2011 is shaping up to be a pretty big year for movies, but who’ll be the young stars making the headlines? The RTÉ Guide’s Michael Doherty looks at the Eight Most Likely.
Rooney Mara (25)
She was terrific in the opening sequence of The Social Network (yep, she was the gal who verbally eviscerated Jesse Eisenberg) and her stock has risen tenfold now that she’ll be taking the lead (opposite Daniel Craig) for David Fincher again in his remake of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy next year.
Jennifer Lawrence (20)
The young Kentuckian delivered a true star-is-born performance this year in Winters Bone which has left her in the running for an Oscar nod and resulted in her nabbing two major projects in 2011. The first is Jodie Foster’s next directorial effort, Beaver, co-starring Mel Gibson. Lawrence has also signed up to play Mystique in the next X-Men origins movie, X Men: First: Class, co-starring Michael Fassbender
Blake Lively (23)
The glamorous Californian was chiefly known for her role on Gossip Girl until her fearless performance in Ben Affleck’s The Town caught the eye. Now she’s lined up to star opposite Ryan Reynolds in Green Lantern and her name is on every casting agent’s Rolodex for 2011.
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (23)
Up until now her claim to fame has been as a Victoria’s Secrets model and Jason Statham’s squeeze (to use his vernacular). Having just replaced Megan Fox in next summer’s marquee Transformers movie, however, Rosie should be a name to reckon with in 2011.
Jim Sturgess (32)
The young English actor’s reputation has been growing steadily, courtesy of strong performances in such films as 21 and Fifty Dead Men Walking. His major turn in The Way Back (opposite our own Colin Farrell and Saoirse Ronan) at the end of this year and his leading role in the adaptation of the cult novel One Day (opposite Anne Hathaway) marks him out as a candidate for the A-list in 2011.
Chloe Moretz (13)
This one is a no-brainer. In 2010, she shot to prominence with her remarkable performances in Kick-Ass and Let Me In. At the tender age of 12, she already has 20 movies under her belt, and in 2011 she’ll star opposite Jude Law in Scorsese’s latest drama, Hugo Cabret, plus five other projects, including Kick Ass 2: Balls to the Wall.
Emma Stone (22)
Her fine performance in The Scarlet Letter put Emma Stone on the map this year, following a series of brief appearances in films such as Superbad and House Bunny. The young Arizona gal is now lined up to appear opposite Ryan Gosling and Steve Carell in a major romantic comedy and has just signed on the line to appear opposite Andrew Garfield in the new Spider-Man reboot.
Saoirse Ronan (16)
No future star list is complete without our Carlow teenager. After excelling in The Lovely Bones (pity the movie didn’t match her performance) early in 2010, Saoirse ended the year with a memorable turn in Peter Weir’s superb drama, The Way Back. 2011 sees her notch up another string of strong roles as a teenage assassin in Violet & Daisy and as the eponymous cold-blooded killer (opposite Cate Blanchett and Eric Bana) in Joe Wright’s Hanna. Still no fluffy rom-coms or high-school frippery for our gal, thankfully.
Michael Doherty
