Manuel here to talk some more about that actress quintet Nat was just gushing about (we really can't get enough of our fave category!) With news that a certain franchise has nabbed one of our Best Actress nominees for an upcoming film, I figured we should check in and see when we’ll see each of our leading ladies next...
Reese Witherspoon
Hot Pursuit (8 May 2015)
From Anne Fletcher, director of The Proposal and The Guilt Trip (and apparently an upcoming Enchanted 2?), comes this buddy comedy that pairs Witherspoon with Sofia Vergara as a police officer and a prisoner who are on the run in Texas. Gotta say, I’m intrigued (between this, Spy, Trainwreck, and that recent Ghostbusters casting decisions, we might be getting more "female comedies" thinkpieces than we'll ever need). And then of course there’s the long-gestating Peggy Lee project which, last we heard was going to be directed by Todd Haynes.
Julianne Moore
The Seventh Son (6 Feb 2015), Freeheld (2015) & The Hunger Games: The Last One (20 November 2015) and Maggie’s Plan (2015?)
2015 is shaping up to be quite the year for Moore. We knew that fantasy epic would hit right around Oscar season (but don’t call it her “Norbit”), we’ve covered Freeheld before which might be festival bound in the fall, and we expected she’d show up for Katniss’s final lap, but I want to single out Maggie’s Plan, a comedy of manners starring Greta Gerwig and written by Rebecca “The Private Lives of Pippa Lee” Miller about a woman moving to New York City.
Rosamund Pike
Return to Sender (2015)
While she’s probably busy taking care of her newborn baby with husband Robie Uniacke, she has this one thriller presumably coming out soon billed as such “A nurse living in small town goes on a blind date with a man who is not the person he says he is.” It co-stars Nick Nolte and Shiloh Fernandez so you know which one I’m rooting for to be the “man” in that synopsis. Also, she’s the voice of Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward in something called The Thunderbirds Are Go? Someone please enlighten us.
Marion Cotillard
Macbeth (2015), The Little Prince (2015), A Rigged World (2015)
We’re all obviously waiting to see Cotillard’s take on Lady Macbeth opposite Michael Fassbender and that might be the only thing we’ll see Marion on screen this year. She will be lending her voice to two animated features, including what looks like a gorgeous adaptation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s classic tale. Watch the French-language teaser below (though I think Cotillard is part of the English-speaking cast):
Felicity Jones
True Story (Sundance -Michael's Review), Autobahn (2015), A Monster Calls (14 October 2016) & [Redacted]!!
Her latest film bowed at Sundance to not-so hot reviews though with Jonah Hill and James Franco attached we may see it soon enough. Of her other projects the most interesting is Juan Bayona’s adaptation of A Monster Calls which co-stars Sigourney Weaver and Liam Neeson with a plot synopsis that sounds like a fitting companion to The Orphanage: “A boy seeks the help of a tree monster to cope with his single mom's terminal illness.” Oh, and yes, apparently she got cast in this tiny tentpole film set in a galaxy far far away? Let the incessant rumors begin!
Which of these projects are you most excited about? Do you think any of these will get these ladies back on the red carpet next year?