Vicky Krieps and Timothée Chalamet Are Going Places

By Sheryl Oh

The two 2018 awards season breakouts just landed exciting new roles.

In 2017, we got rid of plenty of our old heroes and found solace in burgeoning talent. One of the best parts about awards season, in general, is being introduced to breakout performers. But particularly during such a tumultuous time in Hollywood, it’s extra refreshing to see new faces.

Vicky Krieps, a powerhouse of an actress who stars opposite Daniel Day-Lewis in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread, has landed her next film role. As reported by Variety, she will feature alongside Claire Foy (The Crown) and Sylvia Hoeks (Blade Runner 2049) in Fede Alvarez’s The Girl in the Spider’s Web. The movie is the next installment of Sony’s Millennium film series based on books that were originally written by Stieg Larsson and continued by David Lagercrantz.

Krieps’s role in Spider’s Web is currently unknown. Regardless, it’s fantastic to see her follow up her mystical performance in Phantom Thread with something in a completely different genre. As a direct sequel to David Fincher’s 2011 adaptation The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, the follow-up will likely feature similarly intense themes as more trouble finds protagonist Lisbeth Salander (Foy).

Phantom Thread isn’t typically tense, but I would still say the film is a thrilling experience all the same. It unravels slowly and teasingly as the power dynamics between Krieps’s character, Alma, and Day-Lewis’s Reynolds Woodcock evolve throughout the course of their relationship. Krieps is able to hold her own against a veteran like Day-Lewis, using her enigmatic yet mesmerizing gaze against both him and the audience. Her performance has been overlooked in the general fanfare regarding the film. The intelligence Krieps radiates in Phantom Thread would undoubtedly serve a role in Spider’s Web well, especially when placed among such striking characters as Lisbeth and co-protagonist Mikael Blomkvist (Sverrir Gudnason).In other great casting news, Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet has landed his next starring role. According to Deadline, the Call Me By Your Name star will headline David Michôd’s next film, The King, playing the eponymous Henry V. The King will revolve around the figure’s reluctant ascent to the throne as England is on the brink of war with France, and the empire is threatening to crumble.

The King is already primed to be something much grander than anything Chalamet has done in the past. He has taken up small roles in big films before — like Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar — but hasn’t yet led a movie in a role that commands as much gravitas as that of Henry V. Call Me By Your Name showcases Chalamet’s ability to be subtle as well as bombastic, which could serve him well as a king. He also starred in the criminally underrated Miss Stevens, playing a mischievous, sensitive young performer who proves himself capable of commanding a screen (mild spoiler alert: Chalamet does a monologue in the movie that’s show-stopping).

No other plot details about The King have been released just yet. We don’t know if the film will be based at least partially on William Shakespeare’s iconic “Henry V,” which was last adapted for the screen by the BBC in 2013 with Tom Hiddleston. Whether Michôd’s movie will incorporate the more Shakespeare-ized elements of Henry V’s life — such as a purported riotous youth — shouldn’t be a problem for Chalamet. He’s played young and reckless before. Perhaps the one thing I’m a little trepidatious about is the accent, but Chalamet did manage to (phonetically) learn Italian for Call Me By Your Name. He could figure this out too.

In the midst of all the awards talk in recent months, it can be frustrating to realize that certain actors may not be getting the same amount of recognition as others in terms of accolades. But awards season will eventually end, and the ability to sustain a career for as long as possible is far more important for budding actors. Both Krieps and Chalamet are not doing badly at all, and that’s far more exciting.

The article Vicky Krieps and Timothée Chalamet Are Going Places appeared first on Film School Rejects.