disney ever got.

The Moon-Spinners

Haley Mills made six movies for Disney, including the original Parent Trap, but this is one of the films you probably weren't aware of. Mills is old enough to be a romantic lead in this one and it's an unusual film in that regard as the film is devoid of kids, animation, or cute animals. It's a straight mystery drama, though it's still designed for younger viewers. Maybe it needed a cute animal.

The Adventures Of Huck Finn

There have been numerous adaptations of The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn over the years. The one made by Disney in the 1990s is notable if only because the title role is played by a young Elijah Wood, but that's about the only thing that is memorable about it.

The Story Of Robin Hood

The animated version of Robin Hood made by Disney with anthropomorphic animals in the '70s is a film you're likely aware of. However, decades earlier Disney's second-ever life-action film was also a Robin Hood story, though one that made considerably less impact.

The Sword And The Rose

One of Disney's early live-action films was a costume drama telling a heavily fictionalized version of the life of Mary Tudor, a sister of Henry VIII. Even today this one seems like an odd choice for a Disney movie and based on the fact that it's a movie even Disney doesn't talk about it much, it seems maybe the studio agrees.

Rob Roy: The Highland Rogue

You may be familiar with the Rob Roy movie that came out in the 1990s and starred Liam Neeson and got Tim Roth an Oscar nomination. You are likely less familiar with Rob Roy: The Highland Rogue, a version of the story of the Scottish folk hero that Disney made in 1953. The Liam Neeson version is much better.

Tonka

Tonka is the story of a horse, a stallion who is tamed by a Native American boy, played by an American of Sicilian descent. Perhaps it's the fact that the casting from 1958 hasn't aged well that has led to this one being completely overlooked.

Greyfriars Bobby

Many Disney movies that have stood the test of time are focused on animals rather than people. Greyfriars Bobby is the story of a terrier that will not leave the grave of its deceased master. It's a more interesting story than that sounds, but Greyfriars Bobby certainly isn't among the most well-remembered Disney animal characters.

The Misadventures Of Merlin Jones

The Misadventures Of Merlin Jones was an early case of a project originally designed for TV getting a theatrical release instead. Unfortunately, the movie, about a teen who attempts to read people's minds, probably didn't deserve such treatment. Ironically, the sequel The Monkey's Uncle, is actually a more well-known movie thanks to a banger of a title song, written by the Sherman Brothers and sung by Annette Funichello and the Beach Boys.

The Ugly Dachshund

The Ugly Dachshund is about as paint by numbers for a 1960s live-action Disney movie as you can get. It stars Dean Jones and Susanne Pleschette, who both appeared in many Disney films of the era, and focuses on a funny animal. In this case, it's about a dog, a Great Dane, who is raised by a Dachshund mother and thus grows up believing he is one.

The Million Dollar Duck

The Million Dollar Duck, a film about a duck that lays golden eggs, was so bad that famed film critic Gene Siskel is reported to have walked out of it before it ended, one of only three films that ever caused him to do that. Knowing that it's not hard to guess why this one doesn't get talked about anymore.

The World's Greatest Athlete

Disney has made many iconic sports movies over the years, from Remember the Titans to Miracle. The World's Greatest Athlete is not one of them. It's basically "What if Tarzan ran track?" It's about as good as that sounds.

No Deposit, No Return

Don Knotts style of comedy worked well in family-friendly Disney movies like The Apple Dumpling Gang and Hot Lead And Cold Feet. Those are movies that people of a certain generation at least will likely remember fondly. However, No Deposit, No Return, about two kids who stage their own kidnapping, is not nearly as successful.

Treasure of Matecumbe

Treasure of Matecumbeis a classic adventure story about set in post-Civil War America that follows four people on a quest for a lost treasure. National Treasure this is not.

A great performance from a precocious young actor can steal scenes and even entire movies and TV shows. Like the kids on this list, who have so much personality at such a young age it's crazy. From TV stars like Gary Coleman on Diff'rent Strokes to supporting roles in movies that end up being the most-talked-about bits of the films, like Jonathan Lipnicki in Jerry Maguire, these kids are just oozing charm and talent. 

Shirley Temple

You can't have a list like this without the original Hollywood kid star, the great Shirley Temple. Though Temple acted in films into her late teens before retiring in 1950, she is really best remembered for her roles as a clever witty kid in movies like 1935's Curly Top and 1936's Stowaway. After Temple retired, she went on to have a successful career as a spokesperson and even a foreign diplomat. 

Macaulay Culkin

There are very few kids that could ever carry a movie, much less a franchise, like Macaulay Culkin did with the Home Alone movies. The first movie is one of the most successful movies of all time, and while the entire cast of Home Alone is amazing, the movie would not be the same with anyone else as Kevin McCallister. 

Quvenzhané Wallis

Quvenzhané Wallis' performance in Beasts of the Southern Wild is, in all senses, a revelation. Her performance is so powerful and nuanced on a level that even many adult actors can't match. It was so good, that Wallis became the youngest actress ever nominated for an Academy Award. 

Ke Huy Quan

Ke Huy Quan comeback with his amazing, award-winning performance in Everything Everywhere All At Once was the feel-good story of 2022. It came, of course, four decades after he first blew audiences away with roles like Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple Of Doom and Data in The Goonies, where he showed just how much personality a kid can have on screen. 

Peter Billingsley

For a generation of kids, A Christmas Story is THE definite Christmas movie. It was so popular that for a time, it would run a loop on cable TV around the holiday. Of course, while the whole cast is memorable, Peter Billingsley's role as Ralphie is the one people talk about the most. 

Soleil Moon Frye

The 1980s were awash with precocious kids leading shows and few were on a higher level than Punky Brewster. The lead character, played by Soleil Moon Frye, found herself in all kinds of spots, usually funny, though sometimes serious and Frye could handle it all. 

Emmanuel Lewis

For six seasons, Emmanuel Lewis brought joy to American homes as the orphaned Webster in the show with the same name. Like others in the decade, Lewis carried a network show with his comedic timing and cuteness. The diminutive Lewis, who was diagnosed with pituitary dwarfism, used his condition to his advantage, not to mention his great acting, to get people laughing everywhere. 

The Olsen Twins

Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen are examples of kids who left acting behind, but their joint performance as Michelle Tanner in Full House will always be beloved by fans of the show. The twins both had enough personality to fill a soundstage when they played the role, starting when they were just babies. Incredible. 

Haley Joel Osment

Haley Joel Osment's big break came as the intense kid who could see dead people in The Sixth Sense. Like a few others on this list, he's a child star who is still acting today and it's not hard to see why given the talent he displayed at just 11 years old. 

Millie Bobby Brown

By the time Millie Bobby Brown was the ripe old age of 12, when she first starred in Stranger Things on Netflix, the actress was a seasoned vet. She had already had regular roles on a couple of TV shows both in the US and her native UK and had made a number of guest appearances on shows like NCIS and Grey's Anatomy. Of course, it would as a Eleven in Stranger Things that really proved how great she is. 

Christian Bale

Christian Bale is one of the best actors of his generation, something he started to prove very early in his life when he took on the starring role of a war orphan in  Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun. Bale was only 13 at the time and his performance is both heartbreaking and heartwarming. It's hard to fathom the ability to do that as barely a teenager. 

Gary Coleman

There isn't a more famous catchphrase from 1980s TV than "Whatchu talkin' 'bout, Willis?" Of course, those words were part of seemingly every single episode of Diff'rent Strokes. Gary Coleman's role as Arnold, the orphaned kid taken in, with his brother, by Mr Drummond was one of the most popular characters of the decade.  

Anna Chlumsky

While Macaulay Culkin was the big "star" of My Girl when it was released, his counterpart, played by Anna Chlumsky is every bit as charming as wonderful as Caulkin. Chlumsky's talents were on full display as a kid, talents that would eventually earn her many Emmy nominations for her work as an adult in Veep.

Jonathan Lipnicki

Let's be honest, is there a cuter kid than Jonathan Lipnicki in Jerry Maguire? His charm and unintentional wit is totally off the charts in the rom-com. He even knows how much a human head weighs (8 pounds) and that bees and dogs smell fear. No too shabby. 

Tatum O'Neal

When Tatum O'Neal won the Oscar for starring alongside her father, Ryan O'Neal, in  Paper Moon in 1974 she became the youngest person to ever win the award at just age 10. That pretty much says it all. While other kids have been nominated, she was the first kid to win. She continued to show her talents and personality in movies like The Bad News Bears and Nickelodeon before personal problems derailed her promising career. 

Henry Thomas

Acor Henry Thomas has had a long career in TV and on film, but the movies we all best remember are when he was a child actor full of skill and personality in movies like E.T. and the underrated Cloak & Dagger. E.T. was one of the most successful movies of all time and is ranked as one of Steven Spielberg's best movies, thanks in large part to Thomas' performance. 

Jaleel White

It's true that Steve Urkel on Family Matters is one of the more polarizing characters in TV history, but Jaleel White's performance as the nerdy neighbor shouldn't be controversial. He was perfect in the role and people are still making references to it decades later, which tells you all you need to know. 

Hailee Steinfeld

In literature, there are few kids with more personality than Mattie Ross in Charles Portis' classic novel True Grit. It takes a young actor with an equally big personality to play her on-screen and in the Coen Brother's 2010 adaption, Hailee Steinfeld just crushes the role. 

Drew Barrymore

When you come from Hollywood royalty, like the Barrymore family, you'd better have some acting chops. Drew Barrymore proved just how great she was before she was even seven years old when she starred in her breakout role as Gertie in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. She continued acting as a kid in movies like Firestarter and Irreconcilable Differences, before moving on to adult roles and eventually, her own talk show. 

Keshia Knight Pulliam

The Cosby Show was among the most popular shows of the 1980s and while Bill Cosby was undoubtedly the star of the show, Keshia Knight Pulliam, who played the youngest Huxtable child, Rudy, stole a TON of scenes in every season. Who could ever forget the lip-syncing scenes with the whole family, and not immediately recall her legendary moments in those scenes? 

Hayley Mills

How about not one, but two roles that prove just how much personality one child actor can show off? For Hayley Mills, The Parent Trap wasn't her first movie, but it is the one most remembered from her child-acting days. She plays both twins in the movie and does it so well, that you'd swear it would have to be two people, even though they look alike. 

Abigail Breslin

Little Miss Sunshine was the surprise hit of 2006 and that was in no small part (pun intended) to Abigail Breslin's brilliant performance as Olive, the girl at the heart of the dysfunctional family's road trip. you know someone is a star when they stand out from a cast that includes Alan Arkin, Paul Dano, Steve Carell, and Toni Collette.

Anna Paquin

These days Anna Paquin is probably best known for her work in the X-Men series, but she really burst onto the scene as an 11-year-old in The Piano, for which she became one of the youngest actors to ever win an Academy Award. More than three decades later she's still lighting up the screen. 

Alfonso Ribeiro

In the 1980s television was filled with precocious kids tearing it up on shows like Silver Spoons. Ricky Schroeder may have been the star as young Ricky, a role that launched his career, but his best friend, Alfonso, played by Alfonso Ribeiro, stole a lot of the scenes he was in. After Silver Spoons, Ribeiro danced into our hearts as Carlton on The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air. 

Natalie Portman

It is undeniable that Natalie Portman is one of the finest actors of her generation and her career all started when she was just 12 in Leon: The Professional. It's a complicated role, one that even many adult actors would struggle with, but Portman showed right away just what kind of acting chops she had in the movie. It's a challenging role for audiences, thanks to her fantastic performance. 

Alyssa Milano

Alyssa Milano's career has gone through some peaks and valleys, like many actors. One of the highest peaks came when she was just a kid, starring as Samantha in Who's The Boss?, a classic '80s sitcom. Tony Danza played her father and the chemistry between them was legendary. Maybe one day we'll get that reboot we've been waiting for. 

Jerry Mathers

In the whole history of American television, one of the most enduring characters has to be from its golden age in the 1950s, Beaver Cleaver. Played by Jerry Mathers, The Beav was an instant hit with kids and parents alike and the show ran for decades in reruns all over the country. Mathers even returned to play The Beaver during the Baby Boomer nostalgia fad of the 1980s. 

Keisha Castle-Hughes

When Keisha Castle-Hughes was nominated for an Oscar in her breakout role in The Whale Rider, she was the youngest person to ever receive that honor. Her performance is fully deserving of the praise she received and she's continued to receive well-earned praise for her roles in Game of Thrones as Obara Sand, and as Hana Gibson in FBI.

Jodie Foster

Playing a role like Jodie Foster played in Taxi Driver takes a truly special actor. Foster, who was just 14 when she played the complicated role, has gone on to have an incredible and empowering career in Hollywood, but it's hard to imagine her having a tougher assignment than that part, with such adult complications, in Taxi Driver. 

Dafne Keen

There is something so magical about kids playing roles that really wrestle with adult themes and one of the best recent examples is Dafne Keen in Logan. It's a complicated role, dealing with complicated subjects and Keen is sublime throughout the movie. 

Heather O'Rourke

Heather O'Rouke's all too tragic life was taken way too soon. The Poltergeist star died when she was just 12 years old, but in those 12 years, she left a heck of an impression on the world. Her performance in Poltergeist completely steals the legendary horror film. 

Natalie Wood

While Natalie Wood is too often remembered for all the wrong reasons, in her short life (she died when she was just 43), she packed a ton of memorable performances in that life. One of the most enduring has to be her role in Miracle on 34th Street, which came when she was just 9 years old. 

Whenever we talk about the best ‘90s movies, it doesn’t take long before the conversation turns to the most iconic actors of the final decade of the 20th century and their most beloved performances. But what are Will Smith’s, Julia Roberts’, or Keanu Reeves’ best movies for the unforgettable and transformative 10-year stretch? 

We’re being totally subjective here (Because why not?), but here are the best ‘90s movies for these 32 actors. Best Picture winners, a handful of the best action movies of all time, and other films that turned up-and-comers into overnight megastars can all be found below.

Will Smith (Independence Day)

Will Smith was already a household name by the time Independence Day was released and became the biggest movie of 1996, but this massive sci-fi flick took him to new heights. Electric, magnetic, and charismatic beyond belief, the Fresh Prince became the King of the summer blockbuster with his portrayal of Captain Steven Hiller.

Leonardo DiCaprio (Titanic)

Is there a bigger ‘90s movie than Titanic, both in terms of financial returns and cultural prominence? Yeah, James Cameron’s story of the ill-fated ship, his special effects, and the rest of the cast made this 1997 disaster movie a must-see, but Leonardo DiCaprio, with his “King of the World” moment, made this an all-timer. 

Tom Cruise (Jerry Maguire)

Picking the best ‘90s movie for Tom Cruise is no easy task, considering some of the actor’s best performances took place that decade. However, despite Magnolia and Mission: Impossible being great in their own ways, this has to go to Cruise’s dynamic portrayal of the struggling sports agent in Jerry Maguire. “Show me the money,” is a quote we keep in our repertoire nearly 30 years later. 

Sandra Bullock (Speed)

Sandra Bullock put herself on the map with her performance in Speed, one of the most iconic 1994 movies. Though she was great in Demolition Man the year before, Bullock’s take on Annie Porter made her an overnight sensation and quickly became one of her best roles to date, even outside the ‘90s.

Morgan Freeman (The Shawshank Redemption)

How Morgan Freeman didn’t win an Oscar for his performance in The Shawshank Redemption is one of the biggest mysteries, and travesties, in Hollywood history. His portrayal of Ellis "Red" Redding in this spectacular Stephen King adaptation is so strong and so believable that you don’t see him as an actor playing an inmate, but more like an aging prisoner trying to “get busy living or get busy dying.”

Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction)

As much as we would have loved to argue for Jurassic Park being Samuel L. Jackson’s best ‘90s movie, Ray Arnold has nothing on the bad mother [redacted] that was Jules Winnfield from Pulp Fiction. Easily Quentin Tarantino’s best movie, this 1994 classic is essentially a master class in dialogue and non-linear storytelling.

Meg Ryan (Sleepless In Seattle)

A few years after leading the best romantic comedy of all time with When Harry Met Sally, Meg Ryan teamed up with Nora Ephron (who was directing this time around) for Sleepless in Seattle in 1993. The chemistry between Ryan and Tom Hanks as Annie Reed and Sam Baldwin, is incredible, even if they only share a couple minutes of screentime.

Julia Roberts (Pretty Woman)

It’s hard to imagine what Julia Roberts’ career and Hollywood in general would be like if the actress didn’t play Vivian Ward in Pretty Woman. Sure, Roberts already had some hits and would have gone on to land big roles, but this 1990 rom-com instantly made her one of the brightest stars on the planet and showed off her dynamic range and impeccable comedic timing.

Angela Bassett (What's Love Got To Do With It)

Angela Bassett’s best movie, What’s Love Got to Do with It saw the celebrated actress take on the role of the legendary Tina Turner in this 1993 biopic about the late singer’s life, career, and toxic relationship with husband and music partner Ike Turner. Bassett had some pretty iconic ‘90s roles throughout the decade, but this is at the tippy top of the mountain.

Keanu Reeves (The Matrix)

Picking Keanu Reeves’ best movie of the 1990s is more difficult than you’d think. Point Break, My Private Idaho, and Speed are all contenders, but none come close to the heights of The Matrix and his performance as Neo, aka, the One. Watching Reeves’ character develop throughout this great ‘90s sci-fi film never gets old.

Robin Williams (Good Will Hunting)

Robin Williams had SO many good movies in the ‘90s, but Good Will Hunting was in a league of its own, at least in terms of performances by the late comedian. The richness, range, and emotion found in his portrayal of Sean Maguire is something to behold. No wonder he took home an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

Bruce Willis (The Sixth Sense)

The ‘90s saw Bruce Willis play everything from his most iconic character in the second and third Die Hard movies to the leads in multiple blockbusters. However, none of those compare to his work in The Sixth Sense. There is just something so warm and refreshing about his portrayal of a child psychiatrist trying to help a young boy make sense of life and his strange gift.

Harrison Ford (The Fugitive)

Have you gone back and watched The Fugitive lately? If not, do so now. If you have, you’re all too familiar with Harrison Ford’s performance as Richard Kimble, the Chicago doctor trying to clear his name after being wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife. Air Force One and Clear and Present Danger are great, but this 1993 thriller is one of Ford’s career-best.

Frances McDormand (Fargo)

Frances McDormand’s portrayal of Marge Gunderson in the Coen Brothers' Fargo earned the actress the first of her three Academy Awards, and for good reason: she’s the heart and soul of the 1996 crime comedy.  

Gary Oldman (The Fifth Element)

Gary Oldman played some of the meanest ‘90s villains in movies like Air Force One, Leon: The Professional, and The Fifth Element, the latter of which features his best work of the decade. Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg is one of those characters that you love to hate and enjoy watching as much as the 1997 sci-fi film’s hero, which is saying something.

Wesley Snipes (White Men Can't Jump)

In the years following his breakout performance in Major League, Wesley Snipes became one of the dependable faces in Hollywood thanks to unforgettable turns in New Jack City, Demolition Man, and Jungle Fever. But let’s be real, Snipes’ take on Syd Deane is one of the most iconic ‘90s characters and essentially carries this all-time great basketball movie.

Tom Hanks (Saving Private Ryan)

Tom Hanks dominated the ‘90s with Oscar-winning performances in Philadelphia and Forrest Gump as well as other decade-defining films like Toy Story and A League of Their Own. But in terms of the BEST movie, that has to go to Saving Private Ryan, Steven Spielberg’s harrowing World War II epic about heroism, survival, and the hope of a better tomorrow.

Robert De Niro (Cape Fear)

We could have listed Goodfellas, Heat, or even A Bronx Tale as Robert De Niro’s best movie from the ‘90s, but his performance as Max Cady in Cape Fear is on a whole other level. Easily one of the Oscar winner’s most menacing characters, the psychopathic ex-con with a bone to pick is a force of pure evil here.

Al Pacino (Heat)

After playing all-time great gangsters in the ‘70s and ‘80s, Al Pacino was on the other side of the law in Michael Mann’s 1995 crime epic, Heat. Sure, Scent of a Woman earned him that elusive Oscar for Best Actor, but his take on Lieutenant Vincent Hanna is the stuff of legend. Plus, we also got to see Pacino and Robert De Niro share a scene for the first time.

Anthony Hopkins (The Silence Of The Lambs)

Anthony Hopkins' portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs is one of the greatest performances of all time. That said, it should be no surprise that this great horror film gets the call here. Though there was some stiff competition.

Philip Seymour Hoffman (Boogie Nights)

As much as we would love to break down all the awesome ways Philip Seymour Hoffman stole the show in Twister and My Boyfriend’s Back, the late actor really came into his own in Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1997 drama, Boogie Nights. Hoffman’s sympathetic take on Scotty J. was nothing short of brilliant and showed what was to come.

Jodie Foster (The Silence Of The Lambs)

If you were to break down Jodie Foster’s best performances, her portrayal of Clarice Starling would be at or near the top of that list. A movie that has been quoted or referenced countless times over the years, this 1991 thriller remains one of the best ever made.

Brad Pitt (Seven)

David Fincher’s Seven is Brad Pitt’s best movie from the ‘90s for a variety of reasons: 1) the movie about a serial killer taking lives based on the seven deadly sins is violently unique, 2) it was the start of a partnership between actor and director, and 3) Pitt showed he was more than a pretty face and really had what it took.

Arnold Schwarzenegger (T2: Judgment Day)

Terminator 2: Judgment Day is not only a decade-defining action movie or a landmark achievement in visual effects, it’s also Arnold Schwarzenegger’s best movie of the ‘90s and perhaps all time. James Cameron’s sequel is bigger and louder than its predecessor and epic beyond compare.

Whoopi Goldberg (Sister Act)

Whoopi Goldberg won her first Academy Award for her role as Oda Mae Brown in Ghost, a film that kicked off an impressive decade for the comedian and actor. Her spiritual guide for Patrick Swayze’s ghostly Sam Wheat in this supernatural thriller helped anchor the film and turn it into the biggest movie of 1990.

Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting)

Matt Damon went from a relatively unknown actor to one of the brightest faces (and voices) in Hollywood thanks to Good Will Hunting. His tortured performance as a young math prodigy in South Boston is still captivating more than 25 years later.

Eddie Murphy (The Nutty Professor)

Eddie Murphy did a little bit of everything in the ‘90s, but The Nutty Professor shows off some of the comedian’s best work. Playing multiple characters (heroes, villains, and in between) really showed off Murphy’s dynamic range and varied comedic styles.

Adam Sandler (Happy Gilmore)

Though Big Daddy proved that Adam Sandler could handle slightly more dramatic roles, there’s no denying the fact that Happy Gilmore is the former SNL star’s best ‘90s movie. His take on a failed hockey player finding new purpose (and fortune) in the world of golf was a game-changer and created one of the best sports characters of all time.

Denzel Washington (Malcolm X)

Denzel Washington is another actor who had more great roles in the ‘90s than we can count, but at the top of his “best” list is Spike Lee’s 1992 biopic, Malcolm X. The movie about the controversial civil rights icon was eye-opening, enchanting, and epic.

Joe Pesci (Goodfellas)

We could have talked about My Cousin Vinny, we could have talked about Home Alone, and we could have even made a case for Casino, but none of that is possible without Goodfellas. The movie, which introduced the world to Joe Pesci’s Tommy DeVito, is one of the greatest gangster movies of all time and an influential piece of cinema we still rave about 30-plus years later.

Susan Sarandon (Thelma & Louise)

Ridley Scott’s Thelma & Louise, a movie featuring one of the best female friendships with Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis’ titular characters, helped kickstart the decade back in 1990. Easily Sarandon’s best movie of the ‘90s, this crime drama about two friends on the run from the law is just so dang great.

Jim Carrey (Dumb & Dumber)

Jim Carrey absolutely dominated the ‘90s comedy scene, and the box office in general back in 1994. While Ace Ventura Pet Detective and The Mask both have their moments, we have to be real for a second and admit that Dumb and Dumber is some of Carrey’s best work.

Movie fans had lots to love in the '90s and these actors and their best movies of the decade will never be forgotten.

The 76th Emmy nominations came out, and they truly highlight the shows on the 2024 TV schedule that blew audiences away. If you felt psyched hearing about your favorite series and performers being nominated, you can only imagine how the incredible talent felt when they got the news. Nominees like Walton Goggins, Brie Larson, Richard Gadd, and more share their super jazzed reactions after gaining Emmy recognition.

Among Fallout’s 16 nominations, Walton Goggins' charismatic performance as The Ghoul got a nod in the category Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. With The Shield actor portraying two roles on the show as a gun-slinging bounty hunter and his pre-apocalyptic version of Cooper Howard, this Emmy nomination is well-deserved. Once nominated for the neo-Western crime drama Justified, the American actor shared in a statement via ABC News expressing how thankful he is for this honor:

Another nomination worthy of praise came from Brie Larson for her leading role in the Apple TV+ series Lessons in Chemistry. She brought author Bonnie Garmus’ Elizabeth Zott to life as a chemistry wiz who faces constant sexism in the workplace but is still true to herself. Throughout the deadpan expressions and hardened exterior, Larson was brilliant in capturing her character’s inner struggles and genuine heart for her passions.

The Oscar winner took to her Instagram stories to share that her nomination has made her “the happiest woman in the universe”:

Richard Gadd made his Netflix debut with a bang creating and starring in one of the legacy streaming service’s best shows Baby Reindeer. As Gadd brought to the dark-comedy series his real-life hardest moments, the Scottish entertainer knew how to make us laugh with his awkward yet relatable comedy stylings and make us cry when his character showed heartbreaking vulnerability.

With a first Emmy nomination under his belt now, Gadd took to Instagram to share his thanks to those who helped bring his show to life:

Another performer who got her first Emmy nomination for acting this year is veteran actress Jodie Foster. Her empowering decades-long career earned her two Oscars, three BAFTAs, and three Golden Globe Awards. Foster has been nominated at the Emmys as a producer and a director. However, after returning to the horror vibes in True Detective: Night Country to play Chief Liz Danvers, she now has her first Emmy nomination for acting. The Silence of the Lambs actress said in a statement to ABC News what a profound moment her nomination was for her:

Another Emmy nominee reaction came from Quinta Brunson, who’s the brains and star power of Abbott Elementary. After her comedy show’s first season picked up three wins at the 2022 Emmys, and another one at the 2023 ceremony, it’s no surprise that Season 3 would be filled with just as much success. The nominated actress/writer of Abbott Elementary -- who won the Emmy for her performance as Ms. Teagues last year -- expressed in an Instagram post how proud she was of her show’s success:

This year’s Emmy-nominated performers like Walton Goggins, Brie Larson, Richard Gadd, and more appear to be super jazzed for their accomplishments in television.

I can’t wait to see who will be the lucky winners holding that golden trophy. You can find out for yourself by catching the 76th Emmy Awards on September 15th on ABC. The show will also be available to stream in full with a Hulu subscription the next day.

Acting and directing are two very different skills, and for someone to be able to do both is a mark of a hard-working and talented person. It doesn't always work out for actors, but it's remarkable how often it does. Here are 32 such examples of great actors who became great directors as well. 

Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood's career has lasted an unbelievable eight decades. He started humbling with small roles in the '50s and as the decades have gone on, he's only gotten bigger and bigger. After directing his first movie, 1971's Play Misty for Me, he's gone on to helm a remarkable 39 more and has won 2 Best Director Oscars, for 1993's Unforgiven and 2005's Million Dollar Baby.

Ron Howard

Ron Howard has been in the lives and living rooms of Americans since he was just a kid as an actor on The Andy Griffith Show. He went on to star in Happy Days in the 1970s before directing his first low-budget film, Grand Theft Auto, in 1977. He's since gone on to direct such classics as Splash, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, and many others. 

Bradley Cooper

If the start of Bradley Cooper's directing career is any indication, you can expect huge things. So far, the actor-turned-director has only helmed two movies, A Star Is Born and Maestro and both have been nominated for Best Picture Oscars. Not a shabby record. 

Penny Marshall

Penny Marshall got her first big break on the sitcom The Odd Couple but became a household name as Lavern in Lavern & Shirley. She didn't stay in TV though, instead, she started directing and made two of the most beloved Gen X movies of all time, Big and A League of Their Own. 

Ben Affleck

Ben Affleck might not have been the first actor you picked to become a director, but his stellar career as an actor is matched by his work as a director. In fact, though he's never won an acting Oscar (something that should be remedied), he did win Best Director for Argo. 

Robert Redford

By the time Robert Redford directed his first movie, Ordinary People, in 1980, he was already one of the most legendary film stars ever. The second half of his career is as known for his directing as it is for his acting, with movies like Quiz Show and A River Runs Through It.

Jon Favreau

Jon Favreau's acting career started humbling with supporting roles in movies like Rudy and PCU. After he wrote and starred in Swingers, his star shined a little brighter. That was only the beginning though. Favreau has the honor of directing the movie that launched the most successful film franchise of all time, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Iron Man and its sequel. He's since moved on to Disney live-action remakes with The Lion King and The Jungle Book. Oh, and he also directed one of the most beloved holiday movies ever with. Elf.

Mel Gibson

The controversial career of Mel Gibson began with a small movie that made huge waves in his native Australia. Mad Max made him famous and by the late late-'80s, he was one of the biggest stars in the world. He then moved into directing and reached his pinnacle early with Braveheart for which he won Best Director. 

Richard Attenborough

As an actor, Richard Attenborough starred in massive hits across generations with movies like The Great Escape and Jurassic Park. As a director, he helmed some of the best biopics of all time, like Gandhi, A Cry Freedom, and Chaplin as well a the legendary war flick, A Bridge Too Far. 

Regina King

Regina King's directorial career is only getting started, but judging by her first movie, One Night In Miami, the future is bright. So far, the Academy Award-winning actress has mostly directed TV shows, but you can be sure more films will be coming her way.

Denzel Washington

What can we say about Denzel Washington that hasn't already been said? He's a living legend at this point, as a multiple Oscar winner and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He's also one heck of a director with movies like Fences and The Great Debaters.

John Krasinski

John Krasinski became part of our collective family as Jim on The Office. Who would have thought from that role, his career in Hollywood would reach the point that he is a major power player? Now that he's moved into directing, the sky is truly the limit. The first movie Krasinski directed, The Hollars, made for a humble beginning, but his second, A Quiet Place established him as a force to reckon with and it's since become a franchise.

Elizabeth Banks

Elizabeth Banks might not have been an actor you'd have guessed would go into directing, like others on this list, but she has in a big way. She has shown she can direct blockbusters like Pitch Perfect 2 and indie darlings like that one about the bear who indulges in some, uh, white powder he finds, and goes on a rampage.

Greta Gerwig

Greta Gerwig is quickly becoming a voice of a generation. Her direction and writing of Barbie has been praised far and wide for its snappy dialog and heartfelt message. Gerwig's acting career started in the mid-'00s when she was mostly in smaller, supporting roles. Since moving into directing, she's become a huge star.

Jordan Peele

Key & Peele was a huge hit for Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key, and made them both stars. No one expected Peele to turn to directing horror movies, but that's exactly what he did and we should all be grateful for it. With massive hits like Get Out, Nope, and Us, the future is bright for Peele and for all of us too, who will get to watch his work.

Rob Reiner

Though he had a leg up coming from a Hollywood family, Rob Reiner has staked out a claim all his own in the entertainment business. First as an actor on the hit show All in the Family, then as the director of some of the most loved movies of all time. Starting with his first movie, This is Spinal Tap, and running through the '80s and early '90s, he had an unbelievable run that included The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, A Few Good Men, and Misery. Wow!

George Clooney

Not only is George Clooney one of the most bankable movie stars ever, he's also a fantastic director. His acting career is legendary and his directing career, while not quite at the level of his acting, is still fantastic. He's directed TV (Catch-22) and movies (The Boys In The Boat, The Midnight Sky, Good Night, and Good Luck, among others) and you can be sure there will be more from him.

Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie's directing career hasn't always gotten the best reviews, but I'd say her movies are very underrated. The talented actress has an eye for behind the camera as well, and movies like Unbroken and First They Killed My Father are powerful movies.

Billy Bob Thornton

Billy Bob Thornton's acting career came on as a slow burn to fame, but his directing career started with a band. His first film was a masterpiece called Sling Blade. he followed that up with the underrated All The Pretty Horse and a few others, though his pace has slowed over the last couple of decades. Let's hope he finds that directing bug again. 

Ben Stiller

There was a time in the '90s and '00s when it seemed like Ben Stiller was in every movie released. Not only was he working hard in front of the camera, he was killing it behind the camera as well. Starting really with Reality Bites, and moving on to great movies like the controversial but hilarious Tropic Thunder, and the Zoolander movies. 

Jodie Foster

The great Jodie Foster has been an acclaimed actor and star since her teenage years and of course, that talent has translated to directing. Though lately she's done mostly TV work like directing episodes of Black Mirror and Orange is the New Black, she's done a few movies too, like Little Man Tate and Money Monster.

Kevin Costner

In addition to being one of the biggest movie stars on the planet, Kevin Costner has never shied away from making epic films. Though he's only directed four movies in his career, they have all been big films. Starting with Dances With Wolves in 1990, he's since directed The Postman, Open Range, and 2024's Horizon: An American Saga.

Tim Robbins

The directing bug caught Tim Robbins in the early '90s and he directed a couple of great movies with Bob Roberts and Dead Man Walking. He's directed a smattering of movies and TV shows more recently, but he's mostly stuck to acting over the last few years. 

Sean Penn

Since the early 1980s, Sean Penn has been wowing moviegoers with his impressive acting chops and diversity. In the '90s he dipped his toe into directing with his first film, The Indian Runner and has directed a good handful of movies since, with his best being Into The Wild in 2007. 

Zach Braff

Acting-wise Zach Braff's big break came as a regular cast member of the hit sitcom Scrubs. As a directed, he burst onto the scene with his very first movie, Garden State in 2004. He's continued directing here and there over the last 20 years, including the great movie about getting older, Going In Style, and a few others, in addition to some TV work. 

Warren Beatty

In the 1970s, there was no bigger movie star than Warren Beatty. By the end of the decade, he had moved into directing as well, starting with 1978's Heaven Can Wait and continuing the '80s and '90s with acclaimed movies like Red and maybe his most remembered, Dick Tracy in 1990.

Diane Keaton

Diane Keaton is a force of nature. For decades she's been one of the best and most popular actresses in Hollywood, and though she's only dipped her toes into directing, mostly in TV, she's on this list for one important reason. Keaton directed the music video for "Heaven Is A Place On Earth" by Belinda Carlisle and that is a stone-cold Gen X classic. 

Kenneth Branagh

Kenneth Branagh might be as well known for his directing as he is for his acting, and that's really saying something. Not only has he directed some of the best Shakespeare adaptions for the silver screen, but more recently he's been killing it with his Agatha Christie adaptations. 

Leonard Nimoy

Appropriately, Leonard Nimoy's first foray into feature film direction came in the Star Trek franchise when he directed both Star Trek III: The Search For Spock and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Outside of the iconic franchise he helped make famous he also directed the beloved Three Men and a Baby. 

Sylvester Stallone

Sylvester Stallone has always been a self-starter. His work to get the original Rocky made is legendary and after it made him a huge star, he wasted no time getting into directing, starting with Rocky II and adding Rocky III, Rocky IV, and 2006's Rocky Balboa as well. Of course, he's also directed in two other franchises he was at the center of with 2008's Rambo and the first Expendable movie. 

Helen Hunt

This one might surprise you, but Helen Hunt has had an impressive career as a director. Most of her work has been on television on shows varying from her own Mad About You and This Is Us. She also has two feature films under her belt with 2007's Then She Found Me and 2014's Ride. 

Joel Edgerton

Joel Edgerton is seemingly everywhere these days, popping up in all kinds of movies and TV shows from Star Wars stuff to Dark Matter. He's also started directing, but his output is limited, with 2015's underrated The Gift and 2018 Boy Erased. Let's hope he finds more time to direct in his busy schedule. 

Of all the mysteries of life, one that continues to confound us is what, exactly, lies beyond our planet. After thousands of years of peering into outer space as far as we could, we began to look for those answers in a very concrete way by sending people to the stars, and our movies have reflected our desire to know more, meaning that a number of humanity’s biggest and brightest stars have played space-faring individuals on screen. Here for you now are 32 famous actors who’ve played astronauts.

Sandra Bullock (Gravity)

Let’s start with one of the more harrowing views of space travel, Gravity, which garnered a number of Academy Award wins after its 2013 release. Sandra Bullock stars as Dr. Ryan Stone, who’s on her first space mission in order to help upgrade a telescope. But, things very quickly go wrong when she’s doing a spacewalk, and debris from a recently deactivated satellite hits the shuttle and leaves her stranded with many of her crew dead, Ryan floating through space, and desperate to find a way back to earth all on her own.

Brad Pitt (Ad Astra)

A space trip that doesn’t go too much better involves Brad Pitt’s Roy McBride in 2019’s Ad Astra. When Roy is tasked with traveling to Mars to see if the crew of a mission that was searching for other intelligent life, which was led 29 years earlier by his father, is still alive, he’s unwittingly thrust into a situation that’s far more dangerous than even standard space travel is known to be.

Ryan Reynolds (Life)

Noted comedic actor and big-screen superhero talent Ryan Reynolds has also donned a space suit for the very much not comedic Life, a 2017 ode to terror in space. After a probe returns to the International Space Station with soil samples from Mars, what is at first a dormant cell quickly turns into, well, life, and begins to cause a lot of horrific trouble for Reynolds’ engineer and the rest of the crew.

Halle Berry (Moonfall)

If you’re starting to sense a theme here, that outer space is dangerous, congratulations, because you really are paying attention. In the sci-fi disaster epic, Moonfall, Halle Berry’s NASA deputy director has to investigate when the moon begins to leave its orbit and come closer to Earth, threatening all of civilization. When she digs deeper into the mystery, however, she finds a government cover-up that goes back many decades and is forced to head back into space with a small crew to take care of the growing problem herself.

Michael Peña (A Million Miles Away)

Considering the incredible number of films we have where those who head into space are prominent characters, there are actually relatively few based on the lives of real people. A Million Miles Away stars Michael Peña as José M. Hernández, a Mexican-American engineer who served as a migrant worker when he was a child and went on to become an astronaut who worked aboard the International Space Station.

Viola Davis (Solaris)

There are many sci-fi films of the mind-trip variety and Solaris is no different. Viola Davis portrays one of the last surviving members of a space station crew orbiting the titular alien world, who must then try to help George Clooney’s visiting psychologist understand the truly strange phenomena that led to the death or disappearance of most of the crew. If you enjoy a twisty ending that leaves you with lots of questions, you’ll enjoy this one.

Mark Wahlberg (Planet Of The Apes)

You know this story; you love this story. Planet of the Apes saw Mark Wahlberg take over the role of an astronaut who crashes on a foreign planet, only to find that apes are now the dominant species, while humans are mostly without speech and used as slave labor. 

Chris Evans (Sunshine)

And here we have yet another space movie where a mission does not quite go as planned. Sunshine features stars like Cillian Murphy, Michelle Yeoh and a pre-Captain America Chris Evans as the crew of a ship that’s been tasked with traveling to our dying sun to deliver a bomb in the hopes of reigniting it so that our planet can avoid another catastrophic ice age.

Adam Driver (65)

Ever wonder what Earth was like about 65 million years ago when dinosaurs still ruled the land? Well, that’s what alien astronaut Mills (Adam Driver) accidentally finds out when his ship is struck by a large field of asteroids and crashes on our planet, leading him to have to protect the only other survivor as they flee many dangerous beasts in an attempt to get to a faraway escape pod so they can return home.

Sigourney Weaver (Alien)

It’s possible we’d have far fewer of these “if it can go wrong on a space mission it will” science fiction films without what many consider one of the best horror movies of all time, Alien. The classic stars Sigourney Weaver as Ripley, one of a seven-person crew who unknowingly stumble upon the ultra-dangerous xenomorphs that would go on to become legendary in sci-fi horror, which quickly leads to pretty much nothing but increasingly bad times on their doomed mission.

Tom Hanks (Apollo 13)

We’ve hit upon another story based on some real-life adventures! In Apollo 13, Tom Hanks stars as Commander Jim Lovell who, along with Command Module Pilot Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon) and Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise (Bill Paxton), board their 1970 mission to the moon in order to become the third American crew to land there. However, trouble starts almost immediately.

Natalie Portman (Lucy In The Sky)

While not completely a true life story, 2019’s Lucy in the Sky is billed as being “loosely inspired” by the life of NASA astronaut Lisa Nowak. The plot concerns Natalie Portman’s Lucy, who has just returned from her first space mission, which had such a huge impact on her that she no longer feels connected to her family or life here. As she pushes herself to return on the next mission, she undergoes a mental breakdown that sends her life into a tailspin.

Glen Powell (Hidden Figures)

While the amazing biopic, Hidden Figures, focuses on three Black women (Katherine Goble Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe) who worked as NASA mathematicians during the height of the Space Race in the 1960s, we do still get an astronaut in this film. Twisters star Glen Powell plays John Glenn, who became the first American in orbit in 1962.

Robert Pattinson (High Life)

You’d think a movie called High Life would finally focus on some good times in space, but…nahhhhh. Robert Pattinson is a member of a crew of convicts on death row who’ve been sent to retrieve energy from a black hole, with the experiments of their commander leading to a child being born on board while crew members spiral out of control.

Tom Cruise (Oblivion)

Tom Cruise’s 2013 film, Oblivion, features him in a twisty plot that involves a post-apocalyptic Earth, evil A.I., even more evil aliens, and his character trying to figure out exactly what’s going on with his assigned mission. This is a good one that people hardly ever talk about.

Jodie Foster (Contact)

Based on the 1985 novel by Carl Sagan, Contact stars Academy Award winner Jodie Foster as a scientist who specializes in the search for extraterrestrial life, and finds a big clue toward that goal when she locates a radio signal that appears to be sent from a distant star, and is eventually chosen as the person to make first contact with the alien race behind the signal. Contact is an amazing film that is a must-see for sci-fi and space movie lovers.

Colin Farrell (Voyagers)

This movie is a real (space) trip. Voyagers stars Colin Farrell as the leader of a crew of very young adults who were bred away from humanity and had some of their hormones and emotions suppressed in the hope of keeping them manageable. But, when two of the crew realize what’s been done to them and convince everyone to stop taking the chemical, well, the proceedings get extremely emotional and tension doesn't let up for quite some time.

Matthew McConaughey (Interstellar)

By now, it’s probably pretty clear that our idea of space travel and exploration is mainly one of danger, especially from the unknown, and Christopher Nolan’s wildly successful Interstellar is certainly another addition to the film canon that shows us that. In it, Matthew McConaughey plays a former NASA test pilot who’s chosen to lead a mission through a wormhole that is hoped to lead to at least one habitable planet for humanity, which is dealing with a global famine that’s threatening an extinction event. 

Idris Elba (Prometheus)

Those Alien xenomorphs just won’t leave us alone, will they? In Prometheus, we get their origin story as a crew following an ancient star map searches for the beginnings of humanity, but instead finds…you know, a secret plot and lots of terror. Idris Elba portrays Janek, the heroic captain of the doomed spaceship.

Adam Sandler (Spaceman)

If you’ve ever gotten the sense that space travel can be kind of lonely, Adam Sandler’s Spaceman turns that idea up to 11. His astronaut is six months into a solo mission that sees him missing his wife and the unborn child he left behind, when he realizes he has a stowaway: an alien creature who can communicate telepathically with him, and seeks to understand humans while helping alleviate the astronaut’s loneliness.

Ryan Gosling (First Man)

This biographical drama sees Ryan Gosling play Neil Armstrong, who became the first man to walk on the moon in 1969. The story follows Armstrong, his wife Janet (Claire Foy), and other astronauts and NASA figures as they prepare for the famed Apollo 11 mission that led to Armstrong making history.

Angela Bassett (Supernova)

Even two-time Oscar nominee Angela Bassett has taken a turn at playing a space explorer whose time there does not go as planned. When she and her crew answer a distress call from thousands of light years away during their deep space mission, things go from bad to worse at, well, the speed of light.

Matt Damon (The Martian)

Matt Damon famously starred in one of the best sci-fi movies of all time, playing astronaut Mark Watney, who’s forced to survive on Mars alone after being accidentally left behind when he’s presumed dead by the rest of his crew as they’re forced to evacuate. 

Bruce Willis (Armageddon)

Possibly the best non-traditional astronaut movie ever made, Armageddon stars good guy Bruce Willis as an oil driller recruited to go into space with a team of his mean so that they drill into a massive asteroid, implant a nuke in it and blow it up in the hope of stopping it from destroying the planet and human civilization as we know it. I got excited just writing that!

Laurence Fishburne (Event Horizon)

In space, no one can hear you scream. Unless you’re on a spaceship with other people that’s destined to run into loads of trouble, then, you know, all of those people will probably be able to hear you. There’s lots of screaming in 1997’s Event Horizon, which stars Laurence Fishburne as the captain of a rescue ship that goes to answer a distress call sent by a ship that disappeared several years prior. There’s a vivisection in this one. I’m starting to think we should just leave space alone.

Robert Duvall (Deep Impact)

You must remember Deep Impact, as it was released about two months before the more popular Armageddon, but featured a comet being on a collision course with our precious homeworld. Robert Duvall plays the pilot for the crew that’s dispatched to (you guessed it) drill into the comet and nuke it to smithereens. The mission does not go off without a hitch, and that’s why they call this a disaster movie.

Ethan Hawke (Gattaca)

In a society where most babies are created with genetic altering to make sure they have only the best traits of each parent, a man (Ethan Hawke) who was born without that practice poses as a man who was altered so that he can reach his dream of becoming an astronaut without all of the discrimination that people like him suffer in a society where people are expected to be “perfect” to have the best opportunities in life.

Sam Rockwell (Moon)

Ok, so maybe being in space, in general, isn’t always terrible. But it definitely seems like being alone in space for an extended period could be a bad sign for your future. Such is the case with Moon, where Sam Rockwell plays the lone human operating a mining facility on the titular celestial body, who comes to a startling revelation as he nears the end of his three-year work term.

Clint Eastwood (Space Cowboys)

Clint Eastwood has portrayed a number of (basically) good guys, so it makes complete sense that he would have stepped into the shoes of an Air Force pilot who retired long ago, but ends up leading a mission of other retired pilots to fix an old Soviet communications satellite that’s in danger of crashing to Earth.

Liv Tyler (Space Station 76)

As you’ve likely noticed, there are not a lot of comedies among this bunch, but Space Station 76 is definitely one of them. This “retro-futuristic” parody stars Liv Tyler as the newly arrived station’s co-pilot, who soon comes to realize that the apparently utopian lives of those on board are hiding some very real problems.

Alan Rickman (Galaxy Quest)

Here is another comedy that’s been a cult hit pretty much since its release in 1999. Galaxy Quest focuses on the cast of a fictional Star Trek-like series who are pulled into a hilariously real war between alien races, when the kind, gentle aliens have seen their show and believe it’s a documentary.

Gugu Mbatha-Raw (The Cloverfield Paradox)

The Cloverfield franchise grew with this 2018 entry, which stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw as an engineer aboard an orbiting space station where the plan is to test a particle accelerator in the hope of using it to provide the planet with infinite energy. You know what happens, right? Things don’t go as planned.

Many of our finest actors have pretended to travel in space for our entertainment, and this list gives you a number of amazing options should you decide to launch an astronaut movie binge session.

Jodie Foster began acting when she was 3 years old, and she’s been consistently working basically ever since. With two Oscras, many nominations and a stack of acting and directing credits under her belt, she has proven over and over again that she’s not only here for the long haul, but that she’s a shining example of what a long, successful, and balanced career looks like. 

From The Silence of the Lambs to Nyad and so much more, this woman has made it clear that she is not only a master, but one who has been able to sustain her excellence across her decades-long career. And that, my friends, is why Jodie Foster is such an empowering role model. 

Jodie Foster Got Her First Oscar Nomination In 1977 For Taxi Driver At The Age Of 14 

When Jodie Foster was hired to work on Taxi Driver she was only 12 years old, however, she already had over 30 credits to her name. This made Martin Scorsese’s team feel intimidated, however, casting her proved to be a masterful decision as the actress went on to get an Oscar nomination for playing the child sex worker Iris Steensma opposite Robert DeNiro.

At only 14 years old, Foster attended the Oscars, and while she didn’t win, this film marked a shift in the tide and the beginning of the actress’s dominant career as a powerful performer. 

Not long after Taxi Driver, Foster was even offered the role of Princess Leia in Star Wars, but she had to turn it down due to scheduling conflicts. This film from Scorsese made the actress a household name, and a critical darling. From there her career flourished, and to this day, the drama is considered one of her best films.

In 1989 Jodie Foster Won Her First Oscar For The Accused

In her late 20s, Jodie Foster returned to the Academy Awards. In 1989, she was nominated for her role in The Accused. In the legal drama, she starred as Sarah Tobias, a woman who was gang-raped and the subject of the case that followed. Ultimately, this performance won the actress her first Oscar, and you can see her acceptance speech here:

The Accused, which came out in 1988, is a vital movie that tells the story of how the legal system helps and harms victims of rape, an issue that is still incredibly relevant today. Foster’s brave performance was moving, and rightfully award-worthy. It also marked the end of her second decade working as an actor, and at the time she wasn’t even 30 years old yet. 

Little Man Tate Served As Jodie Foster’s Directorial Debut In 1991

Now, Foster’s career as a young actress is empowering as is. Her choice of projects is powerful, and her fearlessness on screen is admirable. However, in 1991 she became even more of a role model when she directed and starred in the film Little Man Tate.

The actress’s ability to take on new roles is commendable, and her successful feature directorial debut is even more reason to look up to her. It’s also well known that the child prodigy at the center of this film shares a lot in common with Foster herself. In Roger Ebert’s review of the film he complimented the actress and her work, writing:

This move into directing shows Foster’s skill, and it helped illuminate how well she had transitioned from being a child star into a grown-up one. 

Jodie Foster Earned Her Second Oscar In 1992 For Silence Of The Lambs 

To this day, The Silence of the Lambs is probably the film Foster is best known for, and rightfully so. While Meg Ryan, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Laura Dern were all considered for Clarice, ultimately, Foster won the part. The story goes that she passionately campaigned for it, and her persistence, determination and passion are what got it for her. In the end, she proved to be perfect for the character of the equally determined FBI agent in training, because on the film’s dominant night at the Oscars, she took home one of them:

With this win, Jodie Foster became one of only a few folks under the age of 30 who had won two Oscars. 

What I’ve learned from all this is just how passionate and committed Foster is. It’s admirable to pursue a project like she did, and the film's critical and commercial success goes to show just how much hard work pays off. 

She’s Also Directed Two Other Features And Episodes Of Iconic Television Shows

While I’m only mentioning a few of her acting gigs, it’s vital to note that Foster has been acting consistently for decades. This is important, because along with performing, she also took up directing again.

Following Little Man Tate, she led the feature film Home for the Holidays in 1995 and The Beaver in 2011. Then in the 2010s, she helmed episodes of some of the earliest Netflix hits, like Orange is the New Black, House of Cards and Black Mirror. While her career began in television, she didn’t really come back to it until she started directing these shows. Her versatility as an actress and a director, along with her desire to take on a myriad of projects is really on full display here, and it's incredibly empowering. 

Almost 30 Years After Her Nell Nomination, Jodie Foster Got A Nod For Nyad

When I look at Foster’s career, a movie like Nyad isn’t necessarily something I’d expect her to do. However, as she’s proven over and over again, she can do anything – as her first Oscar nomination in over two decades proved. 

In 1995 Foster received her fourth Oscar nomination for Nell. Then 24 years went by before she received her next one at the age of 61 for Nyad. That’s how she found herself on the list of 2024 Oscar nominees for her role as Bonnie Stoll, Diana Nyad’s best friend and swim coach, in the sports biopic (which you can stream with a Netflix subscription). Along with Foster’s performance in this uplifting film being incredible, it’s also a film about queer friendship, and it’s a lovely representation of the LGBTQ+ community. Showing, once again, the importance of her work.

True Detective: Night Country Was Jodie Foster’s First TV Role Since The 1970s

If you tuned in to True Detective: Night Country when it aired on the 2024 TV schedule (you can still stream it with a Max subscription) then you witnessed Foster’s fantastic performance, proving that her work continues to be just as meaningful and prolific as it always has been.

Both Nyad and True Detective marked a turn in Foster’s career, as she hadn’t consistently worked in TV since the ‘70s, and her role in Nyad was unlike anything she’d taken on. In an interview with Interview Magazine, the actress explained how her work now is different from her work when she was younger, saying:

Whether you are looking at the work Jodie Foster did as a kid, in her 20s or the projects she’s releasing today, there’s no denying that she’s an absolute powerhouse. She’s maintained an admirable work ethic and a magnificent reputation for her entire life. As she continues to work on more projects, and as her older movies and shows’ legacies live on, there’s no question that she is a role model to many women all over, myself included, and it’s for good reason, too. 

Anyone who has seen Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation must wonder for at least a second if there is truth in Bill Murray’s character of a famous American actor in Japan to film a commercial. Well, there definitely is. Huge American and European stars have been hawking products in Japanese commercials for decades. 

Some of the biggest names in Hollywood, some of whom you’d never expect to be selling cars and shampoo in the States, are happy to do it in Japan. While there was a time those stars may have been labeled as “sell-outs” in the U.S. for doing commercials, it was very lucrative to appear in ads in Japan, without the baggage. Here are just a few of the celebrities who have made those Japanese ads. 

Natalie Portman

Natalie Portman is known in the U.S. for her Miss Dior perfume commercials, but in Japan, she’s better known for selling Lux shampoo. The commercial we found is a pretty standard shampoo commercial, very similar to one you’d see in the States with long, flowing locks being flung to and fro. 

Jodie Foster

Two-time Oscar winner Jodie Foster is one of those actors you’d least expect to see in a commercial, but in the ‘90s, Foster starred in a campaign for Honda Civics. The commercials are pretty bland, with lots of shots of a smiling Foster standing near the Hondas she was selling. 

George Clooney

He may be one of the biggest movie stars of all time, but George Clooney isn’t above slinging coffee in Europe or doing extensive voice-over work on American commercials. In Japan, he’s the face of Kirin Beer in at least a couple of commercials, co-starring with some CGI songbirds. 

Keanu Reeves

Keanu Reeves has developed a reputation for being one of the nicest guys in Hollywood. It makes sense that a product would be interested in having him as a spokesman. In the United States, he occasionally does a commercial or two, most notably for Squarespace. In Japan, he’s also popular. Like a lot of Western celebs, he’s been hired by the whiskey maker Suntory to do commercials. As always, he looks cool doing it. 

Madonna

At the height of Madonna’s fame in the ‘80s and ‘90s, it would’ve been very rare to see her endorse a product on TV in the United States, but in Japan, she was part of a big campaign for Takara, a whiskey made by Blanton’s for the Japanese market. The commercials don’t look like they took up much of the Material Girl’s time, however, as they are just cuts from her music videos spliced with buzzwords and shots of the bourbon. 

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Lately, Arnold Schwarzenegger has been showing up in more and more commercials. At the 2024 Super Bowl, he was in a State Farm ad, for example. It seems the former Governator likes the idea of picking up a nice paycheck for a minimal amount of work, and who can blame him? It’s something he’s been doing in Japan for decades, going back to the pinnacle of his fame in the ‘90s when he endorsed an energy drink called Alinamin V. These might be the strangest of all the commercials too, featuring Schwarzenegger’s giant head popping out the bottle and other over-the-top images. 

Miles Davis

No one defines “cool” quite like Miles Davis did. The late jazz legend had a reputation for being prickly, but fans still wanted to be him. His sound on trumpet was unique, as was his style, and it all oozes authenticity. Endorsing products in the U.S. might have branded him a “sell-out” to his fans, but in the ‘80s, he could go to Japan, where he was also a big star, and shoot commercials for Honda Scooters, and no one would be the wiser in North America. 

Britney Spears

Britney Spears might be the least surprising person on this list. At the height of her fame in the late ‘90s, she’s exactly the kind of celebrity that would be huge in Japan. Spears took advantage of that fame, starring in a series of commercials for Go Go Tea. The pop star also appeared in an ad for Mikakuto Gummy Candies as well. 

Harrison Ford

Back in 1996, Entertainment Weekly reported that Hollywood stars could make anywhere from $500K to $2 million for a couple of days’ work on a Japanese commercial. It explains why actors like Harrison Ford, who no one would have expected to see in an ad in the ‘90s in America, would spend a few days in Japan shooting commercials for Kirin beer. We don’t know how much he made, but it’s safe to assume the Star Wars star made enough to pay Jabba back and then some. 

Cameron Diaz

SoftBank is one of the largest holding companies in Japan and it loves to bring over American stars to promote its services. One such star was Cameron Diaz, who in the mid-’00s starred in commercials and print ads all over Tokyo for the cell phone giant. No doubt such a campaign made it possible for the actress to semi-retire in 2014. 

Brad Pitt

Coffee, specifically canned coffee, seems to be one of the more lucrative areas of advertising for Western stars in Japan. None other than Brad Pitt even showed up in one in the ‘90s. Pitt stars as an office worker getting more work done after drinking a can of Roots Coffee. 

Bruce Willis

Bruce Willis is big in Japan. He’s been spotted selling everything from cars to financial services. Daihatsu and SoftBank have both hired the Die Hard legend to hawk their wares. He even learned a phrase or two in Japanese for the spots. 

Sharon Stone

Just as in America and Europe, Japanese beauty brands love to hire a famous actress to taut their product’s ability to make everyone as beautiful as they are. Sharon Stone was a major spokeswoman for Vernal soaps, for example. Stone also appeared in commercials for jewelry and other luxury wares. 

Ben Stiller

When you watch the Kirin ad Ben Stiller did back in the late ‘90s, it makes you wonder if it was the main inspiration for Zoolander. It feels like an outtake from the movie about a male model, it’s so goofy. Don’t get it wrong, it’s supposed to be over-the-top and funny, so it fits the character of Derek Zoolander perfectly, even if Stiller wasn’t actually playing the role. It’s also better than Zoolander 2.

Francis Ford Coppola

Of course, the most famous example in the West of a star doing Japanese commercials is the fictional Bob Harris (Bill Murray) doing Suntory ads in Lost In Translation. The inspiration for the film, or part of it, had to be Sofia Coppola’s father, Francis Ford Coppola doing ads in Japan in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Including one for Fuji Cassettes, and yes, Suntory whiskey. 

Sylvester Stallone

Rocky star Sylvester Stallone got on the Japanese advertising train back in the mid-’90s, including doing some very strange commercials for Bayern Sausages. An Italian-American doing ads for German sausages in Japan. It’s the UN of commercials! 

Brooke Shields

Back in the ‘80s, Brooke Shields was huge. For much of the decade, she found a lot of work in Japan in ads for everything from tissues to coffee to stereos. No doubt that helped her pay for her Princeton education, where she studied during a break from her career in the mid-’80s. 

Richard Gere

In 2009, Japanese company Suntory bought Orangina, the sparking orange beverage from France. Almost immediately, Suntory did what they had done so often in the past, they hired an American actor for an ad campaign. Richard Gere starred in a few commercials for the brand at the dawn of the 2010s, playing a classic Japanese comedy character from the ‘60s and ‘70s named Tora-san.  

Audrey Hepburn

By the early 1970s, Hollywood legend Audrey Hepburn had already semi-retired from acting, starring only sporadically in a few movies in the ‘70s before bowing out completely. Still, she did work in Japan occasionally in commercials, including one for wigs from 1970, which seems pretty odd, but hey, it’s Audrey Hepburn, so who are we to question it?

Leonardo DiCaprio

Even the great Leonardo DiCaprio has gotten in on the Japanese ad business, hawking credit cards in the ‘90s and Jim Beam more recently. You might expect the latter, but definitely not the former, in the United States. 

Anne Hathaway

Anne Hathaway is another glamorous actress who has been known to pop up in luxury and beauty ads in Japan. One product, Lux Shampoo, is well known for using American stars in its ads for its products. The rom-com star pitched for the company a few times in the mid-’00s. 

Sammy Davis, Jr.

Suntory Whiskey definitely takes the win for grabbing some of the biggest stars from the U.S. to sell its products. Even way back in the ‘70s, it was paying Sammy Davis, Jr. to do commercials for them. They even got him to scat for one of them, and it’s a gem. 

Tommy Lee Jones

Tommy Lee Jones has been a regular in Japanese commercials for a long time, and watching some of the more bizarre ones, he’s clearly having a lot of fun. It definitely references his role in the Men in Black series, but beyond that, it’s hard to pin what they are about, exactly, except that he’s selling coffee. 

Nicolas Cage

It’s no surprise to find Nicolas Cage on this list, now is it? Going back a couple of decades, the actor did a series of commercials for Pachinko games, which are Japanese slot machines and pinball machines.

Kyle MacLachlan

In what might be the absolute best and most bizarre entry on this list, Kyle MacLachlan starred in a whole series of commercials for Georgia Coffee as Dale Cooper from Twin Peaks. The commercials played out like a bizarre mystery, just like the show, and also featured other characters from the show, and the famous intro. It’s truly awesome… and weird… and awesome.

Sean Connery

If you want someone elegant and cool to advertise your whiskey, why not hire James Bond himself, Sean Connery? That’s exactly what Suntory did in the early ‘90s and he’s everything you want him to be in the ad. 

Hugh Jackman

When you have the talents of a true song-and-dance man like Hugh Jackman, it’s smart to take advantage of that. It’s what Lipton Ice Tea did in 2010 to amazing results with the Deadpool & Wolverine star dancing around a Japanese hotel. 

Cindy Crawford

Cindy Crawford was the most famous model in the world in the ‘80s and ‘90s, so it’s no surprise she’d been seen on Japanese TV selling lots of stuff, as she was virtually everywhere else in the world. For example, in Japan, she hawked a sports drink called Pocari Sweat. Sweat seems like an odd thing to name your drink, but Crawford could sell anything in those days. 

John Travolta

Canned drinks are huge in Japan and the competition for customers is intense, which has led to a lot of American stars getting lucrative gigs. John Travolta is one such star, who was hired to appear in an ad for Tokyo Drink. Naturally, he danced his way through it. 

Hulk Hogan

Professional wrestling has long been hugely popular in Japan. American wrestling stars like Hulk Hogan have been traveling to Japan to work for decades. With that fame, came commercials for the Hulkster, like one in the early ‘90s hawking Hitachi Air Conditioners. 

Quentin Tarantino

It’s not always just actors either. Quentin Tarantino, whose Kill Bill movies are a tribute to Japanese culture, popped up in an ad for SoftBank’s cell phone service. The director looks like he had a blast making the spots, too. 

Kiefer Sutherland

When 24 debuted, it instantly became one of the biggest hits on TV, and that success translated to Japanese TV as well. So much so, that Kiefer Sutherland was hired by the energy drink Calorie Mate to star in a series of commercials in the style of the spy show. 

There was a time when “selling out” was a real concern for artists and their fans. It’s far more common today to see big stars in commercials. Before it became okay to be seen selling stuff on TV, those big names could head to Japan for a nice paycheck, without retribution from hardcore fans. Until the internet, it was rare for an American or European to even know the stars had done it. Now with the internet, we get to see all these great commercials they were doing. 

Major spoilers below for the season finale of True Detective: Night Country, so be warned if haven’t yet seen all the big reveals, which are available to stream with a Max subscription.

In its first five episodes, True Detective: Night Country set up a slew of sunless mysteries and questions for viewers to ponder going into the horror-tinged thriller’s season finale. By and large, showrunner Issa López delivered the answers that a murder-mystery needs, with all of the unresolved deaths being explained by the end, some in far more detail than others. But what about story threads that weren’t fully contextualized, such as Navarro’s fate or Annie’s tongue?

Let’s indulge in a three-fingered handful — we see you, Blair — of the darker curiosities and unanswered questions that audiences were left with by the time “Part 6” was in credits mode. Some of them have been addressed with varying levels of clarity by Night Country’s writer/director López and star Kali Reis, such as our first mega-inquiry.

Did Navarro Die At The End Of True Detective: Night Country?

The final time we get a full-on shot of Reis’ Navarro, she’s on the other side of learning the truth — or at least a substantial part of it — about Annie’s death, while also having come to terms with the voices that she believed were haunting her throughout the season. She sets out walking into a snowy abyss as she’d done earlier in the season, but without the same heaviness that pulled at her before, making it appear like less of a suicidal instinct. Navarro also seemingly pops up in the final moments within what’s believed to be Liz Danvers’ lakeside home. But what’s the truth here?

As it turns out, Issa López is fully behind the idea of viewers taking and embracing whichever ending and meaning they choose to, and laid the story pieces out as such to stoke multifaceted reactions. Speaking with Variety, the showrunner was asked if Navarrow was “in a place of peace,” and if she was still alive, to which López replied:

The last scene is then addressed, concerning the idea that it's not exactly clear whether or not Navarro is with Liz in both body and spirit at that point, or if that's mean to represent the former Trooper's essence that her former partner can never shake. To be expected, perhaps, López is all about that dichotomy. While holding back her own thoughts, she said:

During my initial viewing, I read things as totally literal, with Liz and Navarro touching base again months after the fact, Shawshank Redemption-style. But upon rewatching, I can't say for certain if Liz fully acknowledges Navarro's presence or not, so I'm more open to the idea of a ghostly presence, even though I don't want the character to have actually wandered to death.

Were The Supernatural Elements Real?

As we’ve talked about in the past, Night Country leaned heavily into connections to True Detective Season 1’s Rust Cohle and other elements, and it similarly toed the line between supernatural and rational. That said, the season ended without any surefire clarification on whether the ghostly experiences had by Navarro, her sister Julia, Rose and others were legitimate, or only figments of mental illness. Perhaps the most convincing moments of truly otherworldly forces were the times when they got the ever-skeptical Liz’s attention, but she blew everything off immediately. (Who finds a crucifix in their hair and then goes on with their day?)

As far as all the major mysteries went, the answers were laid out without the need to rely on unexplained events, from the women forcing the scientists into the cold at gunpoint, or the scientists being responsible for Annie’s assault and murder. But when it comes to other things, like Travis Cohle’s dancing specter, what should we believe? Showrunner Issa López told Variety this when asked about the show's stance:

Obviously not the most pleasing answer for anyone who abhors ambiguity, but I think the important thing to take away is what she isn't doing: ruling out supernatural events. Because to do that would be to say that Navarro was just hallucinating or dreaming when her given name was revealed by her mother, which would be a devastating blow to the character herself. So while I'm not sure how I feel about Julia's terrifying experiences or where Liz's son falls in all of this, I am comfortable believing in the supernatural for the sake of Navarro's peace of mind.

Who Is Leah's Father?

For all that True Detective: Night Country delved heavily into the emotional traumas of all of its main characters, the story quite purposefully held back on specific details about the past and personal lives of Liz and Leah Danvers. It’s an interesting choice, considering the characters shown the least are the ones that so directly connect the stepmother and stepdaughter. But that decision necessarily means audiences came away wondering more about the late family members. Who was the man who was Leah’s father, a role he held before he and Liz got together?

What we do know is that his name was Jake Peterson (as portrayed by Svend Hardenberg), and that he and Liz had a biological son named Holden. It was heavily implied that the husband and son died in a vehicular collision, though without any further details being spelled out in full. But while the relatively few times Jake popped up seemed to be joyous, the lack of flashbacks set up the possibility that those happy times were fewer and farther between than what might have been expected. 

For instance, flashbacks with Leah were all but absent, even though she was also Jake’s daughter. Leah and Liz’s relationship apparently stayed strained over the years, presumably because of the lack of closure over the deaths, which also possibly speaks to the family’s home life not being akin to fairy tales. Is it possible that Jake was responsible for the wreck that killed him and Holden? Could that be why we don’t see him in a more loving light?

Who Cut Out Annie's Tongue?

True Detective’s fourth season offered up no concrete answers about Annie’s severed tongue, which served as the only initially obvious connective tissue between the activist’s long-unsolved murder and the deaths of the Tsalal scientists. Of course, it became quite clear in the finale that Annie’s death was wholly connected to the Tsalal engineers, which provided the “why” for it being left at the lab when the scientists went missing.

But the series never explicitly revealed who was responsible for cutting Annie’s tongue out of her mouth, or at what point that act was committed. Some fans such as myself believe that Hank was tasked with mutilating Annie’s body to make it look more related to mining protests than Tsalal itself, though that wouldn’t explain how it showed up at the lab all those years later. And if it was Bee and the other women who kept it, when did they gain access to it? Or, as a third option, what if it was Annie herself who left the icky clue?

This is another mystery that the showrunner is leaving up to viewers to conclude what went down, and she laid arguments for all sides in her interview with Variety. That said, it does sound like Hank chopped it out, and the women were the ones who left it as a calling card for their vengeful actions after discovering Annie’s fate. It’s hard to argue against this: 

And since her breakdown for how Annie the spirit might have done it isn’t quite as detailed, I’m choosing to go with Bee & Co. as the keepers of the tongue.

Hopefully it won’t be long before HBO makes a decision about True Detective Season 5, but there are plenty of upcoming goodies on the 2024 TV premiere schedule to look forward to before more spirals start popping up all over the place.

Major spoilers below for the season finale of True Detective: Night Country, so be warned if you haven’t yet watched or streamed with a Max subscription.

It’s hard to say the dust officially settled on True Detective’s fourth season, since Night Country’s snowy setting made dust particles harder to pick out. But the HBO murder mystery did indeed wrap up its six-episode run with a rather revealing (and extended) finale that provided more or less official explanations for the variety of unexplained deaths that were established in the first five eps. 

Though there were definitely some plot points that didn’t get spelled out entirely, such as whether supernatural events occurred or not, True Detective: Night Country’s “Part Six” offered up enough conclusions to keep viewers sated and still curious. So let’s get bundled up and head down into the ice caves for some answers to all these deaths.

Who Killed Annie?

Answer: Raymond Clark and the other scientists

To be expected, the answers for Ennis’ biggest cold case murder (at least in Navarro’s eyes) were anything but simple, though nothing overtly otherworldly had anything to do with it. Rather, Annie discovered both the ice cave research station and the truth behind Tsalal’s connection with the Silver Star Mine, and she ragefully destroyed years worth of samples and research. In the midst of their own fits of rage, the other men brutally attacked Annie, with one stabbing her over and over again with a star-tipped tool. 

At least that was how Raymond Clark said it all went down in his confession to Liz and Navarro, though the visuals told a slightly different story. Because Annie didn’t actually die from the wounds or blood loss; her last-ditch gasp of consciousness was quickly subdued by Clark suffocating her with his T-shirt. Because even though he might have been perfectly honest when declaring his love for Annie, those emotions weren’t enough to risk compromising the facility’s mission.

Who Killed The Tsalal Scientists?

Answer: Bee, Blair and other native women were indirectly responsible

Per the report that Christopher Eccleston’s Ted Connelly apparently ran with as official record, it was a slab avalanche that did the six scientists in, but that’s obviously not the real story. It was definitely a force of nature that was responsible, but not so much snow as a deadly blend of deep-seated vengeance.

Though it took years, L'xeis Diane Benson’s Bee eventually discovered the ice cave lab while doing some routine cleaning, and was able to then piece together how and why Annie was attacked. In response to the men’s monstrous actions, Bee led a large group of gun-toting women to the Tsalal facility, rounding up all the engineers (save for Clark) and marching them outside. The six murderers were driven out to the middle of the icy depths, were forced to strip down (with their clothes folded and organized), and were seemingly held at gunpoint until they succumbed to the cold.

Like many other “confessions” made during True Detective: Night Country’s run, the story Bee tells doesn’t entirely line up with what we’re shown. She explains things as if the women offered the men's fates up to the gods, instead of forcing them to choose between death by the elements or death by gunshot.

Granted, that reveal also didn’t totally explain why the men had bite marks, nor how one of them managed to survive throughout that terrifying ordeal. But there’s definitely some poetic justice in the answers that were revealed.

Who Killed William Wheeler?

Answer: Navarro

Arguably the only real example of Liz and Navarro working together prior to the Tsalal deaths, the William Wheeler case is one that has haunted both of them professionally and personally. It was already clear that their official report didn’t jive with real events, with Pete pulling off some impressive detective work to reach his assumption, but it wasn’t clear until the finale what actually went down. 

After Wheeler creepily started to whistle “Twist and Shout” — without any clear reasoning for why he picked that song — Liz called out to Navarro, who instinctively put a bullet into the murdering abuser’s head. Not much more was revealed there, though Liz did say later that she was only a moment away from ending Wheeler’s life herself, and likely would have if Navarro hadn’t pulled the trigger. 

Assuming everything remains kosher as far as the avalanche story goes, and assuming Pete doesn’t have any lapses in ethics, Navarro’s actions that day will likely remain undiscovered and unpublicized.

What Happened To Raymond Clark?

Answer: Intentionally froze to death

The finale finally showed viewers where Raymond Clark went on that fateful night after having his seizure and saying “She’s awake!” I’m not entirely certain what bolstered his specific reactions, but Clark immediately took off to hide in the tunnel hatch, which allowed him to survive the night’s events. And since then, he was apparently sticking it out inside the ice cave, which is where Liz and Navarro found him. 

Once he was in their grasp, Clark opened up almost entirely about his part in Annie’s murder and Tsalal’s involvement with the mine. Rather than killing him outright, echoing her actions with Wheeler, Navarro instead presumably got Clark to agree to record his confessions on her phone, so that he would be allowed to end his life on his own terms: frozen to death in turmoil just like the others with ideals of changing the world, no matter what the cost. But at least he apparently also got to put on a clean shirt and wipe up his messy face before going through with it.

Interestingly enough, Clark also offered up another undeniable connection to Season 1’s Rust Cohle in uttering Matthew McConaughey’s meme-quote of legend “Time is a flat circle.” And he seemed to experience that concept first-hand when that quasi-portal opened up between Clark and Navarro, but that’s a wholly different conversation.

What Was Causing All The Stillbirths?

Answer: Mining pollution, made worse by Tsalal

True Detective: Night Country’s finale rather firmly disproved my theory about the lab and its purpose, revealing the facility and its staff were going above and beyond in terms of creating a more poisoned water supply for the local area. Though it was already clear that the water was responsible, what with all the protests, what wasn’t previously known was the extent of the cover-up. 

Not only was Tsalal falsifying documents and data regarding pollutants and health risks, but they were actually pushing for the mine to go harder on that front, since the pollution affected the permafrost in a way that made it easier for the engineers to collect their samples. Illness and death to others were mere side effects for the greater good in the eyes of the men and those funding the research (i.e. the Tuttle family). 

It’s easy to understand why creator Issa López already wanted to bring this story to life as a murder-mystery before HBO execs suggested it as an entry into the True Detective anthology. Similar to virgin sacrifices and other such concepts, the scientists had something of a technically sound argument for their actions, in that they had the potential to alter the course of the human race with their work. And omelets can’t happen without eggs being cracked. 

But considering this largely indigenous community amounts to far more than a bunch of eggs — not to mention the lack of guarantees that their research would have gone anywhere outside of Tuttle United — that shit can’t fly. Had the Tuttles’ shell companies paid every single person living in the area to change locations, there still would have been ethical concerns for animal and plant life, but it would have been more defensible than “nothing at all.”

How Did Liz’s Husband And Son Die?

Answer: Via car wreck

Similar to previous episodes, True Detective’s Season 4 finale didn’t really deliver any concrete details concerning the deaths of Liz’s late husband and son, but did at least make it look very much like the largest theory behind their fates was confirmed. With earlier callbacks such as glass getting stuck in Liz’s shoe and a rolling hubcap, the finale later offered up a wide, if brief, shot of the vehicular wreckage that almost definitely took the father and son’s lives.

As far as I could tell, the particular cause for the wreck wasn’t laid out, with fans theorizing that a drunk driver was to blame. In the scheme of things, it probably doesn’t matter exactly what happened, since their deaths overall were what caused Liz’s trauma. Although I guess I wouldn’t have minded if it was revealed that a one-eyed polar bear drove a moving van into the Danvers’ vehicle. 

At this point, it’s hard to know whether or not a fifth season of True Detective will follow Night Country, but it likely won’t be part of the 2024 TV premiere schedule if it does. Until finding out more, check out all the upcoming horror shows to scratch that occultish itch.

Major spoilers below for the first five episodes of True Detective: Night Country, so be warned if you haven't yet gone down the spiral.

With its penultimate fifth episode — which HBO made available to stream early for those with Max subscriptions — True Detective: Night Country delivered a pair of unexpected murders, an “official” solution to the Tsalal scientists’ deaths, and ever-so-slightly widened the scope of the conspiracy surrounding Annie K.’s unsolved death. Not to mention the utter destruction of whatever sanity Peter Prior may have had left. 

Ahead of the season finale, I’ve got one big back-burner theory that “Part 5” seemed to supply some evidence for, as well as a handful of questions about other this storyline’s endgame, and what it means for Jodie Foster’s Danvers, Kali Reis’ Navarro and others. (I’ve given up on this story’s connections to Matthew McConaughey’s Rust Cohle actually meaning anything major.) So join me in ignoring past gripes about the show and falling below the ice to figure out what’s actually going on in the Night Country.

THEORY: Tsalal Isn’t A “Real” Lab, And Only Exists To Keep The Mine Open

Clearly, something isn’t 100% kosher when it comes to what’s happened at Tsalal, and I don’t just mean all the mysterious deaths. Viewers have heard all kinds of facts and claims about the scientists and engineers that worked within the research facility’s walls, but without ever seeing any actual science or research taking place. Let’s not forget that before things went haywire in the premiere, the Tsalal crew was fixing up sandwiches, popcorn, and beer while watching Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

We now know exactly how Season 1’s cult family is involved, as Pryor discovered Tuttle United’s deal with the shell company Norbank Securities, which is a founding partner of Ennis’ Silver Sky Mining. And we now know that the Tsalal team was responsible for crafting and releasing pollution reports whose falsified data went in favor of the mining company, data that went in the face of the tragic stillbirths of nine babies in the area. 

But while we’ve seen proof of these deaths, with Liz herself stepping foot in the room where the mini-coffins were kept, we’ve seen zero proof of the Tsalal team’s previously stated mission to find an organism with the potential to affect the aging process. As such, I think that goal has just been used as a heightened justification for keeping the facility running for so many years, and that Tuttle United is more interested in money made from mining than anything overtly scientific. (Religious pederasts and murderers aren’t usually science buffs.)

This would offer a clearer explanation for why some of the men who worked at Tsalal were less than savory characters who weren’t esteemed geniuses in their fields, such as Otis Heiss and Raymond Clark. It’s quite likely Tuttle and/or Silver Sky Mining gave those jobs to whoever was desperate and willing enough to sequester themselves to that gig for years on end.

QUESTION: Did An Avalanche Actually Kill The Scientists?

For all the Tsalal research facility’s shady practices and non-objective studies, none of that info seems to point directly to the cause for the horrors that left nearly the entire crew dead and frozen. And so whenever Christopher Eccleston’s Ted and Dervla Kirwan’s Kate relay to Liz that the forensics report pointed to a snowslide being responsible for all the nude corpses, it didn’t sound THAT wild or over the top. As Scooby-Doo has taught us time and again, anything that seems impossibly unnatural is probably just a dude in a mask. 

But because audiences were able to witness some of the moments prior to their deaths, we know that something weird was happening with the electronics and the men themselves that didn’t necessarily speak to disastrous natural events such as avalanches. So we know they weren’t anticipating such an event, and thus weren’t all outside watching for it, as Ted suggested.

That said, there’s obviously a chance for the forensics report to be true while still not telling the whole story. It’s possible that whatever event that made the electronics go wonky could have caused some kind of earthly tremor that in turn sparked an avalanche. It doesn’t explain why Clark wasn’t there, as well as some of the other details, but would at least make it seem like not everyone above Liz’s pay grade is part of the cover-up.

QUESTION: What Are Kate’s Story And Evil Motivations?

One of True Detective: Night Country’s biggest non-secrets is that many of the women in Ennis don’t like Liz because of her sexual proclivities, with Silver Star Mining boss Kate McKitterick at or near the top of that list. So it’s no surprise that she isn’t offering any pure-hearted assistance by way of Liz’s investigation, but how far up the duplicitous ladder is she, and what are her actual goals here?

On the one hand, she could be mostly “innocent,” as it were, when it comes to whatever Tuttle United’s overarching goals are. Which would still make her an ogre just for working so hard to keep the mine open in the face of tainting the land and local population, but that’s at least the kind of authority figure that people are used to. Plus, the mine employs so many people in the area that it would take several acts of God to shut it down entirely. 

Then on the other hand, Kate could be in full knowledge of whatever Tuttle United is doing with the mine, the Tsalal station, and whatever is in the caves. She doesn’t wholly seem like a ruthless, hands-rubbing-together monster, but she also doesn’t come across as someone who would stand up against a more powerful cause to fight for what is virtuous. She’s a cog, but where do her intentions lie?

Who Is The “She” That Everyone Is Saying Is Awake Now?

True Detective: Night Country has hinted at actual supernatural moments going down in this world, largely tied to ghostly visions experienced by Navarro, her late sister Julia, and Fiona Shaw’s Rose. Both those and the dream messages haven’t always seemed like concrete proof, though, since we haven’t seen two characters witnessing the same ghoulish events. (Although something tells me a slightly unexplainable incident went down at the Wheeler household surrounding his falsified suicide.)

One elusive detail that we have seen multiple characters referring to is the idea that something happened in the caves that got “her” attention, and “she” is now awake. I cannot imagine anyone is talking about a corporeal human being, since that wouldn’t make any sense. Which would mean Otis and other engineers were presumably talking about a spiritual being of some kind, but that doesn’t line up with all the science on display. 

Is this all part of a group hallucination caused by gasses and other underground elements being released into the air through mining? Or is there genuinely a female entity involved who was lying dormant before being roused from slumber? And what does she have to do with the spiral stones that were apparently used as ominous warnings?

What Happened To Liz Danver’s Husband And Son?

Liz Danvers’ personal life is the subject of much scrutiny and judgment among the residents in Ennis, with her stepdaughter Leah as antagonistic as anyone else. Viewers have been made privy to many of the skeletons in her closet, but we’re all still largely in the dark when it comes to exactly what happened to Liz’s late husband and their son, whose name was Holden. 

Most of the moments relating to the kiddo tie into the one-eyed polar bear doll that ghostly Holden is seen carrying, which Liz held on to (before angrily throwing it out).  But because Navarro’s visions out on the ice appear to show a vehicular accident involving a large truck, it’s possible those are her memories of the day Liz lost most of her family. It’s maybe safe to assume a drunk driver was at fault, too, given the chief’s reaction to an intoxicated local behind the wheel in the premiere. (Although that was potentially squashed when boozed-up Liz had zero issues with getting behind the wheel herself.)

I can’t fully grasp why showrunner Issa López has held back on sharing more details about Liz’s tragedies before the finale, unless her husband and son’s deaths end up being directly related to other mysterious events in Ennis. Could that be part of why Jodie Foster’s character is so vocally against Navarro’s spiritual nature, because she can’t explain what killed her loved ones? Here’s hoping answers are coming in the final episode of Season 4.

True Detective: Night Country's finale will air on Sunday, February 18, at 9:00 p.m. ET, and will be available to stream on Max. Head to our 2024 TV premiere schedule to see what other new and returning shows are on the way.

The top actors in Hollywood make a lot of money, but anyone will tell you that the real money is in production. That means that many of the biggest stars in the world have formed their own companies to produce both their own films and other projects that interest them. 

Often, these company names and logos appear at the beginning of the movies, along with larger, more recognizable studios like Paramount and Disney. Here is a list of many of the actors with their own production companies, along with the name of the company to look out for. 

Jordan Peele - Monkeypaw Productions

Jordan Peele has become one of the most exciting and interesting directors and producers in recent years. His Monkeypaw Productions has produced or co-produced his own movies, like Get Out, Us, and Nope, as well as other films like Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman, and Adamma Ebo's Honk For Jesus, Save Your Soul.

Tom Hanks - Playtone

Tom Hanks' Playtone has been wildly successful on the big and small screens. With movies starring Hanks like Cast Away, Charlie Wilson's Way, The Polar Express, and Greyhound, as well as films not starring him, like Mamma Mia and its sequel, the company keeps winning. It has also hit it big on TV with shows like Band of Brothers, The Pacific, and John Adams on HBO, and the CNN series about each decade of the last 60 years. 

Elizabeth Banks - Brownstone Productions

Elizabeth Banks has been on a hot streak with her company Brownstone Productions. It's most notable for the Pitch Perfect franchise, but the company has also co-produced movies like 2019's Charlie's Angels, and that surprise 2023 hit about a bear that gets into something it should not have in the woods, with scary (and hilarious) results. 

Reese Witherspoon - Pacific Standard

When Reese Witherspoon started Pacific Standard in 2012, she did so with the express purpose of highlighting and producing projects with strong female leads, crews, and topics. So far, it's been a huge success with films like Gone Girl and Wild, as well as TV shows like The Morning Show, and Big Little Lies. 

Adam Sandler - Happy Madison Productions

Adam Sandler movies are not for everyone, but wow, do they make him a lot of money through his company, Happy Madison. Though the two films it's named after Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison were not his productions, almost everything he's been in since 2000 is, and it continues to make a ton of money for the actor. The company has even dabbled in TV, most notably with The Goldbergs.

Drew Barrymore - Flower Films

Drew Barrymore's company, Flower Films, has produced or co-produced a ton of movies since she founded it in 1999. With movies like Donnie Darko, 50 First Dates, Fever Pitch, and the Charlie's Angels franchise, it is safe to assume Barrymore has made a pretty penny. Of course, it also produces her daytime talk show, The Drew Barrymore Show. 

Queen Latifah - Flavor Unit Entertainment

Queen Latifah's Flavor Unit Entertainment started out producing movies with moderate budgets that she starred in, like The Cookout and Beauty Shop, but these days, it's been successful on TV with her show, The Equalizer.

George Clooney - Smokehouse Pictures

Smokehouse Pictures is the second company founded by George Clooney after he shut down Section Eight Productions in 2006. Most movies he's starred in or directed since 2008 have been produced under the Smokehouse banner, including Leatherheads, Monuments Men, and The Boys In The Boat, plus other projects like Ocean's 8 and Argo.

Sandra Bullock - Fortus Films

Sandra Bullock may not be acting as much these days, but her production company, Fortus Films, is still humming along. Through the company, Bullock has produced movies like Miss Congeniality and its sequel, Two Weeks Notice, and The Lost City.

Courteney Cox - Coquette Productions

Friends star Courteney Cox and her ex-husband David Arquette started Coquette Productions together in 2004. The business relationship continued after the couple split six years later, though they haven't actually produced much in recent years. 

Brad Pitt - Plan B Entertainment

Plan B Entertainment was started by Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, and producer Brad Grey in 2001. In 2004, Pitt and Grey bought Aniston out in the midst of her split from Pitt. Since then, the company has gone on to major success, with three of its movies, The Departed, 12 Years a Slave and Moonlight all winning Best Picture Oscars, with seven others receiving nominations for the award. 

Sterling K. Brown - Indian Meadows Productions

This Is Us star Sterling K. Brown named his production Indian Meadows Productions after the name of the neighborhood he grew up in outside St. Louis. Though it's just getting started, there are some interesting things on the way as Brown's star continues to shine brightly. 

Margot Robbie - LuckyChap Productions

Margot Robbie may have gotten snubbed at the 2024 Oscars for Barbie, but you can be sure she wasn't snubbed out of money as one of the producers of the hit movie. Robbie's company, LuckyChap Productions, has also produced movies Robbie starred in like I, Tonya and Birds of Prey as well as other projects she didn't star in like Saltburn and Promising Young Woman.

Leonardo DiCaprio - Appian Way Productions

Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way Productions produced two Oscar-winners with The Aviator (which won five) and The Revenant (which won three, including Best Actor for DiCaprio). Through the company, DiCaprio not only produced feature films, but documentaries, as well. 

Nicole Kidman - Blossom Films

While Nicole Kidman's Blossom Films has dabbled in movies, most notably the 2011 rom-com Monte Carlo with Selena Gomez, it has found its biggest successes on the small screen. With shows like Big Little Lies, The Undoing, Nine Perfect Strangers, and 2024's Expats. 

Michael Douglas

Further Films, founded by Michael Douglas, doesn't have the portfolio that others may have on this list, as they seem to have found a niche in thrillers and suspense films like Swimfan, Don't Say a Word, 2017's Flatliners, and the streaming show Ratched.

Natalie Portman - Handsomecharlie Films

Natalie Portman named her company, Handsomecharlie Films, after her beloved dog, and she's put together a nice run of movies. She's produced many of her own projects, like No Strings Attached and Jane Got a Gun, as well as a surprise that she didn't star in, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. 

Eddie Murphy - Eddie Murphy Productions

Eddie Murphy started betting on himself early in his career through Eddie Murphy Productions and it has paid off, big time. Starting with Raw in 1987, the company has produced some huge movies for the legendary comedian, including Coming To America, Harlem Nights, Boomarang, The Nutty Professor, and Norbit. 

Barbra Streisand - Barwood Films

Barbra Streisand has produced many of her own projects through her company, Barwood Films. 1976's A Star Is Born, The Prince Of Tides, and Yentl are a few of the examples of her biggest successes. Barwood has also dabbled in TV movies, like the groundbreaking What Makes a Family in 2001, about a lesbian couple having a child together. 

Alec Baldwin - El Dorado Pictures

Alec Baldwin's El Dorado Pictures has been in the news a lot in recent years due to its connection to Rust and the tragic events that occurred on set. Baldwin has produced quite a few of his own projects through the company over the years and even got into the TV game show space with the revival of Match Game, which he also hosted. 

Tina Fey - Little Stranger

Tina Fey has one of the sharpest wits in Hollywood, so it's no surprise she would use those same brains to produce. From critically acclaimed movies like 2024's Mean Girls to wildly successful TV shows including 30 Rock and The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Fey, and her company Little Stranger, continue to crush it. 

Laurence Fishburne - Cinema Gypsy Productions

The biggest success Laurence Fishburne and his company Cinema Gypsy Productions has seen thus far is the sitcom black-ish, but he's also produced some great movies of his own that have flown under the radar, but are worth checking out, in Five Fingers and Akeelah and the Bee.

Jodie Foster - Egg Pictures

It's no surprise that an actor and director like Jodie Foster, who has been in show business for basically all of her life, would be a producer as well. Through her Egg Pictures production company, she produced many of her own projects, starting with Nell in 1994 and Home for the Holidays in 1995. She closed the company in 2002 when she decided that producing wasn't for her. 

Clint Eastwood - Malpaso Films

Without question, one of the most successful companies on this list is Malpaso Films, founded by Clint Eastwood. It has served as the production company for almost all of the films Eastwood has directed and its history stretches back to the mid-1960s. Many of his classic films, including Unforgiven, The Bridges of Madison County, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Dirty Harry, Escape from Alcatraz, Million Dollar Baby, Sully, and many more have all been produced or co-produced by Malpaso. 

Halle Berry - 606 Films

Halle Berry's 606 Films has an interesting origin story. Though it was formed as part of her deal to star in Extant, the name has an important meaning. She named it after CA Senate Bill 606, a law intended to protect celebrities' children from the paparazzi.

It was an important issue for Berry, and when the company was formed, her partner, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, said, "606 Films is named for the anti-paparazzi bill, Senate Bill 606, which Halle fought so hard for and won, when no one believed it could be achieved. It truly informs the spirit of our company — making dreams possible, one bill at a time."

Mel Gibson - Icon Productions

Mel Gibson is not the most universally loved man in Hollywood, to be sure, but he's often bet on himself with his Icon Films, and more times than not, it's worked. Since 1989, he's financed many of his own projects completely through Icon, making movies like Hacksaw Ridge, The Passion of the Christ, and We Were Soldiers, plus co-producing maybe his most iconic movie, Braveheart. 

Salma Hayek - Ventanarosa Productions

Ventanarosa Productions, founded by Salma Hayek in 1999 has most often focused on Latin-centric projects, including Hayek's own Frida and the hit TV show, Ugly Betty. Ventanarosa also works throughout Latin America, producing Spanish-language films and TV. 

Will Smith - Overbrook Entertainment

Will Smith grew up in the West Philly neighborhood of Overbrook, which he took for the name of his production company as well, Overbrook Entertainment. Through it, Smith has produced many of his own projects, starting with Ali in 2001. King Richard, for which he infamously won the Oscar for Best Actor in 2022, was also produced by Overbrook. On the small screen, the Netflix hit Cobra Kai is an Overbrook production, as well. 

Amy Poehler - Paper Kite Productions

Amy Poehler's Paper Kite Production has dabbled in movies, but most of its success has been on TV and streaming. With shows like Russian Doll, and Broad City, you can see that Poehler likes sticking with what she knows, comedy. You might be surprised, though, that the company has also found success with reality TV and even feature length documentaries.

Danny DeVito - Jersey Films

Danny DeVito is obviously proud of his New Jersey roots, naming his production company Jersey Films. He also has to be proud of the output from the company with films like Pulp Fiction and Get Shorty. He's found a lot of success on TV too, with Reno 911! Another of Jersey's films, Erin Brockovich, was nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards in 2001.

Charlize Theron - Denver And Delilah Productions

Denver and Delilah Productions' first film was Monster, starring the company's founder, Charlize Theron. That seems to have inspired a bit of a theme, as the company has produced other serial killer-related projects, like Netflix's show Mindhunters, and the HBO docuseries Last Call: When a Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York. There are also a few non-serial killer films, like Bombshell, Atomic Blonde, and Murder Mystery.

Will Ferrell - Gary Sanchez Productions

Before Adam McKay and Will Ferrell had their falling out in 2019 and dissolved Gary Sanchez Productions, the company had been wildly successful, releasing some of the funniest movies and shows over the last couple of decades. Step Brothers, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, Daddy's Home, Eastbound & Down, and Drunk History are just a few examples. Add to that a little HBO show called Succession, which has won just a few Emmys, and wow, what a success story. 

As this list shows, success as an actor often leads to success in production as well, so actors will continue to open up their own shops, and will continue to crush it, for sure. 

Spoilers are out and about for anyone who isn’t yet caught up with True Detective: Night Country’s latest episodes, so be warned and stay warm!

Across its first two episodes, True Detective: Night Country set up various direct connections to Season 1, while also building out its own currently unexplained and death-filled mystery. But “Part 3” stuck largely to the events surrounding the fourth season’s characters, and featured at least two moments that, at least when taken at full face value, stuck one foot entirely into supernatural waters. (Or ethers, I guess.) But how much are we actually meant to believe things at face value in this show? And was that actually a callback to Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of The Shining?

To clarify right up front, I know that Night Country already introduced Fiona Shaw’s Rose as someone who regularly sees the dancing-and-pointing ghost of the dude she used to bang (Rust Cohle’s dad), and that Rose claims others in the town also see ghosts. But one person’s testimony, even combined with the visuals of Spectre Travis’s interpretive footwork, isn’t verifiable proof. So now let’s shift our focus over to what happened to Navarro. 

Navarro Maybe Dealt With Some Ghosts, Shining-Style

In the midst of the manhunt for missing scientist Raymond Clark, Navarro went on a brief walk out into the icy darkness, all by herself. After pulling an orange from her pocket — an ominous cinematic reference unto itself — she chucked it out into the black. I’m not exactly sure why, since she wasn’t far from a trash can, and she didn’t seem intent on hitting anything. 

Navarro definitely didn’t expect for the orange to come rolling back to her feet, either, indicating that someone else was out there. It may not have been a direct callback to Danny Torrence’s red ball in The Shining, but it definitely felt like it to me, so it’s part of my head-canon either way. I’m still a bit confused over why she had a net-negative reaction to that bizarre moment, though, as I would have at least hollered asking if anyone was out there before completely losing my shit. 

Later in the episode, when Navarro is once again out by herself in the snow staring into the darkness, she sees a figure running away, but slips and hits her head on the ground before she can give chase. With the sound of child’s laughter heard in the sound mix, the figure appeared to be a kid holding a stuffed animal in one hand, an assumption strengthened by Navarro's unconscious vision. Upon touching her, the child whispered, "Tell my mommy," indicating it is/was Danvers' child.

And if that’s the case, that's a big implication that the child's ghost is still hanging around Ennis, though isn't appearing to Danvers herself. Though I guess I can't say with certainty that this area's spirits ever populate city centers, as they're more prone to wandering around the snowy abyss. So maybe Danvers just needs to go out there for a while by herself to find a bit of closure, assuming the ghost is legit, and does have a message for his mom. 

The Surviving Scientist Spoke To Navarro In A Possessed Voice

As weird as the aforementioned moments were, they were totally watered down compared to Navarro’s half-conversation with Dr. Lund, the Tsalal scientist who somehow managed to survive the group’s frozen tomb, only to suffer a miserable hospitalized existence. With frostbite covering his body, resulting in the loss of several limbs, Dr. Lund’s main reaction to everything was “blood-curdling screams.” 

He did manage to get a few clear words out that echoed some of the other vague language we’ve seen and heard:

Characters keep referring to this mysterious threat as “She” and other feminine pronouns, though without any names being used that I’ve heard. It came up again at the end of the episode when the characters were watching what’s presumably the final video Annie K. made on her cell phone before she was killed. 

But then when Danvers and others were called away to deal with the violent scuffle happening elsewhere in the facility, Lund and Navarro were left alone together. That’s when shit got real freaky, with Lund suddenly sitting up in bed in a pseudo-lucid state, speaking directly to Navarro in a raspy possessed-by-demons voice. 

Non-coincidentally, it was just earlier in this episode when Navarro opened up to Qavvik about her past, sharing that her mom was an abused woman who escaped back to Alaska with her daughters, but suffered mental health issues after the move. Things only got worse, with the mother suddenly leaving home one day, only to be found murdered, with her killer never caught. 

It’s a tragic tale, and certainly helps explain why Navarro is so dedicated to solving Annie K.’s murder, without being able to deliver justice for her mom. But are we meant to believe that the mom’s spirit is connected to whatever monstrous threat is responsible for the baffling deaths? 

Why Navarro's Experiences Aren't The Best Evidence Of The Supernatural

I’m admittedly one of the many True Detective viewers who would whole-heartedly love for this series to pull a layer off of reality to reveal something truly unnatural and outside reality’s norms. (And no, not Episode 2's questionable A.I. concert poster.) But even though Night Country showrunner and director Issa López has crafted some truly chilling moments that are far more overtly horrific than the occult weirdness in Season 1, I think López already showed viewers why we shouldn’t put a ton of stock into ghosts and monsters being responsible. 

For one, mental illness appears to be common enough within Evangeline Navarro’s family, even if the pool of evidence is certainly limited. But unless she was lying to Qavvik, her mom apparently suffered from having visions and hearing voices, and her sister Jules has also experienced two breakdowns just in these first three episodes. Navarro can say all she wants that Jules is nothing like their mother, but she can’t change genetics. 

So it’s logical, and even probable, that Navarro’s ghostly experiences are just in her head, with one of the bigger secondary arguments being that she was completely alone each time something bizarre happened. And possibly why her reactions to impossible instances have been so strangely subdued. (Which may just be a gripe-worthy issue more than a story beat, but still.)

But the mental shenanigans may not even be the fault of the Navarro bloodline specifically, and could be more of an unpredictable side effect of whatever is happening in Ennis itself. Perhaps the city is built atop pockets of gas that causes mass hallucinations, and the Tsalal scientists tapped into one of those pockets when seeking their potentially miraculous microorganism. 

That wouldn’t entirely explain why some people are affected by visions and things far more than others, since Danvers and Peter haven’t been shown to be plagued by ghostly sights. So maybe it is a bloodline thing, at least as far as families native to the area. 

At the moment, I’m happily stuck between not knowing which way True Detective: Night Country is going to take its story, even if I fully suspect that the mysteries at hand will be resolved in the most secular and scientific manner possible. I’m just hoping it leaves a slightly bigger crack in the door than Season 1 did, as far as allowing for otherworldly shit to come into this world. I’ll leave some coffee on, just in case the monsters are cold and thirsty.

True Detective: Night Country airs new episodes Sunday nights on HBO (and streaming with a Max subscription) at 9:00 p.m. ET. Head to our 2024 TV premiere schedule to see what else is haunting the small screen soon.

Spoilers below for the first two episodes of True Detective: Night Country, so tread carefully if you haven’t yet watched or streamed with a Max subscription!

With its first three seasons, True Detective played somewhat fast and loose with the connective tissue tethering the murder cases to the same universe. But the change in showrunner from creator Nic Pizzolatto to Issa López has allowed the horror-tinged mystery thriller to delve into the biggest series callbacks to date, which of course just inspires fans like me to rashly conclude that every seeming reference is a definite easter egg. 

So even beyond the similar critical responses, let’s run through the obvious and probable parallels between Jodie Foster’s Night Country and the debut season with Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson leading the investigation. (Totally understood if some want to watch True Detective Season 4 while going through the list.)

Travis Cohle Is Almost Definitely Rust’s Father

Barring a baffling narrative reversal, True Detective: Night Country’s second episode appeared to relatively quickly confirm the fan theory about Rose’s ghostly messenger being Rust Cohle’s father, though without ever flat-out declaring that he had a kid with a slow Texas drawl. But Rose did make it clear that his name is Travis Kohle, and that they had a romantic fling together ahead of his death due to leukemia. (She’s definitely not Rust’s mom, though.)

In Season 1 of True Detective, Rust’s limited input about his early life with his parents included the admission that his father got his mother pregnant while on military leave. He didn’t return from his Vietnam tour until Rust was already two years old, at which point the mom took off, with father and son moving up to Alaska. Rust eventually left, preferring the warmth of the Southern U.S. to the snow.

Perhaps most interestingly, Rust says his father was not pleased that he left, and said Rust lacked loyalty for making that choice. Why was Travis so obsessed with staying up in Alaska, though, and why was it a blow to familial allegiance for Rust to move away. Was living in that area partly responsible for Rust’s mental hiccups, and not the substance abuse issues as presumed?

The Tuttle Family Likely Funded Tsalal's Research

For all that True Detective telegraphed its Cohle connection, the show came out of nowhere with that wild reveal that Tsalal Research Facility is funded by a non-governmental organization run by the shell company NC Global Strategies. And who runs that company? A little outfit called Tuttle United. 

Though not spelled out in full, the indication here is that Reverend Billy Lee Tuttle, or someone else within the cultish family, was paying for the reclusive scientists to crack the DNA code of whatever formerly ice-bound microorganism they were studying. But is this all directly connected to Errol Childress and Carcosa, or something even more sinister?

All Those Spirals

As True Detective viewers are aware, swirly shapes played heavily into the first season’s murders, with the “crooked spiral” symbol representing the occult, child-abusing, human-sacrificing cult at its center. The descriptor also came up in relation to pedophile rings during a brief Season 3 moment.

While the direct meaning behind it all still isn’t clear yet, we do know that the symbol was drawn (or inked or branded) onto one of the corpsicle scientists’ foreheads, and it was tattooed onto the  murdered Annie K. and the AWOL Raymond Clark. As well, it was scrawled onto the ceiling of Clark's snowed-in camper, where a whole bunch of other weird shit came up. So it’s definitely a connective force within this story, but how much weight is there to Rose’s theory that the spiral is older than the ice surrounding Ennis.

Crafted Dolls And Writing On Walls

Season 1's backwoodsy occult vibes presented the perfect environment for handmade straw dolls, stick-people and other creepy AF craftwork. Other straw dolls surfaced during Season 3, but Night Country took it up to 11 when Liz and Navarro investigated Clark's camper.

The humble abode was all kinds of creepy and ominous, with an assortment of figures and shapes hanging from the ceiling, as well as a human-sized doll (presumably) laid out in the bed, surrounded by other garbage/art supplies. As well, much of the walls, ceiling, and cabinet doors were filled with the scrawls of a lunatic, often with the same phrasings repeated, but with enough variety to make it impossible to draw clear conclusions from. 

Lots of references to a mysterious female entity, and lots of pleas for things to stop. As well as a big message saying "Don't Sleep," which could possibly be a super-loose reference to Rust Cohle being an insominiac. 

The Hildred Castaigne Quote

TV shows kicking off with textual quotes isn’t exactly new or rare, but True Detective: Night Country took an interesting swing by starting with a quote from “Hildred Castaigne.” He isn’t a historical figure, but rather the unreliable narrator relaying the contents of “The Repairer of Reputations,” one of the tales within Robert W. Chambers’ short story collection The King in Yellow, which is notably one of the first season’s core influences. 

And what’s more, the quote isn’t even actually taken from the story itself, but was conceived by showrunner Issa López. So right from the opening seconds, the onion of references was already being formed.

Lone Star Beer

Perhaps the only visual callback to Season 1 that is largely just a visual reference, and not an opaque mystery wrapped in an enigma, is the sight of the Lone Star beer bottle within the Tsalal facility. It's on the living area table in front of the TV playing Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and is soon joined by the big bowl of popcorn before the unexplained inciting incident made everything go haywire. 

One of the most memorable motifs from Season 1 was alluminum can art that Rust put together by ripping open and reshaping cans of Lone Star that he drank throughout his interviews with Dets. Papania and Gilbough. Harder to do that with a bottle for sure.

Both Danvers And Rust Lost Children (And Ruined Relationships)

Might as well end this one on a dark note, since that's the True Detective way. Episode 2 of Night Country made it pretty clear that Liz Danvers suffered the heartbreak of losing a child at one point in life, and that it's the kind of memory that will send her off into the night to find a distraction. As well, the show is laying it on pretty thick that Liz has slept her way into and out of a few friendships, and has been banging her boss for the better part of the previous two decades. 

On the flip side, Rust's marriage with Claire fell apart after the death of his two-year-old daughter Sophia, who was hit and killed by a car. His actions in the following years invovled undercover operations and addictions to controlled substances, and the self-destructive behavior never quite left his system, as evidence when he fractured his friendship and partnership with Marty by having sex with Maggie. 

Stay tuned for new episodes of True Detective: Night Country every Sunday night on HBO at 10:00 p.m. ET, and streaming on Max. 

The Silence of the Lambs is one of the best horror movies of all time, and Anthony Hopkins’ performance as Hannibal Lector still makes our skin crawl to this day. Many of his scenes are, of course, opposite Jodie Foster's Clarice Starling, the FBI agent sent to interview Lector as a way of helping a different case. The actors' exchanges are electric, with their first meeting remaining an iconic moment in cinema, and despite the fact that it’s been 30 years since they worked together, Hopkins still fondly remembers working with his younger co-star.

Speaking with People, Hopkins opened up about filming The Silence of the Lambs, and what he remembered about working with the Taxi Driver actress. While a significant amount of time has passed, Hopkins was still emphatic in his praise for Foster's approach to acting, as well as her personal character. In his words:

This mutual respect, as well as their individual acting techniques, comes across on screen, where conversations between Hannibal and Clarice resemble ping pong, with power dynamics changing over time. Hopkins could not be more menacing, but Foster still holds her own and never seems meek when she faces Lector. They have great chemistry as scene partners, despite the antagonistic nature between their characters. The film remains a fan favorite, with both actors earning Oscars for their work in the film, which is still the only horror movie to win Best Picture. 

While many of Hopkins' scenes are with Foster, there is constantly a separation between the actors. Hannibal Lector is a convicted serial killer, so he is often behind bars or a large wall of plexiglass. The separation is even more intense considering how director Jonathan Demme shot the film. 

Behind-the-scenes stories from Silence of the Lambs reveal that many of their lines were filmed directly to camera rather than to each other, which must’ve made it slighly more difficult to build their complex dynamic. However both actors do so wonderfully, and Foster’s “no nonsense” approach, which Hopkins states still had a laidback quality, likely helped make it pop.

Both have yet to reunite on the big screen, and the iconic nature (and legal knotting) of Thomas Harris' characters may make it difficult for them to share a scene again in those specific roles. However, the former co-stars reunited in 2021 for Variety’s Actors on Actors series, featuring one of the rare times over the years where they discussed their experience together. 

While on The Graham Norton Show, Foster admitted that she avoided talking to Hopkins while they were filming, as she was fearful of both the actor and his character. Even though they may not have been fast friends behind the scenes, that kind of relationship clearly were not needed for Hopkins to see what a hard working and focused actor Foster was. 

Fans can revisit Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster’s award winning performances in The Silence of the Lambs, which is currently streaming with a Max subscription, which is where fans can also watch her tackling her latest on-screen murders in True Detective: Night Country. Netflix subscribers can also check out Foster in her latest film, Nyad, while Hopkins' latest film Freud's Last Session is now playing in theaters nationwide. For more information on other films heading to cinemas and streaming in the near future, make sure to consult our 2024 movie release schedule. 

Spoilers below for the second episode of True Detective: Night Country, so be warned if you haven’t yet watched on HBO or streamed with a Max subscription!

We’re just two weeks into the fourth season of HBO’s mystery thriller, and True Detective: Night Country surprisingly already confirmed its genetically direct connection to the Carcosa-bound first season, proving true the fan theories about Matthew McConaughey’s Rust Cohle. It was cool and all, and I’m definitely invested in the baffling murder mystery on the whole, but several nitpicks have arisen just as quickly as that reveal.

I can’t wait to see what in the world went on at the Tsalal Research Station that doomed the eight scientists working there, as well as what led to their frozen-in-shock fates. But I now realize in full that getting to such answers means having to deal with some of the complaints critics had with Night Country amidst all the praise. So let's drive an icepick into the most annoying details about this season so far. 

It's Never Ever Clear What Time Of Day It Is

By all means, I fully grasp and embrace that one of True Detective: Night Country’s biggest hooks is its fairly unique Alaskan location and its seasonal lack of sunlight. I can think of more than a few unsettling attributes of living in constant darkness, and it’s certainly an interesting and effective backdrop for a bizarro murder case, where potentially all characters are susceptible to darkness-related mental stress. (The opposite approach fueled Christopher Nolan’s daytime-filled thriller Insomnia.) 

So I’m not knocking that idea at all, but rather how the show has handled it in these initial installments. Because for the most part, it seems like Ennis’ hustle and bustle is taking place at any and all hours, with only a few instances where specific times of day were brought up. And even in those moments, time doesn’t seem to really drive what anyone is doing. 

Episode 2 hits upon that awkwardness with flying colors, particularly when it comes to the actions of Chief Liz and her daughter Leah. After seemingly a full day, Liz arbitrarily begins unboxing Christmas decorations, which Leah avoids by saying she’s in bed, though she actually sneaks out for a romantic tryst. Liz immediately gets frustrated with tangled lights and seeks out a tryst of her own. Both of those happen, with Leah’s walk home sidetracked by her visiting Finn Bennett’s Peter while he’s on duty watching the melting corpse. 

And then even more shit happens, and at no point does anyone share any worries or concerns about it being so late. In fact, seemingly the only time anyone in True Detective: Night Country needs sleep is when the narrative requires a dream sequence or something in that vein. 

Does that mean I want there to be a constant flow of time updates popping up along the top or bottom of the screen as the story goes on? Not necessarily, but it might be helpful if the eps would at least mark when one day and date changes to the next. 

Nobody In Ennis Locks Their Doors Or Respects Other People's Privacy

Even after only two episodes, I’ve come to the conclusion that everyone who lives in Ennis just fully expects others to enter their homes willy nilly, whether the owners are there or not. And I’m not altogether certain whether this is meant to be representative of small-town folksiness, the long and access-friendly arm of the law, or if the notion of locked doors and privacy just wasn’t a big push for showrunner Issa López.

Regardless of what the reasoning is, I cannot imagine it could ever be proper police protocol to leave that ice rink unlocked and unsecured, with only a single officer keeping watch. Whenever Hank waltzed in unannounced and assaulted Peter for the box he stole, I figured he probably had keys to the building. But that wouldn’t explain how Leah was also able to spring up on Peter unannounced. What if someone legitimately wanted to fuck with those corpses?

Even more befuddling was Kali Reis’ Navarro arriving home to find Liz already inside, and making a comment about hiding her key rather than freaking the hell out. Which implies that it’s not at all the first time Liz would have done such a thing, despite the fact that these women actively dislike and avoid each other. 

On the one hand, this kind of detail could be seen as screenwriting shorthand, in that characters’ conversations and confrontations happen quicker. But it comes at the expense of believability. If True Detective wanted to set up Liz as the kind of guileful cop who can find her way into any room or building, that’s one thing, but it waters down the effect when everyone in Ennis has the same power. 

Every Time A True Detective: Night Country Character Acts Like A Simple Concept Is Super-Complicated

One of my biggest movie and TV pet peeves involves a scientist (or similiarly non-moronic character) trying to explain something, only for a blue-collar lead character to rudely interrupt and whine about the language being too intricate. Or when a project's fairly simple themes, patterns, and/or visual elements are over-complicated  to the point of ludicrousness. Somehow, True Detective: Night Country already tapped into both of those. 

First, there's the familiar spiral shape that serves as one of Night Country's connections to Season 1's case. More than one of the Tsalal scientists boasted it as a tattoo, and it's also been seen scrawled in other places, so it's clearly an important clue. But Liz and others treat the symbol as if it's some inscrutable ancient glyph or something far more complicated. Sure, it's not the traditional hypnotic swirl, but it's still just a spiral.

I also case some doubt on any tattoo artist actually remembering inking a spiral of any shape/size onto someone without a passionately detailed diary entry to reflect on. But maybe.

Then there was Liz's high school visit to see her teacher fuckbuddy in the hopes of gleaning some info about the Tsalal facility. I was already wondering why someone of her authority wouldn't have prior knowledge, but then Liz opened up a window into her general level of intelligence during this exchange:

• BRYCE: They spent decades trying to sequence the DNA of an extinct microorganism that could potentially stop cellular decay.
• LIZ: Try it in English, nerd.

Absolutely no parts of that sentence should be difficult to grasp for most adults, or a good number of teens and younger children. The actual act of sequencing DNA presumably takes a high level of education, but grasping a single sentence about it, and how cells work, requires going to elementary school. And if all it takes to be called out as a "nerd" in Liz's eyes is the ability to retain basic-ass information, how am I supposed to think she's going to solve any case that goes beyond two already interlinked puzzle pieces?

These gripes are all a bit hyperbolic, obviously, but this is the one that really put me over. Because I actively stopped comprehending the presumably vital exposition as soon as Liz unwittingly donned her dunce cap, and could then only question whether she would also get confused by such novel ideas as times tables and food pyramids. And that's not the best audience reaction to provoke for a show that theoretically wants its audience to be poring over every line of dialogue and piece of set decoration for clues. 

For all that I've prattled on about above, none of it is going to stop me from tuning into HBO every Sunday night at 9:00 p.m. ET for the remainder of True Detective: Night Country's episodes, because I gotta see what the hell happened to these scientists. (And hopefully it's in English, ya friggin' dorks.) Until then, head to our 2024 TV premiere schedule to see what other shows are on the horizon.

It’s always a somewhat fun exercise to wonder what a movie would have been like if a different actor who had been offered a major role had taken it. The Matrix with Will Smith would have been a very different sort of movie, but probably not as different as Star Wars starring Jodie Foster as Princess Leia. And yet, that’s something that very nearly happened.

Jodie Foster, who leads the new True Detective cast, recently appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where she spoke briefly about the fact that she had been offered the role of Princess Leia. She says she turned it down because she was already committed to making another movie and didn’t want to deal with getting out of the contract. Foster explained…

The movie Jodie Foster made, which you can watch right now if you have a Disney+ subscription, was called Candleshoe. And while it’s a cute little story where Foster plays a girl roped into a conspiracy to steal a treasure from an English estate, let’s just say it did not have the cultural or box office impact of Star Wars. 

Jodie Foster as Princess Leia is an interesting thought experiment because just that one change would have likely had a massive impact on the entire Star Wars franchise. Princess Leia being a young girl instead of a young woman would have, assuming all other characters ended up more or less as we know them, changed Leia’s relationship with Han, and the fact that Luke and Leia wouldn’t be twins would also change the story of Anakin and Padme in the prequels. 

For her part, Jodie Foster says she’s not sure how good Star Wars would have been if she’d been in it. She’s downplaying her abilities, Jodie Foster has been a great actress for her entire career. And who knows, with all the upcoming Star Wars movies and series, maybe there will be a place for her in the franchise one day.  There is at least one thing Foster jokes she might have done differently, saying… 

There’s no reason to believe that Star Wars’ success would have been any different with a different Leia, so if Jodie Foster had taken the role, we can guess it would have drastically changed her own career. It doesn’t mean she wouldn’t have still made all the great films she has, but it likely would have changed her relationship with that audience. Check out Jodie Foster’s full comments on her almost role in Star Wars below.

Star Wars certainly worked out just fine, but Jodie Foster as Princess Leia is an interesting idea. With the recent rumor of a possible What If…? Style show for Star Wars, maybe it could do an episode with Foster voicing a younger Leia. There are no Jodie Foster movies on the 2024 release schedule, but we can be sure it won't b too long before she's back in front of, or behind, the camera again.

From her commanding performances in everything from The Accused to The Silence of the Lambs to the upcoming True Detective Season 4, Jodie Foster has been a formidable presence onscreen for decades. And it's not just audiences who are "intimidated" in the company of the Oscar winner, it's acclaimed directors too. The actress-filmmaker revealed this while discussing her time making one of Martin Scorsese's best movies, the 1976 masterpiece Taxi Driver, in which she portrayed child prostitute Iris Steensma opposite Robert DeNiro's Travis Bickle at only 12 years old. 

The former child actor would receive her first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her work in the neo-noir. However, she revealed during an interview with W Magazine that the then-32-year-old director — with whom she had also worked on the 1974 dramedy Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore — and his team were "definitely scared" of her, given that she had already "made a lot more films than [he] had at that point": 

Overall, this fear from the director and his team simply came from Foster having more work experience than them. Between Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore and Taxi Driver, the actress worked on four more projects, bringing her total number of credits up to 35 by 1976. Meanwhile, Taxi Driver was Scorsese's fifth film in the director's chair. 

The 61-year-old actress detailed to the outlet how she kicked off her critically acclaimed career as a child star at the age of 3 "in commercials and television" before segueing into movies at 6 years old. She became a tween star in the 1970s in Disney movies like Napoleon and Samantha, Freaky Friday and Candleshoe, and became the then-youngest host of Saturday Night Live at 14 years old in 1976. 

One of the rare kid actors to go on to have a successful acting career as an adult in Hollywood, Foster followed up that pre-teen Scorsese work and a Yale college degree with two Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award and three Golden Globe Awards, as well as the prestigious Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2013. 

In the W Magazine interview, the performer noted how becoming an adult actor post-college was "the biggest transition" in her life:

And, of course, Scorsese has been no slouch in the movie department either: the filmmaker would go on to direct 21 feature films after Taxi Driver, including Raging Bull, Goodfellas, The Wolf of Wall Street and this year's "brilliant" Killers of the Flower Moon. The latter title has major Oscars buzz and has already racked up seven 2024 Golden Globe nominations, including Best Director for Martin Scorsese and Best Supporting Actor for his frequent collaborator, and Jodie Foster's Taxi Driver co-star, Robert DeNiro.

Given that Foster is also a Golden Globes nominee this year in the Best Supporting Actress category for her work in the swimmer biopic Nyad, we might just be lucky enough to get a Taxi Driver reunion on the red carpet soon enough! Although, this time, I highly doubt there will be any perceived intimidation from any party involved.

Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson were an instant hit with fans when True Detective premiered on HBO in 2014, and exactly one decade later, Jodie Foster and Kali Reis will follow in their footsteps, with the newest installment, True Detective: Night Country, featuring another crime story whose trailer promises disturbing violence and undertones of horror. Critics had the chance to screen the six-episode fourth season ahead of its January 14 premiere, and while this is the first season without Nic Pizzolatto running the ship, Issa López’s project is drawing favorable comparisons to the series’ first season.

Jodie Foster stars in True Detective: Night Country alongside professional boxer-turned-actress Kali Reis, John Hawkes, Christopher Eccleston, Fiona Shaw and Isabella Star LaBlanc. Season 4 of the anthology — whose first three seasons are available to stream with a Max subscription — takes place in the fictional town of Ennis, Alaska, and follows the investigation behind the disappearance of eight men from a research station. Caryn James of the BBC rates it a perfect 5 stars, writing: 

Not only is Season 4 the first without Nic Pizzolatto, but it’s also the first to feature two women in the leading roles, and Daniel Fienberg of THR describes the new season as “refreshing and frequently potent.” However, he points out that it may see some of the same criticism as the first season and its Yellow King revelation. Fienberg continues:  

Carly Lane of Collider rates the series 9 out of 10, saying that Issa López silences any doubters from the very first episode, and that Jodie Foster and Kali Reis breathe life into the chilling thriller that fits right into the True Detective franchise. In the critic’s words: 

Patrick Cavanaugh of ComicBook.com says the showrunner brings the series back to its unsettling roots by delivering her own twisted and terrifying story, rather than attempting to replicate what made True Detective’s debut season such a success. Cavanaugh rates Night Country 4 out of 5, writing: 

Meghan O’Keefe of Decider says Season 4 hits the same notes as its predecessors with its tortured detectives, gnarly murder mystery and hints of occult. Everything you love about True Detective is back, O’Keefe says, despite the slight change in tone. The critic continues: 

It sounds like True Detective: Night Country should be a hit with fans of Matthew McConnaughey and Woody Harrelson’s first season, so if you’d like to check out Jodie Foster in her first television role in decades, Season 4 will premiere on HBO at 9 p.m. ET Sunday, January 14, and can also be streamed on Max. Be sure to check out our 2024 TV schedule to see what other premieres are coming soon. 

Over the years, Saturday Night Live has featured some A-list hosts. While there is a long list of surprising celebrities who have never hosted SNL, the list of those who have is even longer, making the sketch series as memorable as ever throughout its almost 50-season run. Among those who hosted back in the early days include a young Jodie Foster, who is now spilling the tea about what happened behind the scenes. 

At the time that Foster hosted, she was the youngest host at just 14 years old in 1976. She already had quite an impressive filmography with several film and TV roles under her belt as a major child actor, including Freaky Friday and Paper Moon. Despite having done so much already, she was still nervous to host SNL, which isn’t so surprising. Foster, now 61, opened up to Interview Magazine about that time, and how she had an Orange Julius drink spill all over her just before going live:

The fact that Jodie Foster was already nervous because she was not only just 14 years old, but it was also all live. Throw in a getting a drink spilled on her, it would just add on to the nerves. Not to mention that she was at an age where things were already getting awkward, and she was growing up in the limelight. That’s the one thing about live television. You never know what could happen. While Foster didn’t particularly like hosting Saturday Night Live for a number of reasons, at least she managed to get through it.

1976 was the only time Foster hosted SNL. It’s unknown why it is the only time she hosted, but considering she didn’t have the greatest experience when she was 14, it’s likely that played a factor. She also mentioned that since she was just a kid, the writers didn’t know what to do with her and made her do some weird stuff. Despite the series being loved by many, there are definitely some questionable sketches and others that can be either a hit or a miss.

Having that experience at such a young age can be hard, and while Foster acknowledged that being on Saturday Night Live was such a huge deal, getting an Orange Julius spilled on her was only just the beginning. Whether or not Foster would host SNL now is unknown, but she is a pretty busy actress. Either because of her schedule or because she doesn’t want a repeat after all these years, fans shouldn’t expect her to return to Studio 8H.

Meanwhile, there are plenty of hosts and musical guests for Season 49 to look forward to. The series is currently on hiatus for the holidays but will be back in the new year with much more. Jodie Foster, on the other hand, will be kicking off 2024 with the fourth season of True Detective, premiering on January 14 with a Max subscription.

This year’s Best Actress race is shaping up to be one of the most competitive in years. As more awards contenders reach theaters and streaming services like Netflix, we see talent like Emma Stone (Poor Things), Natalie Portman (May December), Fantasia Barrino (The Color Purple), and Sandra Huller being discussed for the five Oscar slots. But through no fault of their own, this means there are going to be a LOT of very talented ladies left in the lurch the morning they announce the Academy Award nominees. Annette Bening belongs in the Best Actress conversation for her role as Diana Nyad in the Netflix drama Nyad. And according to Bening’s co-director, the actress’s push for realism should help her Oscar cause. 

Nyad, one of the best films on Netflix at the moment, tells the incredible story of determined 64-year-old swimmer Diana Nyad (Annette Bening), who attempted to become the first person to complete the open-water swim between Cuba and Florida. Bening herself is 65, and does all of the swimming in the movie… not an easy feat. In fact, her co-director Chai Vasarhelyi explained to CinemaBlend during an exclusive interview:

That’s remarkable. When you watch Nyad, you realize that this isn’t controlled swimming in a quiet pool. This is ocean swimming, against currents and wave patterns, which require far more physicality than swimming in a tank for a movie. Other Best Actress contenders have gone to great lengths to earn their nomination. But hearing that Annette Bening endured this physicality to maintain the look of Diana Nyad’s swim stroke is beyond impressive to me, and makes me appreciate her performance that much more. 

Nyad made the fall film festival circuit before heading to Netflix, and generated a lot of support for both Annette Bening and her co-star, Jodie Foster. Lately, Foster took shots at the comic book genre, saying in interviews that she hoped the trend was dying, because she prefers movies that challenge audiences, and challenge her. And yes, Foster is an Oscar-winning actor, but I wonder if Bening talked to her about her contributions to Captain Marvel and the MCU? Or maybe Bening vented about it, and that inspired Foster to speak out? We may never know. 

One of the most exciting debuts on the 2024 TV premiere schedule is the upcoming thriller True Detective: Night Country, which is set to give audiences all the spine-tingling shivers when it arrives for HBO subscribers (and those with Max subscriptions) in January. And as a horror fan, I couldn’t be more pumped that the fourth season’s first full-length trailer (seen above) is full of the creepy and dread-soaked elements that made the first season such a winner.

With EP Jodie Foster heading up the cast of talented actors, and a new creative force in showrunner and director Issa López, it’s an all new era of True Detective for Season 4, which comes with its own subtitle. This time around, it’s the snowy expanses of Ennis, Alaska that are plagued with dark and grisly incidents, stemming from the unexplained disappearance of a group of eight scientists stationed at an Arctic Research facility. 

As the trailer shows, Jodie Foster plays Detective Liz Danvers, who is drawn to the case along with Kali Reis’ Det. Evangeline Navarro, who looks ready to fearlessly stare down whatever this season’s biggest threat might be without blinking. Unless, of course, the biggest threat is whatever inner baggage has made her so on edge to begin with.

Both investigators will struggle with their inner turmoil, as well as their apparent history together, while trying to figure out what the hell is happening to all these bodies. Such as whatever frozen monstrosity is hidden beneath this tarp.

Nothing like a mangled pile of frozen corpses to bring the horror vibes to a murder mystery. I can't even tell if everything under there is human. But I'm of course hoping that's not the case at all. 

The most straightforward horror moment in the trailer is no doubt the ghoulish spectre pointing at the camera, as seen below. 

I have to assume this visual comes from someone's nightmare sequence, or a hallucination of some kind, since True Detective hasn't explicitly delved into supernatural territory, even if the subject matter feels like it's veering in that direction. 

But as it's indicated several times in the trailer, there will indeed be ties to the occult subject matter at the heart of Season 1, from the spiral symbols on walls to the tattoos seen on corpses and others. 

Even if True Detective: Night Country is more of a psychological serial killer thriller than a straight-up horror series, it still wins points in my book for toeing the line when possible. Some people don't even consider Jodie Foster's The Silence of the Lambs a horror movie, but it's still one of the more disturbing films out there, so if this hits anywhere in that vicinity, we're all winners. (Also, we totally ranked SotL as one of the 50 Best Horror Movies of All Time.)

Pull out those bloodstain-proof magnifying glasses (which probably amounts to most of them), because True Detective: Night Country will hit HBO and Max on Sunday, January 14. Even if this show doesn’t tip its genre hat too far, check out all the awesome upcoming horror TV shows.

The phrase “former child star” is most often associated with someone who was famous when they were much younger, but is not quite as well-known — or, perhaps, does not even act anymore — as a grown-up. Yet, for every starlet who has risen and fallen, there are just as many who have beaten the odds and have gone onto bigger and better things as adults, like these beloved celebrities.

Macaulay Culkin

The first person you might think of when you think of “former child stars” could be Macaulay Culkin, who was on top of the world when he led the original Home Alone cast as Kevin McCallister. While his notoriety would slow in subsequent years, it is always a treat to see him show up in ensembles like the American Horror Story Season 10 cast or Kid Cudi’s Entergalactic cast.

Lukas Haas

Lukas Haas was one of the most acclaimed young actors of his time with leading roles in 1985’s Witness, opposite Harrison Ford, and the underrated ghost story, Lady in White, from 1988. He has since made a living taking smaller roles in otherwise big movies like Inception and Babylon, plus he's shown up on TV shows like The Righteous Gemstones and War of the Worlds.

Jurnee Smollett

With an Emmy nomination for HBO’s Lovecraft Country, a scene-stealing role in DC’s Birds of Prey, and a stellar turn in Amazon Prime’s The Burial, Jurnee Smollett has established herself as one of the strongest talents of her time. However, that was already clear with her recurring role in Full House and her astonishing performance in 1997’s acclaimed Black horror movie, Eve’s Bayou, when she was still a child.

Jason Bateman

From his debut role on Little House on the Prairie to his years on the sitcom Valerie (which would become The Hogan Family), Jason Bateman showed great versatility as a performer in his younger years. He has upheld that reputation ever since, as seen by his Emmy-nominated work leading the Arrested Development cast and, later, the Ozark cast. His ability to shift from starring in funny movies like Horrible Bosses to dramas like Air is remarkable.

Dakota Fanning

Racking up more than 20 credits before she turned 10, Dakota Fanning was everywhere in the early 2000s — catching the attention of filmmakers like Steven Spielberg for War of the Worlds and holding her own against actors like Robert DeNiro in Hide and Seek. Save her age, nothing much has changed for the actor, who appeared in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood cast and reunited with her Man on Fire co-star, Denzel Washington, in 2023’s The Equalizer 3.

Ryan Gosling

A 13-year-old Ryan Gosling entered show business as a Mouseketeer, paving the way for him to star in back-to-back scary anthology TV shows for kids (Are You Afraid of the Dark? and Goosebumps), lead Young Hercules, and more. Leading 2004’s The Notebook cast paved the way for him to be an action hero in Drive and Blade Runner 2049. On top of all that, he also earned Oscar nominations for Half Nelson and La La Land, and made us laugh as part of the The Nice Guys ensemble and the Barbie cast as Ken.

Brie Larson

After some faux ads on Jay Leno’s Tonight Show marked her debut at 9, Brie Larson went on to star in a family sitcom with the late Bob Saget (Raising Dad), was in a YA novel adaptation (Hoot), and she even had a singing career in her teens. Now, she is a comic book movie star (for appearing in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and playing the MCU’s Captain Marvel), and she has an Oscar for Room from 2015.

Kenan Thompson

On All That — Nickelodeon’s answer to Saturday Night Live — one of the young cast’s most prominent breakouts was Kenan Thompson, who went on to co-lead his own kid-friendly sitcom with Kel Mitchell, aptly named Kenan & Kel. The Emmy winner went on to break the record for longest-running SNL actor and lead his own adult sitcom, Kenan.

David Krumholtz

After making his debut playing a child actor in 1993’s Life with Mikey, David Krumholtz became a prominent child actor with roles in Addams Family Values as Wednesday’s love interest and Tim Allen’s head elf, Bernard, in The Santa Clause. The crime procedural, Numb3rs, earned him greater recognition, leading to a career that includes lending his voice to Sausage Party, appearing in the Oppenheimer cast, and reprising Bernard on Disney+’s series, The Santa Clauses.

Neil Patrick Harris

Playing a kid genius on Doogie Howser M.D. made Neil Patrick Harris a household name, which he acknowledged when he later played himself in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. Of course, the five-time Emmy winner is better known today as Barney Stinson from the How I Met Your Mother cast, Count Olaf on Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, and so much more.

Josh Brolin

At 17, first-time actor Josh Brolin immediately made his mark on pop culture as part of the Goonies cast in the role of Brand Walsh. However, he really got heads turning at 39 when he starred in one of the best movies of the 2000s, No Country for Old Men. The son of Hollywood veteran James Brolin has an Oscar nomination for Milk and multiple comic book movie roles under his belt (Jonah Hex, MCU’s Thanos, and Cable in Deadpool 2), among other great achievements. 

Haley Joel Osment

After debuting in Forrest Gump and starring on The Jeff Foxworthy Show, Haley Joel Osment’s Oscar-nominated performance in, arguably, the best M. Night Shyamalan movie, 1999’s The Sixth Sense, made him a sensation. He went on to earn leading parts in Pay It Forward and Steven Spielberg’s A.I.: Artificial Intelligence. More recently, Osment has been known to pop up in the most unexpected places — Kevin Smith’s Tusk, a guest role on The Boys, Netflix's animated fantasy series Dogs in Space, to name a few — but always with grand results.

Ethan Hawke

After debuting in Joe Dante’s Explorers at 15, Ethan Hawke only grew in prominence in his later teens and throughout his 20s by starring in Dead Poets Society, Reality Bites, etc. He went on to earn Academy Award nominations for Training Day and Boyhood. He completed Richard Linklater’s Before Trilogy with 2013’s Before Midnight, became a Scream King with great horror movies like Sinister, and he's done a fair amount of work behind the scenes, too.

Abigail Breslin

Just four years after M. Night Shyamalan gave 6-year-old Abigail Breslin her big break with Signs, her role in the Little Miss Sunshine cast made her one of the youngest Oscar nominees of all time. As she matured, so would her roles — such as a teenage murder suspect in Stillwater or a vigilante in the Accused cast for Fox.

Mayim Bialik

Mayim Bialik stole the show from the Big Bang Theory cast as Amy Farrah Fowler and later led Fox’s Call Me Kat in the title role. However, the Jeopardy! host’s status as sitcom royalty dates back to the ‘90s as the star of Blossom.

Brenda Song

Perhaps Brenda Song’s most iconic character is London Tipton from the Suite Life franchise — which is just one of the roles that made her a prominent Disney Channel star. Beyond the children’s cable giant, she was in one of the best David Fincher movies, The Social Network, led Netflix’s Secret Obsession, and had a main role in Hulu’s Dollface.

Leonardo DiCaprio

Despite being removed for disruptive behavior when making his show business debut on Romper Room at 3 years old (as he revealed to David Letterman), Leonardo DiCaprio went on to lead a winning child actor’s career that included a season on Growing Pains and an Academy Award nomination for What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? Things would only get better as he grew up, earning even more Oscar nominations — and one win for The Revenant — and becoming as important to Martin Scorsese’s filmography as his This Boy’s Life co-star, Robert DeNiro, whom he reunited with in 2023’s Killers of the Flower Moon.

Tyler James Williams

Tyler James Williams started out appearing on Sesame Street before landing the title role of Chris Rock’s autobiographical sitcom, Everybody Hates Chris. Following an acclaimed indie comedy (Dear White People) and a recurring role on the Walking Dead cast, the actor became sitcom royalty again when he joined the Abbott Elementary cast, which earned him multiple Emmy nods.

Kurt Russell

Former Disney star Kurt Russell made his feature debut in 1963’s It Happened at the World’s Fair alongside Elvis Presley, and he went on to play him in a made-for-TV biopic and Forrest Gump. Several great movie roles later, Russell is one of the top action heroes of all time, and now he's working with his family by joining the Monarch: Legacy of Monsters cast alongside his son, Wyatt, who is playing his younger self.

Jodie Foster

After getting her start on TV at a very young age (the first gig being The Doris Day Show), Jodie Foster got a head start on the more mature roles she would become known for when she appeared in Taxi Driver at 14. The two-time Academy Award winner (for The Accused and Best Picture Oscar winner The Silence of the Lambs) would continue to work from both in front of and behind the camera.

Johnny Galecki

In 1989, 14-year-old Johnny Galecki appeared as Rusty in the National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation cast, and he also starred in another holiday classic, Prancer. I would not be surprised if many did not realize that Leonard from The Big Bang Theory was the same actor, but they were likely more hip to that fact by the time he reprised his role from Roseanne, David Healy, on The Conners.

Miranda Cosgrove

Even with Jack Black in the lead, Miranda Cosgrove stole the show in 2003’s School of Rock, and she went on to do the same thing as the evil Megan in the Nickelodeon sitcom, Drake & Josh. One of her most notable credits as an adult was a Paramount+ exclusive revival of iCarly — another Nickelodeon show she led as a teen.

Keke Palmer

Her bombastic debut role in Barbershop 2: Back in Business made it clear that then-9-year-old Keke Palmer was a powerhouse talent. The Emmy winner would continue to demonstrate her skill as the lead of Akeelah and the Bee and much later in life as part of Jordan Peele’s Nope cast.

Mark-Paul Gosselaar

While Zach Morris from the Saved by the Bell cast is still the role he is best known for — he even reprised it in a Peacock exclusive revival — Mark-Paul Gosselaar managed to prove his versatility in later years. He had a successful stint as a detective on NYPD Blue, played a rebellious lawyer on Franklin & Bash, and an abusive captor in NBC’s Found.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Before starring on the great ‘90s TV show, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Joseph Gordon-Levitt made multiple TV appearances and starred in classic movies like Angels in the Outfield and A River Runs Through It. These days, he is best known for his many collaborations with Rian Johnson, his Golden Globe-nominated turns in (500) Days of Summer and 50/50, and running the creative collaboration platform HitRecord.

Sean Astin

Before playing the title role of Rudy and starring in the Lord of the Rings movies as Sam, Sean Astin was best known as Mikey in The Goonies. In addition to his accomplished voice acting career, one of his most celebrated roles as of late is Bob Newby from the Season 2 cast of Stranger Things — a show very much inspired by The Goonies.

Kirsten Dunst

After making her film debut in star-studded The Bonfire of the Vanities, Kirsten Dunst really made an impression at 12 playing a 70-year-old bloodsucker in Interview with the Vampire. Starring in the Spider-Man movies as Mary Jane Watson swung her right into the A-list and, in 2022, she received an Academy Award nomination for The Power of the Dog.

Kieran Culkin

With his roles in the Home Alone movies and in Steve Martin movies (both parts of Father of the Bride), it seemed like Kieran Culkin was on his way to the same level of stardom as his brother, Macaulay. However, it was not until later in life when he was thrice Emmy-nominated for starring in HBO’s Succession cast that he became the star he was destined to be.

Selena Gomez

Before leading Disney Channel's Wizards of Waverly Place made Selena Gomez a star, she got her start on Barney in the early 2000s. She now has two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for her performance on Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building cast and a Daytime Emmy nod for her Max original cooking show, Selena + Chef.

Elle Fanning

Before breaking out in the Super 8 cast, Elle Fanning’s claim to fame for a while was starring as a younger version of sister, Dakota, in I Am Sam and Taken. Now, she has an Emmy nomination for leading Hulu’s The Great, which is just one of the many Victorian-era roles she has played in more recent years.

Christina Ricci

For years, Christina Ricci’s performance in Barry Sonnenfeld’s Addams Family movies was the definitive iteration of young Wednesday Addams. The Yellowjackets cast member got to revisit those days with her supporting role on Netflix’s Wednesday cast, opposite Jenna Ortega in the lead this time.

Danica McKellar

Some of the most memorably endearing moments from the original Wonder Years involved Danica McKellar’s Winnie Cooper and her puppy love relationship with Fred Savage as Kevin Arnold. Romance is a big part of the actor’s career these days, primarily appearing in popular Hallmark movies like Christmas She Wrote and Swing into Romance.

Knowing the kind of career they would one day lead, I am sure these celebrities wear their “former child star” identities as a badge of honor.

When you look at the landscape of Hollywood A-List actors, it’s hard to believe how many haven’t been nominated for an Oscar. Even crazier is looking back on previous nominees like Meryl Streep and Gary Oldman’s careers and seeing where their first brush with golden glory came from. That’s what we’re gathered together to do today, as we look back on a who’s who of acting talent, and those first projects that put them on The Academy’s map! 

Meryl Streep - The Deer Hunter

Where does one begin when talking about Meryl Streep’s own personal golden dynasty? Well, if you want to start at the beginning, you’d take it all the way back to 1978. That’s when Michael Cimino’s The Deer Hunter put Ms. Streep on the Academy’s radar for the first time. At the time of publication, Streep is the most nominated person at the Academy Awards, thanks to a whopping 21 nods.

Daniel Day-Lewis - My Left Foot

The year 1990 marked an important moment for iconic actor, and three-time Academy Award winner, Daniel Day-Lewis. The now-retired thespian found himself winning on his first time out, with his nomination for the role of Irish writer and painter Christy Brown in My Left Foot. His portrayal of Brown, who created art while living with Cerebral Palsy, was only the beginning of a legacy involving method acting, which led to several more nominations and wins in the process.

Amy Adams - Junebug

Let’s put aside the fact that Amy Adams and Arrival were failed by awards boards in the 2016- 2017 season. Outside of that grudge that some still hold dear, Adams has a total of six Oscar nominations to her credit. That’s pretty amazing, with the first nod coming from her performance in 2005’s Junebug. With that noted, we can go back to grousing about how she deserves to be at seven nods, thanks to Denis Villeneuve’s brain-breaking masterpiece.

Leonardo DiCaprio - What’s Eating Gilbert Grape

While Leonardo DiCaprio could finally call himself a winner as part of 2016’s Academy Award nominees, the path to that victory for The Revenant kicked off in 1994. A hot young talent, DiCaprio’s first nomination was for his role alongside Johnny Depp in the drama What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? Turns out, when it was winning time for Leo, the answer to that question was, “A bear.”

Sandra Bullock - The Blind Side

One of America’s sweethearts, Sandra Bullock can be counted as a member of the First Timer's Club. Her first nomination was also the one that won her the trophy, as the 2010 Academy Awards yielded a golden win for her role in The Blind Side. Despite the recent controversies and lawsuit from Michael Oher that have hit that film’s story about the football player and the Tuohys, this is a hard-earned win, and the first of two nominations so far for Ms. Bullock. 

Tom Hanks - Big

We all know that Tom Hanks is Academy Award-winning royalty, as America’s Dad has six nominations and two wins under his belt. Looking back at the fact that his first competition for Oscar glory came from 1988’s Big, it’s an impressive feat for happening so early in Hanks’ career as an actor. It’s even more stunning when you take into account that it was for a comedy performance, which isn’t as prevalent at the Oscars as one would hope.

Viola Davis - Doubt

Despite the title of the film she was first nominated for, there was absolutely no Doubt when it came to Viola Davis’ status as an Oscar contender. Her first round came in 2008, through that very film mentioned; and she would eventually be nominated three more times, at the time of this publication. Her first win came in 2016 after she starred with fellow Oscar titan Denzel Washington in the film adaptation of Fences. (It's also worth mentioning that this actress is also in the elite club of EGOT winners.)

Peter O’Toole - Lawrence Of Arabia

Tied with Glenn Close for the most Oscar nominations without a win, the late great Peter O’Toole banked his first Academy Awards nod with the movie you’d most expect. Thanks to the director David Lean’s 1962 epic Lawrence of Arabia, O’Toole began a dance with Academy voters that only saw him net a 2002 Honorary Academy Award. 

Jodie Foster - Taxi Driver

In the world of Disney actors turned Academy Award contenders, Jodie Foster will always be one of the most notable in that field. At the age of 15, Foster saw her first nomination through her only Best Supporting Actress nod to date. The eventual victor for films like The Accused and The Silence of the Lambs, Jodie first competed for Oscar glory through the role of child prostitute Iris Steensma in Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver. 

Morgan Freeman - Street Smart

Even movies with Oscar buzz can become buried in the sands of time. Just ask Morgan Freeman, who first saw himself nominated at the Academy Awards in 1987 for Street Smart. A crime drama starring Christopher Reeve as an ambitious reporter profiling Freeman’s pimp character Leo “Fast Black” Smalls Jr., it’s a movie that most wouldn’t remember; especially when compared to the other films the prestigious actor would be nominated for.

Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth

Playing royalty almost feels like a shortcut to winning big-time gold. However, Cate Blanchett is one of those exceptions that sets the rules. While she would later win trophies for The Aviator and Blue Jasmine, Blanchett’s first bid for an Academy Award came in 1999, thanks to the titular role in director Shekhar Kapur’s Elizabeth. 

Anthony Hopkins - The Silence Of The Lambs

Horror is one of those genres that doesn’t seem to get much love on the awards circuit. However, when the results are something as chilling as director Jonathan Demme’s adaptation of The Silence of the Lambs, containing Anthony Hopkins’ equally unsettling performance as Dr. Hannibal Lecter, it’s hard not to take notice. Score another First Timer’s Club victory, as Hopkins took home the gold his first time up.

Charlize Theron - Monster

Portraying the criminal mind provides such an allure for actors and auteurs alike. A case proving that point was Charlize Theron’s portrayal of convicted killer Aileen Wuornos in Patty Jenkins’ film Monster, her first nomination out of three at the time of this writing. Theron won the Best Actress trophy on the first try in 2004, all thanks to this tale of true crime. 

Christian Bale - The Fighter

Able to disappear completely in any character he plays, Academy Award winner Christian Bale has four nominations to his name. Equally split between Best Supporting Actor and Best Actor accolades, his first roll of the dice in 2011 landed him a win in the former category; thanks to David O. Russell’s The Fighter. 

Kate Winslet - Sense And Sensibility

The works of Jane Austen are another one of those sources that seem to periodically score nominations at the Oscars. Kate Winslet’s first is part of the proof, as the first of her current total of seven Academy Award nominations (and one win) came from 1995’s Sense and Sensibility. Ms. Winslet’s heart would go on to win Best Actress…in 2009, for Stephen Daldry’s The Reader.

Denzel Washington - Cry Freedom

Let’s see if King Kong knows this piece of movie trivia. Actor Denzel Washington has had 10 Oscar nominations, with two wins coming from that pool. While most would be tempted to cite his win for Glory as the first time he was nominated, that is incorrect. Washington’s first Academy Awards ceremony happened two years earlier in 1988, for his part in the film Cry Freedom. 

Kathy Bates - Misery

Frightening characters can make for the most golden of dreams, as was proven with 1991’s Academy Awards. Kathy Bates took home her first award on her first nomination, through the role of Anne Wilkes in Rob Reiner’s Misery. A “brilliant” adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, this fan favorite is one of many that’s seen the famed horror author’s work turning in some of the most well-regarded films and performances of all time.

George Clooney - Good Night, And Good Luck/Syriana

Here’s a wild story: George Clooney’s first Oscar nominations came from not one, but two films he was involved with. 2006’s Academy Awards saw the ER veteran land and win Best Supporting Actor for his role in Syriana, while one of CinemaBlend’s 100 best movies of the 2000s, Good Night, And Good Luck., netted him a Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay nod in that same contest.

Helen Mirren - The Madness Of King George

Did you know that half of Helen Mirren’s four Oscar nominations came from playing royalty? Surely most know of Mirren’s win in 2007 as Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen. But, dear readers, another queen marked the start of Dame Helen’s Academy Awards history. Her Best Supporting Actress nod in 1995 for The Madness of King George would be her initial foray into this circuit, playing Queen Charlotte to Nigel Hawthorne’s titular monarch.

Judi Dench - Mrs. Brown

Dame Judi Dench is another regal figure that practically screams “Oscar” when you see her. Another member of the club of actors winning as royalty, Dench would win in 1999 for her as Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love. That was only on her second try, because in 1998 Dame Judi received her first nomination, playing Queen Victoria in the film Mrs. Brown.

Dustin Hoffman - The Graduate

And here’s to you, Mr. Hoffman; Oscar came a’calling very young. At 30 years old, Dustin Hoffman saw his first Academy Award nomination through starring in 1967’s The Graduate. What may be more surprising than the actual 6-year age gap between himself and co-star Anne Bancroft is that his first Oscar win would take place 12 years later, with 1980’s Kramer vs. Kramer.

Susan Sarandon - Atlantic City

Five nominations and one win are actor Susan Sarandon’s Academy Award legacy, at the time of this writing. But her first nomination was from an Oscar-buzzed title that most folks may not remember: 1981’s Atlantic City. With nominations in “The Big Five” categories, Sarandon and the film at large walked away empty-handed that year.

Russell Crowe - The Insider

Before his name was Maximus Decimus Meridius, Russell Crowe found himself heading to the Oscars under a different moniker: Jeffrey Wigand. Nominated for the first time in 2000, Crowe’s role in Michael Mann’s whistleblower drama The Insider gave the Australian actor his first golden thrill ride. One that he’d repeat in 2001, and win for through the strength and honor of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator.

Angela Bassett - What’s Love Got To Do With It

Surprisingly, Angela Bassett only received her second nomination as part of 2023's Academy Awards, thanks to Marvel Studio’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Bassett’s first nomination came from playing royalty of a different type, as her lead role in the Tina Turner biopic What’s Love Got To Do With It saw her walking the Oscar red carpet in 1994.

Gary Oldman - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Count this as another shocker in Oscar nominations history: Gary Oldman only received his first Academy Awards nomination in 2012. You’d think the Bram Stoker’s Dracula actor would have had more than the three nods and one win he currently holds. However, his dreams of golden splendor only started after he played George Smiley in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. 

Julia Roberts - Steel Magnolias

With three nominations and one win, Julia Roberts’ odds of firing you up or making you cry with her Academy Award-nominated projects are officially even. Her first time in the race came in 1990, in the dramedy classic Steel Magnolias. For those of you who haven’t seen the film, we’ll leave it to you to find out which bucket this particular nom falls into on your own time.

Al Pacino - The Godfather

Some roles are such an indelible part of an actor’s career, they just had to land an Oscar nomination for it. Al Pacino is certainly one of those cases, as he would turn his first Best Supporting Actor nomination for The Godfather into a Best Actor nod in The Godfather Part II. Both stem from his portrayal of Michael Corleone, the favorite son who descended into darkness and power.

Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married

“It came true.” Those three words marked the end of Anne Hathaway’s journey to Oscar gold, with her second nomination and first win for Best Supporting Actress in Les Miserables. But the beginning of Ms. Hathaway’s Academy Awards journey was in 2009, when she was nominated for Best Actress in Rachel Getting Married. 

Matt Damon - Good Will Hunting

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck both won their first Oscars for Best Original Screenplay, thanks to 1998’s Good Will Hunting. But much like other members of the First Timers Club in this list, Damon’s first victory was also his first time at the dance. How ‘bout dem apples indeed.

Jennifer Lawrence - Winter’s Bone

The second time was the charm for Jennifer Lawrence, as her role in Silver Linings Playbook made her a winner in 2013. That wasn’t too long after her initial foray into Oscar victory, which came in 2011 thanks to her lead role in the neo-noir gem Winter’s Bone. Who’d expect any less from the eventual "girl on fire" that would lead The Hunger Games to box office domination?

Ben Affleck - Good Will Hunting

Sailing on the same current as his writing partner and longtime buddy Matt Damon, Ben Affleck’s first Oscar nomination came from his co-authoring of Good Will Hunting. And to think, if Damon and Affleck’s hijinks involving the script hadn’t worked, we may never have seen either contributor go on to the storied careers they enjoy today.

Samuel L. Jackson - Pulp Fiction

Fans of Samuel L. Jackson are about to engage in some harsh language, as the current MCU star only has one Academy Award nomination. While it’s rightful for his Best Supporting Actor-worthy role in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, the man’s gone on to deliver several other powerhouse performances worth at least a nod or two. This is something that not even the tastiest beverage could wash away.

As an actor, you never know where that first win or nomination is going to come from. And when you're an A-lister as iconic as the people we've just discussed, those initial impressions are all the more interesting to look at as time goes on. Who knows where these blockbuster draws will find their next brush with golden glory, and how it will compare to these humble beginnings? 

How do you pick just one of the ‘80s movies for the biggest movie stars of the decade? It’s a challenging task, but we figure we’re up for the job. So if you find yourself only able to watch a single '80s film starring each of these icons, here’s the only list you’ll need. 

Tom Cruise - Top Gun

This one is obvious, right? Top Gun is the movie that made Tom Cruise a superstar and his career has never wavered since. It was such a cultural phenomenon at the time that not only did it make an astounding $357 million at the box office (against a $15 million budget), it became the best-selling VHS tape of all time, based on pre-orders alone! Everyone saw it that summer, and again when it was released on home video. He revived the franchise 36 years later and dominated at the box office again with Top Gun: Maverick. 

Steve Martin - Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Steve Martin had a string of hits in the 1980s, but his best of the bunch was Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. It’s a perfect example of how varied Martin’s comedy could be. At times refined, at others completely physical and off the wall. Martin puts everything into this performance and it shows in the results. It’s just a brilliantly hilarious film. 

Whoopi Goldberg - Jumpin’ Jack Flash

Whoopi Goldberg burst onto the big screen in The Color Purple (more on that film in a minute). Her performance was lauded by critics, with Roger Ebert calling it “one of the most amazing debut performances in movie history.” It’s certainly a film worth watching for her Oscar-nominated performance, but if you really want to get a great idea of what Goldberg was all about in the ‘80s, check out  Jumpin’ Jack Flash. Goldberg is, after all, a comedian at heart, and she brings all her comedic skill to bare in this early tech/spy thriller. It’s another A+ performance from the star of The View.

Goldie Hawn - Overboard

Goldie Hawn was already a veteran in show business by the time the ‘80s started, but she saved some of her best performances for the decade. In her final movie of the decade, she teamed up with Kurt Russell for Overboard, and the chemistry between the two is right there on the screen for all to see. Both actors are amazing, and Hawn truly is one of America’s sweethearts. 

Morgan Freeman - Lean On Me

By 1989, Morgan Freeman had been steadily working in Hollywood for more than two decades, but it was that year that his career jumped to superstar levels. He starred in 4 films in the final year of the decade, including Driving Miss Daisy and Glory. Those two films garnered 14 Oscar nominations between them, including a Best Actor nod for Freeman. It was a third film though, Lean On Me that really lit the screen on fire. Based on the true story of a principal named Joe Clark who is charged with cleaning up a Paterson, NJ school. Freeman’s performance is powerful and set the stage for all that came after it in his career. 

Demi Moore - About Last Night

One of the actors to emerge out of the 1980s “Brat Pack,” Demi Moore forged a career that lasted well into the ‘90s and beyond, with some of her finest work coming in her first few films. One of those, About Last Night, holds up incredibly well. It’s a unique take on the rom-com and is at times much more serious than so many others from this era, due in large part to the grittier story it was adapted from (David Mamet’s play, Sexual Perversity in Chicago) and Moore’s excellent performance alongside Rob Lowe.  

Harrison Ford - Raiders Of The Lost Ark

Sure, there are a few movies that would fit here for Harrison Ford, like that one about the space wars or whatever it’s called. But for pure, distilled Ford, nothing beats Indiana Jones and nothing beats the OG Raiders of the Lost Ark. It’s Ford at his very best: snarky, charming, witty, and tough. No Nazi is safe with Indy after them. 

Oprah Winfrey - The Color Purple

Oprah Winfrey’s rise to all-powerful media queen began in the ‘80s and a very big piece of that was her acting performance in 1985’s The Color Purple. She was nominated for an Oscar in her film debut and almost four decades later, the film’s powerful message of overcoming abuse still resonates with audiences. It was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, though it shockingly didn’t win any, which is a shame. 

Chevy Chase - Fletch

Like Harrison Ford, you could go in a lot of directions with Chevy Chase, but, like Raiders, you need to go with the purest form of Chase and for that, there is nothing better than the original Fletch. He's at his sarcastic best as Irwin Fletcher. No one can quite be as charmingly condescending as peak Chase and no one is spared here. Order up a couple of steak sandwiches and some caviar; Fletch just hit a water buffalo.

Meryl Streep - Out Of Africa

In the 10 Academy Awards shows of the ‘80s, Meryl Streep was nominated seven times. She won her first (and only of the decade) for 1982’s Sophie’s Choice, but let’s get real, as amazing as she is in it, no one really wants to sit down with a bowl of popcorn and watch that one. Instead, consider a performance just as good, but slightly more upbeat (only slightly, though). Out of Africa is beautiful, as are Streep and Robert Redford in the lead roles, and the tragic story comes to life like magic with her performance. 

Geena Davis - Beetlejuice

Geena Davis made steady progress in her career in the early ‘80s but really found a new level in Beetlejuice. Her on-screen partnership with Alec Baldwin as two ghosts frustrated with the people living in their house is excellent, as they more or less play the “straight man” to Micheal Keaton’s titular character. It’s not an easy gig, but Davis is amazing. 

Jackie Chan - Police Story

Jackie Chan didn’t break big in the United States until the ‘90s and by then he was the biggest action star in Hong Kong. It was 1985’s Police Story that solidified his spot at the top and if you’ve never seen it, you definitely need to. While Chan has always been an amazing stuntman, it’s Police Story that brings all his skills to the forefront, from amazing fight scenes to the epic opening car chase with Chan hanging onto a bus with an umbrella as he pursues the baddies. It’s one of the most insane stunts in Chan’s history of insane stunts. 

Kathleen Turner - Romancing The Stone

Romancing the Stone is one of the great comedies of the 1980s and features some amazing performances from Michael Douglas and Danny DeVito, but Kathleen Turner’s Joan Wilder takes the cake. Or the bail of pot, as the case may be here. Walking that line between an intrepid explorer looking for her kidnapped sister and a damsel in distress, Turner shines. Her chemistry with Douglas and DeVito is so good, they made two more films together, the sequel Jewel of the Nile and the unrelated The War of the Roses, but it’s Stone that remains the best. 

Michael Douglas - Wall Street

Michael Douglas is great as Jack in Romancing The Stone, but it’s his portrayal of Gordon Gekko in Wall Street that makes for one of the greatest movie villains in cinema history. Of course, he won an Oscar for the performance, but it’s how quotable the movie and his character are that makes it one of the best of all time, even if those quoting don’t always understand the heavy-handed irony in each line. 

Edward James Olmos - Stand And Deliver

With Stand And Deliver, director Ramón Menéndez told the true story of math teacher Jaime Escalante who sought to raise the level of education single-handily in an East LA high school by daring to teach underprivileged Hispanic kids calculus. Edward James Olmos plays Escalante brilliantly, earning himself an Oscar nomination in the process. 

Tom Hanks - Big

Tom Hanks grew up with Big, literally and figuratively. It marks the point in his career when he jumped from a wild and wacky comedian to an actor who can take on any role, no matter how serious, and make it his own. There are the wilder moments, but there is also a real vulnerability to the man-child Josh Baskin that Hanks makes so authentic for the audience. It’s no wonder it earned him his first Oscar nomination. 

Daryl Hannah - Splash

Another Hanks movie also happens to be the great Daryl Hannah’s finest performance. Before Ariel, there was Madison, the mermaid who longed to walk on the land with humans and falls in love with an average Joe. Hannah’s performance magically convinces audiences that it’s exactly what a fish out of water would be like. 

Mel Gibson - Lethal Weapon

Back before Mel Gibson was a lightening rod for controversy, he played some pretty amazing roles and none more so that Martin Riggs in the Lethal Weapon series. From the very first scene, audiences see that classic “Mel Gibson Crazy Eyes” face and it sets the tone for the movie and the franchise, one that had remarkable life to it. That first scene is also why Lethal Weapon should be in the conversation for the best Christmas movie, alongside Die Hard. 

Arnold Schwarzenegger - The Terminator

The decade wouldn't be as big and as over the top as it was without Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Austrian bodybuilder took the movie world by storm and there are any number of enjoyable performances, but if you're looking at 1980s movies, you have to choose The Terminator. It launched him to superstardom, and it kicked off a franchise of Terminator movies that's lasted for decades. Sure, he only has a handful of lines, but no one could top his performance as a relentless killing machine that we all somehow fell in love with… later. 

Sylvester Stallone - First Blood

Not only did First Blood launch one of the most enduring franchises of the era, but it’s also just a really good film. It could be argued that it’s Sylvester Stallone’s best. His performance as a down-and-out Vietnam vet highlighted the plight of returning soldiers from that war. Brian Dennehy plays the antagonist perfectly as the angry sheriff that doesn’t take kindly to strangers in his town. A+. 

Michelle Pfeiffer - Scarface

Scarface really hasn’t aged all that well. Sure, the memes are fantastic, but as a film, it feels as dated as neon green headbands and electric typewriters. The lone exception is Michelle Pfeiffer’s performance. It’s still great, and made her one of the biggest stars of the 1980s. 

Molly Ringwald - Sixteen Candles

Molly Ringwald was once called John Hughes’ muse and it’s easy to see why she became such a mainstay in many of his hit movies from the era. Sixteen Candles is truly one of the funniest movies of the ‘80s, in part because of the side characters, but mostly it’s due to Ringwald’s fantastic performance as the girl the family forgot. 

Denzel Washington - Glory

Denzel Washington was nominated for his first Oscar for 1987’s Cry Freedom, but he won his first for 1989’s Glory. The cool thing about Glory is that it’s actually one of his most powerful performances, as audiences didn’t know him as DENZEL yet. The movie follows one of the few Black companies fighting for the Union during the Civil War and tells a story that had sort of been forgotten in the public consciousness at the time. The success of Glory and of Washington’s performance, especially in the scene where he is whipped, is one of the reasons that story will never be forgotten again. 

Jodie Foster - The Accused

The Accused is not an easy movie to watch. It begins with one of the most brutal rape scenes in cinema history and follows Jodie Foster’s character, Sarah Tobias, on the quest to get justice. The subject matter was so intense, the role was reportedly turned down by a number of A-listers at the time. It was fortuitous for Foster, who had struggled to re-ignite her career after attending Yale. Her performance won her an Oscar and the rest is history. 

Sally Field - Steel Magnolias

There are great Sally Field movies in every decade since she jumped from TV to the big screen in the mid-70s. For the ‘80s, you can’t go wrong with Steel Magnolias. It may be a tad melodramatic at times, but it stays grounded with the acting by Field and other stars like Julia Roberts, Dolly Parton, and Shirley MacLaine. 

Bill Murray - Ghostbusters

Bill Murray had so many great movies in the 1980s, it’s difficult to pick just one, but in the end, you have to go with Ghostbusters. His turn as Peter Venkman is so funny, so quotable, and so lovable, that without him, it would be a completely different movie. John Belushi in the role was the original plan, but after his death, Murray ended up in the role, and now we can’t imagine it any other way. 

Robin Williams - Good Morning Vietnam

Good Morning Vietnam was an important movie in Robin Williams' stellar career. It was the movie that truly showed audiences just how great his acting chops were. He was no longer just the frenetic comedian running around the stage inspiring laughs. Williams showed his dramatic side, especially after the bomb went off in his favorite cafe. Of course, there is plenty of off-the-wall zaniness from him that we all love, which makes it one of his most well-rounded performances. 

Glenn Close - Fatal Attraction

There are few more quintessential scenes from the 1980s than the boiling bunny in Fatal Attraction. Glenn Close’s performance as the unpredictable, jilted lover is just as iconic. Like the bunny in the pot, her character comes to a slow boil, getting more and more intense as the movie moves along. It’s a masterclass in acting from the legend. 

Micheal J. Fox - Back To The Future

No way we were going to leave Michael J. Fox off this list. Between Family Ties, and Teen Wolf, there is no actor that defines the decade quite like him. Of course, it’s no surprise that the essential movie for any Fox fan is the great Back to the Future. It’s a movie that has been introduced to, and loved by, countless people from Generation X and the following generations. It’s beloved by all. 

Jane Fonda - 9 To 5

Jane Fonda, like Sally Field, has decades of outstanding movies and performances, but when she teamed up with Dolly Parton and Lily Tomlin to make 9 to 5, she became an icon to a whole new generation. It’s been more than forty years since its release, but the chemistry between Fonda and Tomlin remains, as they proved last year with Moving On.

Eddie Murphy - Coming To America

Last, but certainly not least, we have one of the biggest breakout stars of the 1980s, Eddie Murphy. Like others, it’s hard to decide on just one, but in the end, it simply has to be Coming To America. It’s the quintessential Murphy film filled with memorable quotes and amazing performances from the entire cast, especially Murphy. 

This list could go on and on. The 1980s were a magical decade in theaters and crafting exhaustive list would prove to be impossible. Luckily, you can find the best ‘80s movies, and even '80s movies that don't get enough love if you need more. 

One of the most fun things to do is think about what could have been if iconic roles were played by actors different from the ones that made them famous. There were a lot of “what ifs” in the 1980s, and just as many in the ‘90s. So, here is our list of 20 actors that almost starred in classic ‘90s films. 

Will Smith – The Matrix

Imagine being presented with two scripts at around the same time. One is Wild Wild West and the other is The Matrix. That’s exactly what happened to Will Smith in 1996 and The Fresh Prince chose… poorly. In a YouTube video posted a few years ago, Smith explained that he did turn down Neo in The Matrix because he didn’t quite understand the pitch from the Wachowskis and made Wild Wild West instead. He admits it feels like a mistake now.

Brad Pitt – The Matrix

Another actor who turned down the Wachowskis and didn't play Neo in The Matrix was Brad Pitt. He has rarely talked about roles he regrets turning down, but at an event with Leonard Maltin at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in 2020, he admitted to Maltin that he was the first choice to play Neo, but said no. Pitt joked about it, saying, 

At least we go Keanu Reeves in the role, so it wasn't a total loss!

Julia Roberts – Sleepless In Seattle

Sometimes it comes down to timing. That’s what happened to Julia Roberts when she turned down the role of Annie in Sleepless In Seattle. Roberts was committed to another little rom-com called Pretty Woman, so it’s hard to say that she made the wrong choice! Not only did that movie make her a superstar, but even she thinks Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, one of the best on-screen couples ever, were the right combo for Sleepless, telling InStyle (via ABC), 

As she noted, everything really did work out for the best where movie history is concerned.

Molly Ringwald – Pretty Woman

Speaking of Pretty Woman, the movie was originally a much darker portrayal of prostitution in LA, and instead of Julia Robert’s million-watt smile charming audiences, it was ‘80s legend Molly Ringwald lined up to play Vivian. Ringwald didn’t like the plot, however, as she explained to The Guardian,

And, no one can blame Ringwald for following her gut.

Gwyneth Paltrow – Boogie Nights

Howard Stern is famous for getting a lot of information out of the celebrities he interviews. In 2015, he sat down with Gwyneth Paltrow and talked about some of the roles she’d passed on in her career. The most intriguing, by far, was Roller Girl in Boogie Nights, who was played by Heather Graham, of course. If you’re wondering if she passed because of the nudity, you’re correct. She told the shock jock, 

Paltrow wasn’t the only actor to pass on the script either, Leonardo DiCaprio decided to star in Titanic over Boogie Nights as well. 

Michelle Pfeiffer And Jodie Foster – Thelma & Louise

Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon are so good together as the titular Thelma & Louise it’s impossible to imagine any other actors in the roles, but they weren’t actually the first choices of the producers. After the script was finished, producer Ridley Scott signed Michelle Pfeiffer and Jodie Foster up to star as Thelma and Louise, respectively. As the story goes, it took quite a long time for Scott to decide on a director, a role he would eventually take himself, and in the meantime, Foster and Pfeiffer moved on to other projects, opening the door for Sarandon and Davis. 

Tom Cruise – The Shawshank Redemption

This is a bit of a complicated story. Frank Darabont wrote the script for The Shawshank Redemption based on a short novella by Stephen King. Darabont always had in his mind that he would also direct the film. When he sold the picture to Castle Rock, the production company had a different idea. Rob Reiner, one of the principals in Castle Rock, wanted to direct the movie and have Tom Cruise, instead of Tim Robbins, star as Andy Dufresne and in exchange, Darabont would be paid a huge flat fee for the script. Darabont, as he explained to Vanity Fair, stuck to his guns and eventually took a smaller salary and a bigger percentage of the profits. Smart move. 

Billy Crystal – Toy Story

“To infinity and beyond! With a mutton, lettuce, and tomato sandwich!” It’s safe to say the role of Buzz Lightyear would have been played very differently had the original star offered the role, Billy Crystal, taken it. Instead, turning down the part ended up being one of Crystal’s biggest career regrets. Tim Allen got the role he’s hopefully revisiting soon, almost 30 years after the first movie. Of the decision, Crystal told Yahoo!, 

Many would say that Crystal is correct, and on one else could have played Buzz better.

Nicolas Cage – Lord Of The Rings

One actor who doesn’t seem to regret missing out on a big franchise is Nicholas Cage. According to the Con Air star, he turned down the role of Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, a part made legendary by Viggo Mortensen. It doesn’t bother Cage though, as he told Newsweek about it and other roles he passed on, 

Cage is famous for his fandom, so it's good to know he doesn't regret this decision at all.

Janeane Garofalo – Fight Club

Janeane Garofalo is a Gen X icon, so it only makes sense that she would have been up for a role in a great movie (with one of the all-time great Gen X characters), Fight Club. According to Garofalo, director David Finch gave her the script and told her the part was “hers.” Unfortunately, again, according to Garofalo, Edward Norton didn’t like her for the part and lobbied for Courtney Love, who Pitt didn’t like for the role, so they settled on the outstanding Helena Bonham Carter. Norton disputes the claim, but Garofalo has stuck to her story. 

Halle Berry – Speed

It took a while for Halle Berry and Keanu Reeves to work together, finally teaming up in 2019’s John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parrabellum, but it almost happened much sooner than that. As Berry was promoting that movie, she revealed that she planned to star as Annie in Speed, a role eventually filled by Sandra Bullock, of course. As Berry explained to ET,

The original script was quite different, it seems, and when she saw the final product, she felt the sting, adding "Then I see the movie and I'm like, 'Arrrrghh!'"

Michael Madson – Pulp Fiction

If the Quentin Tarantino Universe is real, then Michael Madson has a big part in it. A role he could’ve played twice. Madson played Vic Vega, a.k.a. Mr. Blonde, in Reservoir Dogs and Tarantino wanted him to reprise the part in Pulp Fiction, however, Madson turned down the opportunity, the role of Vic Vega became his brother Vincent Vega and John Travolta revitalized his career. 

Claire Danes – Titanic

It seems there are stories of almost every actress getting a shot at the role of Rose in Titanic, played in the film by Kate Winslet. While not every claim is accurate, one that certainly is, is that Claire Danes was first offered the part. The Homeland actor has no regrets about not taking the job, and had a pretty good reason why, as she explained to Dax Shephard on his podcast Armchair Expert:

Danes even spoke to Leonardo DiCaprio about it, 

The rest is history!

Drew Barrymore – Scream

You’re probably asking yourself why we included a movie that the actor actually starred in. Well, as it turns out, Drew Barrymore was originally supposed to play Sidney in Scream, whom Neve Campbell turned into a role all her own. Instead of playing the lead, Barrymore suggested they flip the script on the horror genre and cast her as a character that would die at the beginning, leaving audiences to wonder if anyone was safe. Alfred Hitchcock would have been proud. 

Samuel L. Jackson – Boogie Nights

In Season 3 of The Family Guy they make a joke about Samuel L. Jackson being in “everything” including the porn movie Brian is directing. One thing Jackson hasn’t done, is play a porn star, though he almost starred as Buck Swope, the character made famous by Don Cheadle in Boogie Nights. According to director Paul Thomas Anderson in the director’s commentary on the DVD. After getting the script from the then-unknown writer/director, Jackson passed on the project, presumably because of the content of the film, as Gwyneth Paltrow did as well. 

What Ifs…

In most movies, there are “dream” actors that producers, writers, and directors envision in a role, but ultimately are never seriously considered for various reasons. In the ‘90s, there were some seriously big names attached to what would become big roles that aren’t included on this list because it was usually just daydreaming.

Take, for example, Mel Gibson as The Dude in The Big Lebowski. That’s right, the Coen Brothers initially hoped Gibson would play the role, but the script didn’t do anything for him, so the part went to Jeff Bridges and the rest of us abide by this decision. 

How about Leonardo DiCaprio as Will Hunting in Good Will Hunting? That’s what the studio wanted, but Matt Damon says he took a page from Sylvester Stallone and stuck his guns as Stallone did with the original Rocky, and insisted he play the lead role. How’d them apples work out? 

Finally, in one of the most bizarre ideas ever, John Malkovich was approached by the studio to play Robert DeNiro’s role (Jimmy Conway) in Goodfellas. Thankfully, for everyone involved, Malkovich backed off, telling GQ,

Hollywood is filled with near-misses and who knows what kind of butterfly effect these have had on history. It’s good to know that audiences have gotten the best options, but it’s fun to think about what could have been. 

If you read through the 2023 Oscar nominations, you will notice that not a single horror movie received a nod, despite all the recent scary movies that deserved the Academy’s consideration in my opinion. While this is only the latest of many instances in which the genre was famously overlooked by the Academy, at least we can say that some of the best horror movies have been nominated for an Oscar, and some have even won.

In fact, there are quite a few horror movies that received nominations in the acting category which, among them. The following is a look back on six actors who took home the coveted golden statuette for acting in a genre known for rewarding its audience with creepiness and carnage — starting with one of the earliest winners in the ceremony’s history.

Fredric March, Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde (1931)

Horror fans may like to give the Academy a lot of trouble for acknowledging the genre only every so often, but they actually have been paying attention to it longer than some many realize. In fact, the fifth recipient of the Best Actor Oscar (an honor he ended up sharing with The Champ’s Wallace Beery in a tie) was Fredric March for 1931’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde — Rouben Mamoulian’s adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s seminal, terrifying novella. 

The radical scientist’s transformation into a brutish criminal after taking an experimental potion he developed to unlock man’s repressed inner desires is not just achieved so effectively onscreen here by a beastly makeup job. March (who later took home a second statuette for the 1948 Best Picture Oscar winner, The Best Years of Our Lives) demonstrates an uncanny ability to inhabit each role so distinctly, if you did not know better, you might be easily convinced it was two different actors.

Ruth Gordon, Rosemary's Baby (1968)

It would take nearly another four decades before the Academy recognized greatness in acting from a horror movie again. Furthermore, out of the two nominations that the disturbing motherhood parable, Rosemary’s Baby, received in 1969 — the other being for director Roman Polanski’s screenplay, adapted by Ira Levin’s novel — the sole winner was Ruth Gordon for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

The veteran performer brings much of the same charming, comedic energy that later earned her praise for the classic romantic-comedy Harold and Maude to the role of Minnie Castevet, the eccentric building neighbor of Mia Farrow’s title character and her actor husband, Guy (John Cassavetes). What makes her performance such a memorably chilling element of the unnerving classic is how well she maintains that unassuming charm even after her involvement in a satanic cult is revealed.

Kathy Bates, Misery (1990)

On the flip side to Ruth Gordon’s method in Rosemary’s Baby, it is Kathy Bates’ ability to change her demeanor from calm to unhinged on the turn of a dime that makes her performance in Misery such a masterclass in leaving the audience breathless. It apparently left the Academy breathless too, based on its decision to honor her with the Best Actress Oscar that year.

Bates is an undeniable tour de force as one of the horror genre’s definitive female villains, Annie Wilkes — who demonstrates toxic fandom at its worst when she takes in her badly injured favorite author, Paul Sheldon (James Caan), and demands that he write his next novel to her liking or face grave consequences. Outside of Rob Reiner’s taut direction and William Goldman’s suspenseful screenplay, it is she who truly makes Misery one of the finest Stephen King adaptations of all time.

Anthony Hopkins, The Silence Of The Lambs (1991)

One of the scariest villains in horror cinema is the Dr. Hannibal Lecter, who was first introduced in Thomas Harris’ novel, Red Dragon. However, it was his portrayal by two-time Academy Award-winner Sir Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs — one of the few horror films to be nominated for Best Picture and the genre’s sole winner of the category so far — that immortalized him as an esteemed figure of pop culture.

Hopkins is not actually the first actor to portray the cannibalistic criminal psychologist (the first being Succession’s Brian Cox in Michael Mann’s 1986 thriller, Manhunter) nor the last (Gaspard Ulliel played his younger self in Hannibal Rising and Mads Mikkelsen played the title role of the TV show, Hannibal), he is the first person you picture when you think of the character, and his Best Actor Oscar-winning performance makes it easy to see why. His permeating stare, ironic sense of sophistication and charisma amid his chilling disposition, and that iconic, improvised “hiss” adds up to nothing short of perfection.

Jodie Foster, The Silence Of The Lambs (1991)

Enlisting the unlikely help of Dr. Lecter in order to catch a killer nicknamed “Buffalo Bill” is FBI trainee Clarice Starling — the role that earned Jodie Foster her second Academy Award, following her win for 1988’s The Accused. The multi-talented artist’s ability to hold her own opposite Hopkins in his prime is only one aspect as to why her performance in director Jonathan Demme’s adaptation of The Silence of the Lambs is so deserving of the honor.

Starling is a very complex, very sharp character who has been haunted for years by a traumatic event from her childhood that, while leaving her vulnerable at times, effectively serves as fuel for her courageous crusade for justice. Foster portrays those elements of the character in a wonderful blend, resulting in a thoroughly mesmerizing and heroic, career-defining performance.

Natalie Portman, Black Swan (2010)

The most recent time that an actor was rewarded for their work in a horror movie was for a film that some might not categorize as “horror.” However, even those people cannot deny that Black Swan and Natalie Portman’s Best Actress Oscar-winning performance in it is the stuff of nightmares.

Portman — just one year before joining the MCU as Thor’s love interest, Dr. Jane Foster — stars in one of director Darren Aronofky’s best movies as a ballerina whose dedication to the lead role of “Swan Lake” takes a dangerous turn when she begins to suffer from disturbing visions. Like the film, the Star Wars actor is devastating, heart-wrenching, and hypnotically surreal as Nina.

I am happy to say that there are some more recent horror films that featured strong performances and earned an Oscar nomination, such as Daniel Kaluuya in Get Out from 2017. However, moments like these are still few and far between. Hopefully, there will come a day when well-made thrillers receive the recognition they deserve on a more frequent basis.

True Detective: Night Country is coming to HBO soon – and this is your guide to everything you have to know about it. 

When it comes to some of the best HBO shows, what are some of the ones you think of first? It could be Game of Thrones, or its popular spinoff, House of the Dragon. Or, you could think of older shows and The Wire might pop up. Perhaps the cast of The Sopranos is something you think of, as well. However, for a long time, I’ve always thought of True Detective. 

The crime anthology on HBO has had three seasons so far, with three new casts for each story, following crime tales that have so many twists and turns that it’s hard to even keep track. And now, after a long wait, Season 4 is finally on the way here. But for fans of True Detective, one might be wondering who is going to star – and when comes out on the 2024 TV schedule. For your crime drama inquiries, here's what we know about True Detective: Night Country (aka Season 4). 

What Is The True Detective: Night Country Premiere Date?

As of updating this in December 2023, True Detective: Night Country will premiere on January 14, 2024, according to a Deadline report in September. It also confirmed that the season is only going to be six episodes. 

In March 2022 it was confirmed that the fourth season was officially greenlit by HBO, according to Deadline. This was such a huge win, since we hadn’t seen any serious news about a possible Season 4 in ages. And now, as of updating this in December 2023, it’s right around the corner. 

Jodie Foster And Kali Reis Will Be Co-Leads

Featured in the Deadline article above regarding the confirmation of Season 4, it was confirmed that Academy Award-winner Jodie Foster would star in True Detective: Night Country. As you’re likely aware, Jodie Foster is an all-around fantastic actress who has been in dozens of films. 

Two of her most famous, The Accused and The Silence of the Lambs, won her Academy Awards for Best Actress, but other than that, she’s been in plenty of other big movies and TV shows like Sommersby, Anna and the King, Flightplan, and more, and even directed several TV shows like Orange is the New Black, Black Mirror, and House of Cards. 

However, she’s not the only one that’s taking on a starring role in Season 4. According to Variety in June 2022, Kali Reis will star opposite Jodie Foster in the fourth season in a lead role. 

Kali Reis is known more for her stellar skills in the boxing world, where she has held several world championships in multiple classes. According to the Variety article, she has a professional record of 19 wins, 7 losses and 1 draw. However, she has had some acting experience as well, appearing in the film IFC film, Catch the Fair One. 

The two actresses are set to play the characters Detectives Liz Danvers (Foster) and Evangeline Navarro (Reis).

John Hawkes, Fiona Shaw, And More Will Also Star

Now, we have the two stars of True Detective Season 4, so all we need are their co-stars – and thankfully, those have been cast! According to Variety in September 2022, actors have already been cast in big roles for the show, and these include John Hawkes, Christopher Eccleston, Fiona Shaw, Finn Bennett, and Anna Lambe. 

All of the character names have been announced as well. Hawkes will play Hank Prior, a police officer. Eccleston will portray Ted Corsario, a chief of police, and someone who has a close past with Foster’s character. Shaw is going to play Rose Aguineau, a survivalist, and Bennett will play an apprentice to Danvers called Peter Prior. Lambe will play Kayla Malee, a nurse. 

Also confirmed in October 2022 from Deadline was that Aki Niviâna, Isabella Star Lablanc, and Joel D. Montgrad had joined for Season 4. Niviâna will play Julia. Lablanc will play Leah. And Montgrand will play Eddie Qavvik. 

All of these actors and actresses have done so much,  and it’s super exciting to see all these great additions to the cast – and all the talents they will bring. 

The True Detective: Night Country Trailer

If you’re excited about True Detective: Night Country, then you have to check out the trailer that was released in December 2023. It features our two stars, Jodie Foster and Kalie Reis, in the Alaskan wilderness, and gives us the first look into the kind of murder case that we will be following – a scientist found frozen solid in the middle of nowhere, and how it might be connected to a case from years ago. 

True Detective: Night Country Will Take Place In Alaska And Follow A Disappearance

The first three seasons of True Detective hopped around all over the country. The first was in Louisiana, the second in California, and the third in Arkansas. But now, in Season 4, we are going very far north – all the way up to Alaska.  Here's HBO's official logline for the season:

Out of everywhere in the world for True Detective to take place, a part of me is so happy it’s in Alaska, because that’s going to be so creepy – Alaska is beautiful, but also so sparsely populated, which makes it the best setting for a mystery show – where could they have gone? I’m so excited. 

Issa Lopez Is Serving As The Showrunner

According to the Deadline article above regarding the announcement of Season 4, Issa Lopez is set to act as showrunner for the fourth season – as well as write, direct, and produce. The Mexican producer has worked on many international shows and movies, with one of her most famous being Tigers Are Not Afraid, but this will be her first time diving into the American TV industry, and I can’t wait to see what she does. 

The showrunner actually commented on her new season in an interview with Vanity Fair in November 2023, saying that her season aims to be the opposite of what the last seasons of True Detective have been about:

As someone who is a fan of several of these actresses – especially Jodie Foster – sign me up. 

The Series Wrapped Filming In Iceland In April 2023

There are so many cases of movies and television shows that say they are taking place in one setting and are actually filmed completely somewhere else. 

And True Detective is like that as well. While the setting is Alaska, it’s been reported by the Iceland Review that the series filmed there, originally saying that it would take place over a “nine-month period.” 

Then, in April 2023, Mari Jo Winkler, one of the executive producers of True Detective: Night Country, posted to her Instagram to share that filming had ended, giving praise to the cast and crew of the new season:

Is anyone else as excited as I am, or is it just me?

What are you the most excited for with this show? I am literally counting down the days until this show premieres because I need more mystery in my life. True Detective: Night Country can’t come soon enough. 

It wasn’t that long ago that whispers of True Detective’s fourth season soothed our deep-set anticipation, with Jodie Foster revealed to co-lead the HBO drama’s return. With nothing more than a promising team and a concept, it wasn’t certain that this project would move forward. That has officially changed through some great news: True Detective: Night Country has been given a full series order, and what's more, Foster now has an unexpected and badass co-star on board.

Professional boxer/actor Kali Reis will be starring as Detective Evangeline Navarro, alongside Jodie Foster’s Detective Liz Danvers, as officially announced by HBO. True Detective: Night Country will see the two investigators looking into the disappearance of six men from a remote arctic research station which, given the series’ pedigree, will probably lead to some ominous findings.

Reis joins the series after making a huge splash with her indie film debut, the sex-trafficking revenge thriller Catch the Fair One, which was just released as part of June 2022’s DVD releases. As her only released acting credit thus far, the impression Kali Reis has left is a strong one. 

Rounding out the creative team behind the scenes is Tigers Are Not Afraid writer/director Issa López, who will serve those same duties for True Detective: Night Country, on top of being the showrunner and executive producer. Celebrating the announcement of Kali Reis' casting becoming public knowledge, López shared the following message on Twitter: 

Seeing Kali Reis's intensity paired with that of Jodie Foster is something that True Detective fans, as well as anyone who loves a good, intense drama, should be looking forward to. Even going by the vague log line of "long winter night" forcing these new detectives to "confront the darkness they carry in themselves," this fourth season seems familiar, but leaves the door open for so much new excitement. 

It may be early days for True Detective: Night Country, but it’s without question one of the most anticipated HBO Max shows headed our way. While some may still want to see the mysterious original Season 4 pitch from series creator Nic Pizzolato, it has to be said that Jodie Foster, Kali Reis, and Issa López are a dream team that’s too good to pass up. Twists, turns, and nightmares await us all, and you can be sure that there’s horrors in this night to come.

There’s no current planned air date for True Detective: Night Country. However, you can revisit the first three seasons of the series, should you be an HBO Max subscriber. Last, but not least, if you want to experience Kali Reis’ performance in Catch The Fair One, you can currently rent or purchase the film. Or, if you have an AMC+ subscription, the film is streaming through that platform, at the time of this writing.

It’s June, which means that it’s Pride Month, so we should celebrate in the best ways and watch movies with some iconic queer roles that deserve all the praise in the world, from classics like Brokeback Mountain to some newer films like Love, Simon. 

But, as I watched many of these, I realized that there are now several queer actors who would play the role just as well, if not better than some of their predecessors. Here are eight LGBTQ+ actors who I believe would be great picks if these movies ever got a remake.

Billy Porter - Frank N’ Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show

I mean, the fits, the style, the sass - Billy Porter would be absolutely perfect as Frank N. Furter if the iconic musical, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, was ever remade. While I do love Tim Curry in the original role, as he’s always had a very spirited acting style and certainly knows how to step into character, I just know that Billy Porter would be fantastic in a part like this. 

Look at Porter on shows such as Pose, where they regularly show off their dance moves and singing ability. Or even them in Cinderella - while they weren’t in the Amazon original movie for very long, there’s no denying that they stole the show with that dress and their awesome song. Porter would absolutely embody this role and become the best Frank N. Furter possible, I’m sure of it. 

Matt Bomer - Jack Twist - Brokeback Mountain 

Brokeback Mountain was a revolutionary film for the movie industry and was a huge stepping stone for queer cinema everywhere. Without movies like Brokeback Mountain, movies such as Love, Simon or even the latest Netflix hit, Heartstopper, would not be around now. 

But, that doesn’t change the fact that the two lead actors in the film weren’t in the LGBTQ+ community themselves. That’s not to say that they weren’t amazing in their roles, as both gave very compelling performances, but I know that if it were to be redone now there are several great queer actors who could portray the cowboys, and in this particular instance, I’m going to focus on Matt Bomer, who would play the heck out of Jack Twist, who was originally played by Jake Gyllenhaal. 

Again, Gyllenhaal is great, and he’s been in so many amazing films, but Bomer has surprised me with his ability as a dramatic actor in the FX drama, American Horror Story, or even the HBO original film, The Normal Heart. He would play a great Jack Twist, for sure. 

Joe Locke - Simon - Love, Simon

Love, Simon was another one of those movies that truly was a stepping stone in queer cinema for modern day films because it was so popular when it released and displayed a very wholesome, LGBTQ+ love story that anyone could enjoy. The film was so beloved that it received its own Hulu original spinoff, Love, Victor, a year later. 

Nick Robinson, who starred as Simon in the film, is not a part of the LGBTQ+ community, but certainly gave a great performance and created a great career from it. However, if the movie was redone now, I think that Heartstopper breakout, Joe Locke, would be absolutely perfect as Simon, as he’s already had that practice as a kid who falls in love with someone at school, and has that charming charisma to boot.  

Laverne Cox - Celie - The Color Purple 

I love Laverne Cox. I also love Whoopi Goldberg. Which is why I think Cox would be perfect to play Celie from The Color Purple if there ever was a remake. 

Whoopi Goldberg is, honestly, irreplaceable as Celie. Her performance was fantastic, and she won an Academy Award for it. There’s no denying that she is perfect as the character. But, we’re taking a look at iconic queer roles and seeing who could play them just as well today, and I do think Laverne Cox has what it takes. 

I’ve watched Cox ever since she first appeared in the Orange is the New Black cast as Sophia Burset, a transgender woman in a minimum-security prison, and God, she has made me cry so many times with her acting. While I love her in comedic roles, like her part in the Inventing Anna cast, there is something about her dramatic takes that just get me, and I have a feeling that she would be an amazing choice for a modern-day Celie.  

Jim Parsons - George Falconer - A Single Man

A Single Man was another great romantic drama with a fantastic cast, lead by Colin Firth, who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of George Falconer. And while his role was well done and he truly gave a great performance, I know that there’s a gay actor who could have done just as well - and in my mind, I think that’s Jim Parsons. 

While many know him as comedic, smart, and awkward Sheldon Cooper from the Big Bang Theory cast, Parsons has proven time and time again how much of a fantastic dramatic actor he is, from parts in Hidden Figures, to the Netflix film, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, or even his starring performance in The Normal Heart. If he wanted a truly dramatic, romantic role, A Single Man would be the best option for him. 

Kiersey Clemons - Megan Bloomfield - But I’m A Cheerleader

Another teen comedy classic. Natasha Lyonne starred as Megan Bloomfield in But I’m A Cheerleader, a story about a teenager who learns that she likes woman more than men, and is sent to a conversion therapy camp. The film is so funny in so many ways, and if it were to be made today, I think Kiersey Clemons would be a good pick for the lead role. 

Kiersey Clemons, who identifies as queer, has already shown her talent in dramatic roles in films like Dope and Hearts Beat Loud, but she’s also shown her comedic acting skills in the movie Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising. I think a remake of But I’m A Cheerleader would be the perfect chance for her to combine both of those comedic and dramatic skills and really show her talent off, because she can be extremely funny, just like Lyonne. 

Elliot Page - Brandon Teena - Boys Don’t Cry

Boys Don’t Cry was a biographical film about a real-life trans man, Brandon Teena, who was trying to live his life in Nebraska but falls victim to a hate crime. In the original film, Hilary Swank, a cis woman, portrayed Brandon, and while she was great in the part and won an Academy Award for Best Actress, I do think that this role should go to an amazing trans actor, and I think Elliot Page would be the perfect choice. 

Elliot Page has already shown off his acting ability in many other critically acclaimed films, such as Juno, Inception, and many others, and considering he recently went public with his very personal transition and how much more content he feels in his own body now, I think that playing a role like Brandon in Boys Don’t Cry would be the best role for him to take. 

Jodie Foster - Carol - Carol

Last but not least, we have Carol in the 2015 film, Carol, originally played by Cate Blanchett, who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. While Blanchett was amazing in as the character, as she is in many of her film roles, there could have been a more appropriate pick for a lesbian love story between an older woman and a young female photographer.

You know who would have played the role perfectly? Jodie Foster, an icon of the '90s. An Academy-Award winning actress who is also a part of the LGBTQ+ community, she would have embodied the role of Carol to perfection and truly shown some incredible talent to boot, at least as much as Cate Blanchett did. 

There are so many incredibly iconic LGBTQ+ rolls out there that I know would be fantastic today as well, and these are just some of my picks for who I think would be just as great. And if you haven’t had the chance to see all these films, be sure to check them out soon. 

Crime drama True Detective hasn’t been on the air since the third season ran its memory-plagued course in 2019. HBO Max subscribers who have wanted to see creator Nic Pizzolatto return with another season of dark, existential detective work have been waiting for roughly three years for another round. Depending on who you ask, that wait may have been worth it. While Pizzolatto isn’t involved in Season 4 of True Detective at this time, the Oscar-winning icon Jodie Foster has just been named as one of the stars of Season 4, as well as an executive producer.

Having portrayed one of cinema's most memorable investigators in Clarice Starling, Jodie Foster has reportedly been cast in the role of Detective Liz Danvers. Foster’s season has officially been named True Detective: Night Country, per the news broken by THR. That said, this fourth season is still “in development,” with no clear debut or production dates in store. Should the series move forward, here’s the concept that’s being considered:

Nic Pizzolatto will remain credited as an executive producer on Season 4 of True Detective, despite not being involved with the series’ production or creative efforts. Joining Jodie Foster on the behind-the-scenes end is Tigers Are Not Afraid’s Issa Lopez and Fear The Walking Dead’s Alan Page Arriaga, with both having been selected to write the season’s episodes. Even more exciting is the fact that Lopez is intended to add directing duties to her workload, should the season go forward.

While these developments surrounding True Detective: Night Country are promising, it comes with a bittersweet caveat. Nic Pizzolatto’s non-involvement means we’ll never see the “most exciting” True Detective idea he had for Season 4, which was something that was pitched around the time Season 3 had aired. Pizzolatto was never fully committed to a fourth season with HBO, but that cryptic idea was enough to have him ready to return, if the network came calling. 

There are still plenty of exciting possibilities that can crop up in this potential Season 4, especially thanks to the killer casting of Jodie Foster. Some HBO fans might even be motivated to hope for a Silence of the Lambs reunion, as Foster’s co-star/robot dance enthusiast Sir Anthony Hopkins is a veteran of the network's show Westworld.

It may be a bit of a stretch, but worse ideas have happened. Just ask the scores of fans who carry the scars of what True Detective Season 2, the usually lowest ranked season. True Detective: Night Country is currently in development, so details are scarce at the moment. For those of you looking for what’s already on the menu of 2022 TV premieres, it doesn’t take a detective to point you in the right direction. 

When it comes to the '90s, there are so many iconic movies that I’m sure every single one of you has seen reading this article. But with these iconic movies comes iconic film roles, and these actresses were some of the best in the business. Here are several actresses with some truly iconic film roles in '90s movies. 

Kate Winslet (Titanic)

Considering Titanic was once the biggest film in the world, it’s not surprising the first pick here is Kate Winslet, who played Rose DeWitt Bukater. It’s certainly one of Winslet’s best films so far, and put her on the fast track to become the famous actor she is today.  

Gwyneth Paltrow (Se7en)

While Gwyneth Paltrow known amazingly well now from her variety of film performances, her role of Tracy Mills in Se7en is certainly an iconic one, with her character playing an essential role throughout the story. It wasn’t that long after she would star in Shakespeare in Love and win an Academy Award for her acting. 

Sharon Stone (Basic Instinct)

Yes, this is Sharon Stone from that controversial scene in Basic Instinct. But no one can deny that her performance in this film was great, and she acted her butt off in this erotic thriller. Every single scene she was in, she stole the show.

Jodie Foster (The Silence Of The Lambs)

The '90s were filled to the brim with iconic horror films like The Silence of the Lambs, and was only the third film in history to win the Big Five at the Academy Awards - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress and Best Actor. Best Actress went to Jodie Foster for her amazing portrayal of Clarice Starling. 

Sandra Bullock (Speed)

While Sandra Bullock is currently busy in 2022 with her film, The Lost City, one of her first big roles ever was starring alongside Keanu Reeves in the action film, Speed, portraying Annie Porter, the main love interest of the film and a total badass. 

Winona Ryder (Edward Scissorhands)

This is definitely one of Winona Ryder’s best movies. Playing Kim Boggs in Edward Scissorhands, Ryder perfectly captured what true kindness is meant to look like, and her love story with Edward is one for the history books that anyone would adore to witness.  

Rachel Leigh Cook (She’s All That)

While the reboot, He’s All That, made plenty of references to the original film, She’s All That just can’t be beaten, and that includes Rachel Leigh Cook’s iconic performance as Laney Boggs. I mean, who could forget that memorable “Kiss Me” scene? It’s the epitome of teen movie makeovers. You have to love it. 

Meryl Streep (The Bridges Of Madison County)

Meryl Streep has been around for many years in the movie industry and has some amazing films under her belt. And while she did plenty of movies in the '90s, my personal favorite performance of hers was in The Bridges of Madison County, where she played Francesca Johnson, a married mother who has a steamy four-day love affair with a photojournalist. Her chemistry with Clint Eastwood is second to none. 

Meg Ryan (Sleepless In Seattle, You’ve Got Mail)

A legendary queen of romantic comedies, you could not stop Meg Ryan in the '90s. Not only was she in two iconic roles in romantic comedies, Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail, both of those films were alongside Tom Hanks and showed just how amazing their chemistry is. 

Demi Moore (Ghost)

That damn pottery scene has been recreated by so many people - I mean, even Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart recreated it! - but no one can quite beat Demi Moore's performance. She shined in her leading role of Molly Jensen alongside Patrick Swayze. I think all of us have wished at least once we were in her shoes. 

Sarah Michelle Gellar (I Know What You Did Last Summer)

While plenty of folks know Sarah Michelle Gellar for her portrayal of Buffy in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Gellar starred in another horror hit that same year portraying Helen Shivers in I Know What You Did Last Summer, giving a masterclass in chase scenes in horror movies. 

Whoopi Goldberg (Sister Act, Ghost)

Whoopi Goldberg is certainly an iconic name that I am sure you’ve heard of plenty of times before, and she had not one but two iconic roles in the '90s. To me, my favorite is her lead role in Sister Act, starring as Deloris Van Cartier and bringing some soul into religion, but I can’t not mention her Academy Award-nominated performance as Oda Mae Brown in Ghost. 

Julia Roberts (Pretty Woman)

It’s one of Julia Roberts' best movies. Pretty Woman has some pretty iconic scenes, but none of them could have been accomplished if not for the charming performance that Roberts delivered as Vivian. I’m pretty sure every time I’ve watched that movie, all I want is to be in that bathtub. That looks so damn nice.

Drew Barrymore (Scream) 

Drew Barrymore was only in the first twelve minutes of the first Scream movie, and yet her scene has become iconic in every sense of the word. You go up to a horror movie fan and ask “do you like scary movies?” and they’ll know exactly what film its from as well as what scene - and Drew Barrymore is the star of it. 

Neve Campbell (Scream)

Even if Drew Barrymore was the star of the first twelve minutes, it was Neve Campbell that became the star of the Scream franchise, reprising her role in every single new film since, showing just how badass she is as the ultimate final girl. 

Reese Witherspoon (Cruel Intentions)

Witherspoon has been in many movies and some great TV shows, but back in the '90s, she was still just starting out, and Cruel Intentions was a breakthrough role for her. She played Annette Hargrove, a young woman who was the target of the two main characters of the film. In this '90s movie, she showed just how talented she is at acting. 

Alicia Silverstone (Clueless)

Ugh, as if! Alicia Silverstone truly stole the screen when she played Cher in Clueless, a story about a teenage girl who ends up befriending a new student and decides to give her a makeover. I mean, those outfits alone are definitely iconic enough for her to be on this list.  

Laura Dern (Jurassic Park)

Raise your hand if you’re excited to see Laura Dern back in Jurassic World: Dominion. *Raises hand* Regardless, Laura Dern in the original Jurassic Park was freaking amazing, and Dr. Ellie Sattler was a badass that I looked up to, and I can’t wait to see what she’s been up to after all these years. 

Julia Stiles (10 Things I Hate About You)

Ugh, 10 Things I Hate About You is one of my favorites, and it’s legit because of the chemistry that Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger have in this film. They are my all-time favorite romantic couple and Julia Stiles rocks it as Kat. 

Halle Berry (Jungle Fever)

While Halle Berry has been in plenty of badass roles over the last two decades, there was a time where she was just getting started in Hollywood. One of the first films that she had a supporting role in was Spike Lee’s Jungle Fever, where she played Vivian. While she's gone on to play more prominent roles since then, it was one of the movies that broke her out onto the scene and paved the way for bigger things down the line, like X-Men and Monster’s Ball. 

Natalie Portman (Star Wars: The Phantom Menace)

Padme Amidala, known as the Queen/Senator of Naboo and Anakin Skywalker's lover (later wife) was a Star Wars character that made her debut in 1999, and was a badass in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. Natalie Portman portrayed the legendary Star Wars character for the prequel trilogy, and inspired young girls everywhere - but we don’t need to talk about how her character ends in Revenge of the Sith. 

Uma Thurman (Pulp Fiction)

While my personal all-time favorite Uma Thurman performance is her role in Kill Bill, one of her biggest roles prior to this was portraying Mia Wallace in Pulp Fiction, earning her a nomination at the Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor. I mean, she was the literal character featured on the poster for this film, and honestly, I can see why. She has such star appeal. She has plenty of great performances but this is one of her best. 

Mena Suvari (American Beauty)

This 1999 film, American Beauty, told a captivating story about a man having a midlife crisis, but the main star to me of this was Mena Suvari as Angela Hayes, the object of affection for the main character, Lester Burnham. Even if the film didn’t age too well, I think we call agree Suvari was phenomenal in it. 

Robin Wright (Forrest Gump)

If you’re not saying “Jenny” by the end of Forrest Gump in a Southern drawl, I don’t think we were watching the same film. This Academy Award-winning film starring Tom Hanks told the story of Forrest Gump and his legendary life, often times where he would think of his young love, Jenny, played by Robin Wright. Their love story is a tumultuous one, but a memorable one as well. 

Kirsten Dunst (Interview With The Vampire)

Kirsten Dunst in Interview with the Vampire is iconic for many reasons, showing how amazingly talented she was as an actress at the tender age of eleven. She later went on to star in films like Bring it On and Spider-Man, but no one can quite forget her character, Claudia.

Salma Hayek (Desperado)

Salma Hayek has been in many different kinds of films, such as being a part of the Grown Ups cast or starring in The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, but Desperado was one of the early films that made her the star she is today. Starring alongside Antonio Banderas as Carolina, Hayek was badass and her character was just as amazing. It’s definitely one of her best movies, and I would watch another film with both her and Banderas.  

Angela Bassett (What’s Love Got To Do With It, Waiting To Exhale) 

Angela Bassett is a master-class actress, and has shown just how amazingly talented she is in any role. I mean, there are so many movie parts that she should have been nominated for an Oscar, However, one of her most iconic roles from the '90s did indeed earn her nominations - her portrayal of Tina Turner in What’s Love Got to Do with It. And another great role for Bassett in the '90s was Bernadine Harris in Waiting to Exhale. Both of these movies were great showcases of her acting prowess. 

Whitney Houston (The Bodyguard)

“And I will always love you.” 

You know the song, I know you do. It’s one of the most iconic songs of all time and has been performed by so many people. Even though it was originally written by Dolly Parton, Whitney Houston sang this iconic song for the soundtrack for The Bodyguard, where she played Rachel Marron, a famous singer who falls for the bodyguard tasked with protecting her. 

Michelle Yeoh (Tomorrow Never Dies)

Last but not least, we have Michelle Yeoh in Tomorrow Never Dies. While she’s been in plenty of amazing movies such as Crazy Rich Asians and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, one of my personal favorites of hers is her role as Wai Lin, a Chinese spy and an ally to James Bond. 

Yeoh is a bloody badass. This James Bond alum truly defined the term “kick ass and take names” because she was one of the best Bond girls ever, in my opinion. I would gladly see her return to the franchise alongside Pierce Brosnan, but I don’t think that’ll happen anytime soon, so I’ll just re-watch this movie over and over. 

There are truly so many other iconic roles, but these are some of the best that you should check out again next time you want to watch a great movie. Now, if you don’t mind me, I’m going to re-watch Jurassic Park again before the latest sequel.  

It goes without saying that we want to congratulate everyone who woke up to the news that they are Academy Award nominees this morning. This has been, and continues to be, a bizarre awards season, but the films that are represented across the board do adequately reflect the best and brightest that found its way in front of an audience in 2020. We ended up with eight Best Picture nominees ranging from Minari and Mank to The Trial of the Chicago 7. We’ll discuss the odds of the favorites as we get closer to the show.

This morning, we focus on the folks who didn’t get the call, the Snubs that held Oscar hopes, only to have them dashed in the wee hours of the morning, Pacific Coast Time. These are movies, actors, directors and craftsmen who had been told at various stages of the race that this would be their year. For some, it could have been career-altering. For others, it’s a blip on an already seasoned stint in the business. So, who was left on the outside of the Oscar bubble, looking in?

Da 5 Bloods

Such an egregious snub, the movie gets its own category at the top of this list. Simply put, the Academy didn’t care for Spike Lee’s searing examination of post-war PTSD, the Trump effect on our nation’s psyche, the power and urgency of the Black Lives Matter movement, and the stirring treasure-hunt thriller that Lee rolled into one devastating package. While the film’s lone Oscar nomination went to Terence Blanchard’s heroic film score, thet means that the Academy snubbed Da 5 Bloods in Best Picture, Best Director for Spike Lee, Best Actor for Delroy Lindo (an absolute crime), and Best Supporting Actor for the late Chadwick Boseman. One has to wonder if Oscar voters even bothered to watch their Netflix screener?

One Night in Miami

Regina King’s stirring and provocative One Night in Miami is another film that probably expected a lot more love on Oscars morning, and woke up holding a half-empty bag. The movie did collect a few key nominations, with Kemp Powers landing a Best Adapted Screenplay nod for his words and ideas, and Leslie Odom Jr. getting into the Best Supporting Actor race. But that excluded his co-stars, all of whom were integral to One Night in Miami working as well as it did. Choosing one performance over the others is very difficult. While Picture seemed in play, it didn’t happen, but what I really regret is that Regina King isn’t joining Chloe Zhao and Emerald Fennell in the Best Director category, because she deserved to be there after juggling the issues and performances at the heart of this film.

Zendaya, Best Actress

The Best Actress category this year might be the most stacked of all the races. Four extremely talented and worth nominees are going to go home empty-handed, and we will live in a world where Viola Davis or Carey Mulligan might not win for their amazing performances in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom or Promising Young Woman just because Frances McDormand is THAT good in Nomadland. Zendaya, though, didn’t even get into the conversation, and she belonged there. Her work opposite John David Washington in the contentious Malcolm & Marie showed a soul-baring side to the actress that many are still waking up to (watch Euphoria, people), and a nomination would have pushed her further into the spotlight of respect.

Jared Leto, Best Supporting Actor, The Little Things

The thing about Jared Leto is that he’s extremely popular. And he takes big, bold risks with his performances. This allows him to get nominated and actually win for Dallas Buyers Club. It also makes him a lightning rod for controversy when he tries something like The Joker. His turn as a menacing weirdo in The Little Things for early awards buzz, picking up nominations the HFPA and the Screen Actors Guild (a big deal). An Oscar nomination seemed possible, but Leto’s turn proved a tad too elusive for Academy members to fully embrace.

Palm Springs, Original Screenplay

As streaming services generate far more Oscar-worthy films, Hulu found itself in the race for a number of deserving movies this year. Palm Springs should have been one of the them, and I’m more than a little shocked that it didn’t find its way into the Best Original Screenplay category. This was the year, because of the bizarre nature of film distribution, that the Academy could have shone a brighter light on mainstream fare that connected with audiences while still elevating the craft of filmmaking. Palm Springs is clever, hysterical, heartfelt and fun. When Borat 2 got a nod, I got hopeful, only to have those hopes dashed.

Soul, Best Picture

As long as the Best Animated Feature category exists, no animated feature will ever win Best Picture at the Oscars. The Academy basically considers that category to be “enough,” as evidenced by Disney Pixar’s Soul not even getting into the Best Picture race, which is a crime. Pete Docter’s fascinating exploration of the afterlife and our purpose here on this planet plumbed emotional and spiritual depths not seen in any of the live-action films in the Best Picture category. Soul also breached difficult conversations about depression and anxiety, as well as the freeing power of music and musical composition. It’s an endlessly rewarding film that’s as vibrant and beautiful as it is funny and sad. But it’s animated, so it never really had a shot at the category in which it belongs, did it?

Ludwig Goransson, Score, Tenet

A score can complete a movie. It can serve as a character, an audio propulsion that comes around exactly when the story needs it. This is what Ludwig Goransson achieves with Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, a time-twisty thriller that plays forwards and backwards but gets anchored by the musical cues provided by Goransson. The composer already has a track record with the Academy, having picked up an Oscar for his work on Black Panther. His work on The Mandalorian was brilliant, and could have contributed to the Academy just giving Goransson the nod for his body of work. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

Mank, Original Screenplay

Personally, I don’t think that Mank deserved a nomination in this category. I fear that David Fincher’s Old Hollywood homage is the least interesting story in the brilliant filmmaker’s filmography. But what IS interesting is the story behind Mank, where Fincher’s late father, Jack Fincher, had a script that delved into the making of Hollywood’s greatest drama -- Citizen Kane -- but gets lost in the exploration of the battle between screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz (Oscar nominated Gary Oldman) and media tycoon William Randolph Hearst (Charles Dance). I thought that maybe the story of Mank would get the screenplay a nomination, but no dice.

Jodie Foster, Best Supporting Actress, The Mauritanian

Because of the unusual nature of this year’s Oscar race, we saw a handful of films that were released in 2021 connect with the different critics groups that can be bellweathers for the direction that the Academy is going to go. And that turned out to be the case for Judas and the Black Messiah, which earned six Oscar nominations, but not so much for The Mauritanian. While that drama played well for the BAFTAs and the Golden Globes (where Jodie Foster won over Glenn Close, Olivia Colman and Amanda Seyfried, the Oscars weren’t having it, and the Foster slot likely went to Maria Bakalova for Borat 2 instead. No real complaints here!

It’s nice to see the Golden Globes go on despite what’s going on in the world, but I have to be honest here: most of it being a giant Zoom meeting didn't necessarily make the hours go by quicker. Still, there was a certain charm about seeing our favorite actors at home (or fancy hotels?) with their families. More importantly, the Globes put some of their pets into the spotlight and it was distracting in the best way. I’m already drifting off thinking about Watchmen’s Regina King and her pup.

Before the telecast had even begun, Regina King gave a pre-show interview where her dog could be seen plopping on its bed, as to say ‘goodnight, I’ll check all the winners in the morning.’ Check it out:

The One Night In Miami nominee was displaying her beautiful gown, but we certainly got something special tonight beyond the usual red carpet shenanigans. Pets became a running perk of the night, with Sarah Paulson’s dog also making an appearance halfway through the show. Take a look:

During the Best Actress in a Drama Series grouping, pets became a point of conversation among the women, as Sarah Paulson and Olivia Colman could be heard asking Emma Corrin (who won for her role as Princess Diana in The Crown) to bring her kitty out. And then it happened:

The best part about being on Zoom all the time has been the rare animal sightings, so were we really surprised to see so many during the show? The very best doggo of the entire night was definitely Jodie Foster’s canine couch mate, who was lovingly at her side for her fourth Golden Globe win. Foster nabbed Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture for The Mauritanian. Check it:

Jodie Foster accepted the award on her couch next to her wife, Alexandra Hedison, who was cozied up with the Silence of the Lambs actress in sleek pajamas. It became an immediate highlight of the night that had many ogling over Foster and her little family. As one Twitter user said:

And of course there were many more that were likely sitting next to the talent who won tonight that we're off camera. Such as Dan Levy’s pup, who made it into the glamour shot of actor and Schitt’s Creek creator, who also had a big night when the hit show won Best Comedy series. Check them out:

Can we all agree that the Golden Globe pets were the best part of the show? Next year they should bring them along!

As for who won all of the literal awards during the awards show, you can check out the victors in all categories by checking out our Golden Globes 2021 winner rundown.

As portrayed by Jodie Foster in The Mauritanian, Nancy Hollander is a character that fits the adjective “tough” to a T. She is a lawyer who firmly believes in the United States’ legal procedure, her principals driving her to provide even suspects of terrorism with the representation that they are promised in the Constitution, and she develops a thick skin because of the intense public backlash that comes as a result. It’s a key hallmark of the performance by the Academy Award winner, and as I recently learned during an interview with her, it was something that she actually pushed for more of in the script when she was first offered the part.

I had the great pleasure of speaking with Jodie Foster late last month during the virtual press day for The Mauritanian, and my first question was about her character’s specific attitude – which I had read the actor wanted further enhanced when she was first considering the project. Foster began by explaining that she felt some freedom within the role to change things (Nancy Hollander is a real person, but she isn’t exactly a known public figure), but she primarily wanted her toughness to have an impact on the way that audiences’ view the film’s subject: Guantanamo Bay detainee Mohamedou Ould Slahi. She said,

The Mauritanian is an adaptation of Mohamedou Ould Slahi’s memoir Guantanamo Diary, and chronicles his experience being taken from his home in Mauritania shortly after September 11, 2001 and being detained without any charge for nearly a decade-and-a-half. The United States government falsely believed that he was involved in the orchestration of the Al Qaeda-organized terrorist attacks, and kept him locked up for years without representation. Despite public outcry against Ould Slahi, Nancy Hollander agreed to be his defense attorney, and while working on his case unearthed some terrible truths about his treatment.

Continuing, Jodie Foster explained that she wanted her version of Nancy to have a notable toughness about her at the start of The Mauritanian (which certainly has an impact on her relationship with Tahar Rahim’s Mohamedou Ould Slahi), and that way the film could unfold a particular emotional arc for her. Said Foster,

Jodie Foster ultimately delivers an excellent performance, and it’s one that is already being celebrated in a high profile way, as last week it was announced that she has been nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the 2021 Golden Globes. The Mauritanian arrives in theaters this Friday, February 12.

Of all the follow-up projects that surfaced in the years after The Silence of the Lambs changed the landscape of serial killer entertainment, CBS' new trauma drama Clarice is perhaps the most unexpected. Rather than tying its hook to the cannibalistic Hannibal Lecter that every other project focused on – for legal reasons more than anything else – Clarice is all about its titular FBI agent and the emotional turmoil she experienced after her PTSD-inspiring experiences with Hannibal and Buffalo Bill. So it's obvious why fans are curious whether or not the O.G. Clarice Starling, actress Jodie Foster, will be tuning in.

While it's not exactly common behavior for actors to watch movie sequels that they aren't involved with, it does happen. This particular case may also have the advantage of Clarice being more of a standalone project as opposed to a direct sequel, such as 2001's baffling Hannibal, with Julianne Moore taking over the Clarice role. As such, even though the CBS thriller does indeed feature direct references to Silence of the Lambs, it's at least one layer removed from Jodie Foster's connection to the material. But how does Foster feel about it, and is she planning on tuning in? Infer what you will from the actress' interview with Uproxx. In her words::

It's probably safe to assume that Jodie Foster is not cancelling previously settled plans in order to stay at home on Thursday night in order to watch CBS' Clarice with the rest of America. That said, it's mildly surprising that she even entertained the notion with something other than a flat, "Nah, fam." Actors tend to have zero concern or shame in making it known that they won't be watching particular projects, especially ones that connect to major moments from their careers. So while it seems like Foster was perhaps going to say she "probably" won't watch The Originals' Rebecca Breeds taking over the role, that hesitation and reversal could potentially mean Foster will let her curiosity about her character's next phase take over.

Jodie Foster was lightly pressed for clarity, and was asked if she would maybe stop on Clarice if she was flipping through channels looking for something to watch. Her answer was slightly more positive, if not exactly a full embrace of the CBS drama. In her words:

Jodie Foster's standpoint there is perfectly sensible, since Silence of the Lambs has a proven legacy, and stands as one of the very few films that swept the Academy Awards' five main categories – Best Movie, Lead Actor and Actress, Director and Adapted Screenplay. I imagine fans would have raised a suspicious eyebrow had Foster become a full-fledged Fannibal for Bryan Fuller's exquisite Hannibal drama on NBC, especially considering that show wasn't legally able to use Clarice Starling as a character. But it's totally understandable for the actress to be hesitant about embracing a new Lambs-related project that she isn't personally or professionally invested in.

While CBS would probably love to have Jodie Foster as a vocal cheerleader for its new Clarice show, I'm betting they're more hopeful that millions of non-celebrity viewers are eager to tune into the new show when it debuts on February 11 at 10:00 p.m. ET.

The Silence of The Lambs is considered by many to be one of the greatest horror films of all time. The psychological thriller starring Anthony Hopkins, Ted Levine and Jodie Foster crushed at the box office and the 64th Academy Awards, ultimately taking home five Oscars. Despite Jodie Foster earning her second Academy Award at just 28, the role of FBI agent Clarice Starling was originally intended for Michele Pfeiffer, who, in a recent interview, shared her biggest regret from turning down The Silence of The Lambs.

Elaborating on why she she walked away from The Silence of the Lambs despite having the first offer from director Jonathan Demme, Michelle Pfeiffer said:

During her interview with The New Yorker, Michelle Pfeiffer mentioned her initial hesitation came from just how evil the film was, which is no surprise considering the brutal subject matter and ending of The Silence of the Lambs. Director Jonathan Demme offered Pfeiffer the role after the pair's first film together, Married to the Mob.

Despite its violence, The Silence of the Lambs went on to earn over $272 million at the box office. For a horror movie working off a $19 million budget, that's not too shabby. The Clarice Starling role is one of Jodie Foster’s most memorable, and it helped launch her already impressive career to new levels, including a move to the director's chair.

Michelle Pfeiffer wasn’t the only other actress considered to star alongside Anthony Hopkins either. Jodie Foster reportedly beat out Laura Dern and Meg Ryan, among others, after Pfeiffer passed on the role.

It’s easy to see where Michelle Pfeiffer is coming from. It couldn’t have been easy to pass up on the opportunity to be in such an iconic film, but she hasn’t done bad for herself either. Ahead of The Silence of the Lambs she earned two consecutive Academy Award nominations. Later, she also starred as Catwoman alongside Michael Keaton and Danny DeVito in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns. In recent years, she has joined the ranks of the MCU as the original Wasp in Ant-Man and the Wasp.

Those wishing to revisit the evil world of Clarice Starling and Dr. Hannibal Lecter can watch The Silence of the Lambs on Showtime. As for more modern movie fare, be sure to check out CinemaBlend’s 2021 Movie Release Schedule for the latest on this year's film slate.

It's hard to believe Silence of the Lambs turns thirty years old this February. Heading into this milestone, the psychological thriller is now a spine-chilling classic and important to the fabric of our pop culture. The Best Picture winner is the only horror flick to ever win the coveted prize and continues to be the most iconic role of Jodie Foster’s career as she returns to the big screen for the first time since 2018 for The Mauritanian. And as you can imagine, Foster still has fond memories from working on the iconic movie.

When CinemaBlend’s Eric Eisenberg spoke with Jodie Foster ahead of the release of The Mauritanian, a legal drama about a man seeking justice for his imprisonment in Guantanamo Bay detention camp without charge or trial. During the conversation, he asked the Best Actress-winner about what jumps to mind when reflecting on her experience as Clarice Starling. In her words:

That’s certainly the lasting memory many of us have about Silence of the Lambs, too. The most electric aspect of the 1991 film is the tense moments where Clarice and Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal Lector are face-to-face as the FBI trainee utilizes him to track down the serial killer Buffalo Bill. Foster expanded on her time on Silence of the Lambs with a conversely fun time on set without intense stares or horrifying violence. In her words:

Silence of the Lambs was a super dramatic film and likely an exhaustive shoot, so it’s nice to hear Jodie Foster and the cast had some fun times together in between. Some of the most memorable moments in movies are often the parts not caught on camera and, for Foster, she loved the atmosphere of dancing in her Pittsburgh house on Super Bowl night, blasting music with the film’s crew.

Jodie Foster never reprised her role as Clarice following the Best Picture winner, but Anthony Hopkins did continue his Silence of the Lambs role for Hannibal and Red Dragon. The franchise memorably lived on through the cult favorite spinoff show Hannibal starring Hugh Dancy and Mads Mikkelsen, which tracked the origins of Lecter.

Hannibal’s showrunner had plans to intersect the show with Silence of the Lambs for the fourth season, but the series was prematurely cancelled in 2015 and he has not been given the rights to adapt those characters, despite interest from fans and the cast. CBS has now made a series exclusively about Clarice Starling following the events of Silence of the Lambs, which fittingly arrives just ahead of the 1991 film’s anniversary on Valentine’s Day. The Originals star Rebecca Breeds will play the role in Clarice, which premieres on February 11.

Check out Jodie Foster in The Mauritanian in select theaters on February 12.

Hello, Clarice. The Silence of the Lambs, the Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins-starring psychological thriller/horror, turns 30 this year. Hannibal Lecter, Clarice Starling and many of the films classic lines (of which “Hello, Clarice” isn’t actually one) have been ingrained into our culture, not to mention aped in the form of sequels, prequels, spinoffs and parodies. There is a rich history to this classic film and how it all came together, which you can learn more about with these behind-the-scenes facts on The Silence of the Lambs.

Thomas Harris Met The Inspiration For Hannibal Lecter In A Mexican Prison

Thomas Harris introduced the world to Hannibal Lecter in his book Red Dragon and then expanded on the character in The Silence of the Lambs. The sophisticated psychiatrist who eats people resided in Baltimore, but Harris’ inspiration for Lecter has roots in a Mexican prison.

In an author’s introduction for a The Silence of the Lambs reprint, Harris recalls a magazine assignment when he was 23 to interview an American locked up for murder in Mexico. There, Harris met Dr. Salazar (a created name), who provided medical treatment at the prison. The doctor would ask him probing questions about his interactions and impression of prisoners. It was not until Harris was leaving the prison that he was told that Dr. Salazar was a prisoner himself, an “insane” murderer as described by the warden.

Harris credited Dr. Salazar for allowing him to “recognize his colleague and fellow practitioner, Hannibal Lecter.” And per Demme, that remains Harris' vision of Lecter, as he has never seen the film version of The Silence of the Lambs.

Psycho And The Silence Of The Lambs Killers Are Based In Part On Ed Gein

Though Hannibal Lecter gets a lot of the attention, the main antagonist of The Silence of the Lambs is Buffalo Bill, who was conjured up by taking bits and pieces from infamous killers, including Ed Gein, who previously served as the inspiration for Psycho.

An essay by author and film critic Amy Taubin included in The Silence of the Lambs Criterion DVD broached Gein’s influence. Ed Gein was a serial killer who had an unhealthy relation with his mother (part of the Psycho connection). He also collected body parts from his victims, making household items, masks and clothes. It is the latter that helped inspire the character of Buffalo Bill, as his plan involved making a woman suit from the skin of his victims.

The Man Who Inspired Jack Crawford And David Fincher’s Mindhunter

Jack Crawford (played by Scott Glenn) heads the Behavioral Science Unit of the FBI and the man who recruits Clarice Starling onto the Buffalo Bill case in The Silence of the Lambs. Like Lecter and Buffalo Bill, Crawford also has a connection to a real person, John Douglas.

Douglas was a leading member of the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit in its early days. More than just a jumping off point, he is given a special thanks for his work consulting on The Silence of the Lambs. Jodie Foster also took classes with Douglas during her research at FBI’s headquarters in Quantico, Va., prior to filming, which she described in a three-part making-of documentary, Jonathan Demme & Jodie Foster.

Douglas’ career would inspire another popular crime story, David Fincher’s Netflix series Mindhunter. Douglas wrote the book the series is based on and served as a consultant.

Silence Of The Lambs Interested Jonathan Demme More As A Woman’s Pic Than Thriller

Had Clarice Starling been Clark Starling, director Jonathan Demme may never have made The Silence of the Lambs. In Film Comment’s January 1991 issue (via Diary of a Screenwriter), Demme said, as both a moviegoer and director, he was a sucker for a woman’s picture. Demme explained:

Demme and cinematographer Tak Fujimoto encapsulated that perspective in the look of The Silence of the Lambs. In Jonathan Demme & Jodie Foster, Demme explains casting tall actors around Jodie Foster to accentuate the idea of her being out of place. They also shot from Starling’s point of view to put the audience more in her shoes and “constantly feel this sense of challenge that she is encountering,” Demme said.

Jodie Foster’s Fight To Be Demme’s Second Choice

Jodie Foster was not happy when Jonathan Demme was hired as the director for The Silence of the Lambs. But it had nothing to do with Demme as a director.

Foster had read The Silence of the Lambs book and immediately wanted to play Clarice Starling. However, when Demme was brought on Foster knew his first choice was going to be Michelle Pfeiffer, who Demme worked with on Married to the Mob. Foster really wanted the part though, so much so that she called and visited Demme personally in New York to push to be the director’s second choice.

She explained her pursuit of Starling in Jonathan Demme & Jodie Foster. Coming off an Oscar for Best Actress in The Accused, many people said she was humiliating herself, but Foster looked at it a different way.

Of course, she would be proven right. Pfeiffer passed and Foster earned her second Oscar for Best Actress and created her most iconic role.

Many Actors Wanted To Wear Hannibal’s Mask

It’s always fun to think of who else could have played famous characters, and nearly every major male actor of the time wanted to play Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs.

This included Gene Hackman, who was originally attached to direct the film and potentially star as Lecter. However, Hackman could not see eye to eye with Ted Tally on the script, so he eventually left the project.

When Jonathan Demme came on board, he said - once again in Jonathan Demme and Jodie Foster - he had two thoughts for casting Hannibal. One was Anthony Hopkins; the other was what he deemed the commercial option: Sean Connery. They reached out to Connery first, but he declined the role. So in the end, Demme got to go with his preferred choice, Hopkins.

Demme Filled The Cast With Lucky Charms, Mentors And Crew

While Foster and Hopkins are given their proper due for their tremendous performances, the entire cast of The Silence of the Lambs is fantastic. To fill out all the roles, Demme made some fun and meaningful choices.

Demme cast his “lucky charm” Charles Napier as one of guards who is killed by Lecter. Per IMDb, Napier had been in every Demme film between 1977’s Citizens Band and Silence of the Lambs (he would star in nine Demme films in total). He also brought in B-movie maven Roger Corman as the director of the FBI; Corman helped Demme, like many others, get his start in the industry.

Among the cameos, George Romero, the director for Night of the Living Dead, had a brief appearance in the movie in large part because it was shot in Pittsburgh, where Romero was based. Foster also recalled in Jonathan Demme & Jodie Foster that all members of the crew wound up being used as extras or other small parts.

Anthony Hopkins Devised Hannibal Lecter’s Iconic Entrance

Clarice Starling walks down the subterranean corridor that holds the prison’s most dangerous inmates to have her first meeting with Dr. Hannibal Lecter. When she arrives, she finds the unblinking, cannibal psychiatrist eerily waiting for her in the center of his cell, eager to greet his guest. It’s an iconic entrance that immediately gives Hopkins’ Lecter an unsettling air about him; and according to Hopkins was his choice.

During an interview with Jim Ferguson promoting The Silence of the Lambs, Hopkins said Demme asked how he felt Hannibal should be discovered. Hopkins thought having this infamous murderer waiting for Starling in the center of an empty room saying “good morning” spooked him. Ferguson, to Hopkins' delight, agreed. Hopkins eventually saw first-hand how scary his performance was.

Foster And Hopkins Acted More With The Camera Than Each Other

There are so many great scenes between Starling and Lecter throughout the film. Demme’s use of POV shots continued during these scenes. However, that meant Foster and Hopkins often weren’t acting off each other, but opposite the camera.

Foster, in a Vanity Fair video, explained that those scenes between her and Hopkins would be shot over two days - grabbing her coverage one day and Hopkins’ the other. When the camera was on whichever actor, the other would more or less be a disembodied voice, as Foster described it. “Those scenes feel so intimate, and yet we couldn’t see each other.”

In fact, Foster, in the making-of documentary, said that she and Hopkins had little interaction during filming because of the way their scenes were shot.

Buffalo Bill Drew The Ire Of The LGBTQ Community

Buffalo Bill’s motive is said to be fueled by his desire to change himself. Lecter says that a former patient of his, a gay man, was a partner of Buffalo Bill, and that at one point Buffalo Bill may have applied for a sex change operation. This led many to infer that Buffalo Bill was gay or trans, which in turn wrought criticism from the LGBTQ community upon the film’s release.

The Los Angeles Times reported many in the gay community believed Buffalo Bill painted gay or trans people as mentally deranged. Protests from gay rights activists were held outside of the Oscars the night The Silence of the Lambs won.

Writer and activist Larry Kramer, in a LA Times op-ed on Demme’s follow-up, Philadelphia, said The Silence of the Lambs is considered by “many gays one of the most virulently and insidiously homophobic films ever made.”

The Silence of the Lambs never outright says Buffalo Bill is gay or trans. Lecter’s theory - and the filmmakers’ intent, per Demme’s Film Comment interview - suggests more that he hates his own image and adopting gay or trans traits was a way to alter it. That was not, however, enough for the film to avoid controversy.

Anthony Hopkins Oscar Screen Time Record Has An Asterisk

Anthony Hopkins won the Oscar for Best Actor for The Silence of the Lambs, doing so with only 24 minutes and 52 seconds on screen. That set a record for Oscars, but not the one many people assume.

Hopkins’ performance is often cited as the shortest to win a lead acting Oscar. That is half right. Hopkins holds the record for shortest performance to win Best Actor, however the record for a lead performance (actor or actress) actually goes to Patricia Neal for 1963’s Hud, for which she is on screen for 21 minutes and 51 seconds.

One other quick Oscar tidbit: The Silence of the Lambs is the third, and most recent, film to win Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay (original or adapted). The others are It happened One Night and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

The Silence of the Lambs celebrates its 30th anniversary on Feb. 14. Celebrate Valentine’s Day with a rewatch and a nice chianti.

It is impossible to imagine anyone other than Mark Hamill playing Luke Skywalker, or the voice of James Earl Jones not coming through Darth Vader’s helmet, or any one of your favorite Star Wars characters played by different actors. However, there exists an alternate reality in which the beloved sci-fi franchise is performed by an entirely different cast.

No, Harrison Ford was not George Lucas’ first choice to play Han Solo, Disney almost hired a young Oscar-nominee to play Rey, and DJ from Star Wars: The Last Jedi was not the first character from a galaxy far, far away that Benicio del Toro was considered for. Your interest may already be piqued now, but just you wait - very strange, these stories get.

The following is a list of eight celebrities who came close to filling the shoes of a Star Wars character. Be prepared: these are not the actors you're looking for.

Leonardo DiCaprio Could Have Played Anakin Skywalker

Whether you are a hater or a defender of Hayden Christensen’s portrayal of a pre-Vader Anakin Skywalker, you may have a whole new perspective on the Star Wars prequels once you learn that Leonardo DiCaprio was among George Lucas’ initial choices to succeed the role from Jake Lloyd in Attack of the Clones. According to an interview with The Short List, the actor claims that he did have a meeting with Lucas about the but felt that he was not “ready to take that dive.” Could the future Oscar-winner have delivered Anakin’s “I hate sand” speech to rousing perfection? Ehh.

Saoirse Ronan Could Have Played Rey

These days, Saoirse Ronan is an indie film queen, but there was a time when she almost became the face of Disney’s Star Wars trilogy. The then 19-year-old confirmed to Empire in 2013 that she did read for the role of Rey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens in an audition that apparently included wielding a pretend lightsaber, but the part of the lonely junker-turned-Jedi would go onto British actress Daisy Ridley. While it is a relief that Ronan was able to save 2017 and 2019 for Oscar-nominated roles in director Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird and Little Women, I think I could get used to the idea of Rey with an Irish accent.

Benicio del Toro Could Have Played Darth Maul

Ray Park has the pleasure of having played one of the most iconic villains the Star Wars saga in two films and even voicing him in the most recent season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, but there was a time when his most famous character to date could have been the infamous Toad in Bryan Singer’s X-Men. Future Academy-Award winner Benicio del Toro had already been cast as Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace, but dropped out when he learned that George Lucas had cut out much of his dialogue before eventually returning to the franchise as the talkative code breaker, DJ, in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. I would say that everything worked out for the best because I cannot imagine Darth Maul with a stutter would have had the same effect.

Tupac Shakur Could Have Played Mace Windu

Samuel L. Jackson is one of the top reasons why some people still watch the Star Wars prequels, but, apparently, George Lucas’ first choice to play Jedi Master Mace Windu was Tupac Shakur. According to an interview with 2-Pac Forum, former Death Row Records engineer Rick Clifford claimed that the late rapper told him he was reading for the part in what would be 1999’s The Phantom Menace which, despite his murder in 1996 (roughly a year before the film began shooting), sounds impossible to make up. Coincidentally, Shakur’s Juice co-star, Jackson, would go on to play Windu, and help him acquire the only purple lightsaber in the saga’s history, but one can only imagine how getting a Star Wars role would have affected his all-too brief acting career.

Christopher Walken Could Have Played Han Solo

There is a Saturday Night Live sketch in which Christopher Walken (played by Kevin Spacey) auditions to play Han Solo, poking fun at how silly the pilot of the Millennium Falcon would be if played by the famously kooky actor instead of Harrison Ford. Well, as it turns out, the joke is really on us because the Oscar-winner was, apparently, one of George Lucas' top choices to play the scruffy Nerf Herder in 1977's Star Wars. However, as fate intended, Walken turned down the role for Woody Allen's Annie Hall, but had he accepted, we might be living in a world in which there are more bad Han Solo impersonations than Chewbacca impersonations.

Jodie Foster Could Have Played Princess Leia

Carrie Fisher was one of those actresses whom, whenever you saw her, you could not help but see her defining character: Leia Organa. That fate could have befell Jodie Foster, who declined an offer to play the Alderaanian princess in 1977’s Star Wars due to scheduling conflicts with her role as a teenage prostitute in Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver. Had the future Academy Award-winner taken the role, the then 15-year-old’s fan appeal would have increased a hundredfold, but probably not for the same reason that many male, pubescent moviegoers in late ‘70s admired Fisher.

Orson Welles Could Have Played Darth Vader

James Earl Jones’ unmistakable voice is one of the key factors of Darth Vader’s commanding presence in Star Wars, but, according to an interview with the actor on BBC Radio, he almost did not get the role had George Lucas not deemed Orson Welles’ voice “too recognizable.” Yes, radio star and writer, director, and star of Citizen Kane was initially considered to voice the villain, which I still cannot even begin to imagine having the same impression. However, Welles’ would eventually go on able to voice a villainous character: Unicron in the 1986 animated The Transformers: The Movie.

Michael Jackson Could Have Played Jar Jar Binks

If you ever needed a reason to stop spewing hate at Ahmed Best, who played the infamously reviled Jar Jar Binks in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, this bewildering piece of trivia should do the trick. Best revealed in an interview with Vice that Michael Jackson, hoped that George Lucas would cast him as the Gungan, but his request to play the role in full makeup and prosthetics (a la his zombified appearance in “Thriller”) instead of CGI lost him the part. The King of Pop’s star power might have been enough to silence Jar Jar haters for a while, at least, but, as Best adds in the interview, it is possible that Jackson would have ended up being bigger than the film itself, which might not have made Lucas very happy.

If you ask me, I would say that I am overall happy with the casting we have in the Star Wars films, but I still definitely want to see a cut of The Phantom Menace with Michael Jackson in full Jar Jar makeup. Be sure to check back for more updates from the world of Star Wars and other news in casting what-ifs here on CinemaBlend.

The summer is still the time that we go to the movies for the biggest and brightest and most polished experiences that we can get on screen. However, sometimes there's a gem to be found in a movie that's dark, dirty, and grimy as hell. This season, that movie looks to be Hotel Artemis. This is not a four-star resort. Hotel Artemis is not a place for the squeamish, but if you're in the mood for a tense crime thriller, you may want to check in.

It's 2028 and the future has turned into a John Carpenter movie. Corporations own everything and people struggle to get by, so when the company that owns all of the water in Los Angeles decides to turn off the pipe, people riot. Two brothers (Sterling K. Brown and Bryan Tyree Henry) take the opportunity of the unrest to rob a bank, but their escape isn't clean and both get away injured, one quite seriously. The pair makes their way to the Hotel Artemis, a hospital that caters to the underworld, as long as your membership dues are current. There we meet Nurse (Jodie Foster) who runs the hotel and patches everybody up, hired muscle Everest (Dave Bautista), and the other patients healing up, including a professional assassin (Sofia Boutella) and an arms dealer (Charlie Day). Everybody should be safe at the Hotel Artemis because not killing each other is one of the rules everybody agrees to, but somebody has plans to break the rules.

Hotel Artemis takes a page from the John Wick book of world-building, in that it creates everything it needs to for its story, while also implying a great deal more, and letting your imagination fill in the holes. It's an effective strategy because we join the story in the middle. The Hotel Artemis has been around for decades and several characters have previous relationships, but the movie doesn't dwell on any of it. You get what you need and then the story moves on. Some characters get explanations but most just get references. It works well enough because ultimately all the characters are really just cogs in the machine of the plot. Hotel Artemis isn't about who they are, it's about what they're going to do.

What they're going to do is build slowly toward an inevitable explosion. Everybody in the hotel has an objective, and when it becomes clear those objectives are going to come in conflict with each other, there's nothing to do but sit back and watch.

Jodie Foster is obviously the most surprising name on the cast list, which is clearly by design. She feels a bit out of place, because she is. She's certainly not a moral hero, nobody in her position as chief surgeon to criminals would be, but neither is she completely without compassion. Foster is the one that carries the film. She's the only one we get any significant degree of backstory on, which makes the audience relate mostly with her, which makes sense since she's just about the only character in the film who isn't a hardened killer.

Dave Bautista continues to show why he's one of the more entertaining supporting actors currently in Hollywood. Sterling K. Brown is perfect as the man who just wants out of this life. Also, Jeff Goldblum shows up to play Jeff Goldblum for a bit. Interestingly, in a movie that feels like it gives license to be a little over the top, Goldblum feels more reserved than usual.

Hotel Artemis is a small movie. 90% of it takes place in one location. The cast list starts small and ends smaller. It's also not particularly long. At just a hair over 90 minutes in length, it doesn't try to do too much, which is probably why it succeeds as well as it does. It knows pretty well where its limits are. If you start to look closer you begin to notice characters behaving in ways that don't make a great deal of sense. And that's on top of the characters who, while maybe not strictly unnecessary, certainly feel underused. However, it's much more likely that you'll be wrapped up in the story by then and won't really notice.

It's clear from the style of world-building as well as some clever end of the credits text, that Hotel Artemis is at least somewhat interested in building more on this world it creates. If a sequel comes along it will certainly be worth checking out. If not, then Hotel Artemis stands well on its own, and that's enough.

Jodie Foster is uninterested in making big budget movies, especially of the superhero variety. We know this because the other day she stated the genre is "ruining the habits" of a generation of moviegoers and she doesn't like it. Still there are a lot of competent directors out there who have helmed big budget superhero movies, and one of them, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 director James Gunn, spoke out to respond to Foster's recent criticisms. He said,

James Gunn is a man who has taken on several tentpole Marvel films and has done well with them. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 is absolutely a quirky superhero movie that ends in a dance off and a tree character being reborn as a more youthful version. It's also the seventh highest grossing Marvel Cinematic Universe movie in the States that's been made so far. Its sequel, Guardians of the Galaxy. Vol. 2, is the fifth highest grossing MCU movie of all time, beat only by a couple of Avengers-oriented movies, Iron Man 3 and Captain America: Civil War. Not only do people really like Gunn's movies, plots such as Yondu and Quill's relationship have also resonated on an emotional level, and Gunn seems to be arguing that not all big blockbuster movies lack heart, scope and achievement.

However, James Gunn does admit that some spectacle movies don't extend much further than the visuals they achieve. He addressed Jodie Foster's comments further on Twitter, noting,

This isn't the first time nor is it likely to be the last time James Gunn has spoken up in favor of superhero movies. Gunn also stated he respects Jodie Foster, ending his social media commentary on a positive note. The news comes a couple of days after Jodie Foster shared her opinions on blockbuster movies, notably of the superhero variety, but also just in general. At the time she spoke of the movies she referred to them as "bad content," which is a pretty blunt way of putting it. Foster is clearly a woman who prefers taking on smaller projects that are closer to her heart, including The Beaver and Money Monster. With bigger budgets, more moving pieces and ultimately more money on the line, tentpole movies are a different sort of beast. That doesn't mean studios should totally avoid making them, however. Go hard or go home, right?

Over a storied career both in front of and behind the camera, Jodie Foster has shown that she has one of the keenest eyes in Hollywood. Lately she's been directing episodes of Netflix shows such as House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, and most recently, Black Mirror. While this is certainly a jump for a woman who made her first directing efforts in the world of film, there's one jump she'll never make: directing a big budget comic book blockbuster. Foster's reasons are that she feels those films have conditioned the landscape negatively, as she recently explained:

The main crux of Jodie Foster's argument against typical tentpole blockbusters, made during an interview with Radio Times Magazine, seems to be the usual argument that's leveled against them in most contexts: they aren't as good as the movies that are made on smaller budgets, in more constrained/artist-friendly conditions. And since those movies make a lot of money, studios are going to keep making them because the movie business is still a profit driven enterprise. As such, this effects the market on the whole, and ultimately it creates a smaller market for indie films like Call Me By Your Name or even The Disaster Artist. The exception being, of course, during prestige qualification season at the end of the year.

Foster's remarks came during the weekend that sees her Black Mirror episode, "Arkangel" hitting screens all around the world courtesy of Netflix's online distribution model. This makes for an interesting point, considering that very blockbuster mentality seems to be making its way into Netflix's corporate offices. It was very recently that the subscription streaming service broke into the big budget tentpoles game with the release of the Will Smith-Joel Edgerton vehicle, Bright.

Up until now, Netflix has been mostly known for smaller acquisitions at film festivals like Sundance, which has lead to such films as I Don't Feel At Home In This World and War Machine finding homes. But should Bright hit the right sort of metrics that Netflix measures internally, Jodie Foster's fears of what the modern studio system has turned into may become the next step in the streaming service's evolution.

That said, because of the highly-tuned, and extremely confidential metrics that Netflix uses to measure its products and its successes, the company isn't under the same sort of pressure as a typical Hollywood studio is. Not to mention, with the wider berth of subscribers who only have to log in to enjoy such products as Death Note, as well as original shows like Black Mirror, there's more latitude for Netflix to spread the love evenly between big explosions and quieter moments of sober drama. Meaning that if the next Call Me By Your Name can't find an easy home at a typical studio, Netflix will still be there to snag it off of the table and pursue awards glory.

You can see Jodie Foster's Black Mirror episode, "Arkangel," as well as the rest of Season 4, currently on Netflix.