Lucas Hedges at 25. Where to next?
Sunday, December 12, 2021 at 1:35PM by Nathaniel R
A month ago we celebrated Tye Sheridan's 25th to crickets from readers. Today it's Lucas Hedges turn and he bears the notable distinction of being the youngest male actor working to have already been Oscar-nominated (Timothée Chalamet, also a December baby, is a full year older).
If an actor isn't yet famous the quarter century mark is a great time to start landing roles, honing their skills, and finding a breakthrough project. If the actor is already established, chances are they were already a teen or child star; They have easier access to offers but it's much trickier career navigation. There are already years of pop culture baggage, preconceptions, and expectations before they're even right / ready for the leading man parts that can make a career enduring.
From our purely anecdotal evidence, Lucas Hedges has already been through several stage of film stardom...
DISCOVERY
OSCAR NOMINATION
UBIQUITY (and with it miscasting)
BACKLASH
BROADWAY DETOUR
WHO? (Though to be fair, 98% of famous actors go through this now, given how splintered celebrity has become in the 21st century with one fan's superstar object-of-affection another person's blank faced "i don't know her")
Hedges past few years have been relatively uneventful despite a lot of work. French Exit and Let Them All Talk were showcases for their leading ladies. Indies like Honeyboy and Waves and Mid90s won pockets of raves and fans but Hedges wasn't the draw and was largely left out of those conversations. The last time Hedges was the center of the attention about any of his movies was three years ago when he headlined the troubled young man dramas, Boy Erased (about gay conversion therapy) and Ben is Back (about drug addiction) back to back.
If you were his management what would you be suggesting now?
And won't it be a "comeback" at this point if he can regain some of the excitement from the Manchester by the Sea / Lady Bird years. As previously stated, the 1996 vintage of rising male stars is already robust including not just Hedges but Paul Mescal, Tom Holland, Tye Sheridan, Keean Johnson, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Skyler Gisondo, Harris Dickinson, Mason Gooding, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Tony Revolori, and Jacob Latimore. Who are you rooting for?
10|25|50|75|100, Birthdays, Lucas Hedges
Reader Comments (9)
I don't mean to be a bitch, but he hasn't done much for me since Lady Bird (and it's not like I loved him in that). Pretty disappointing in French Exit in particular. As far as the class of 1996 - love Skyler Gisondo, and am also still rooting for Kodi Smit-McPhee, Tom Holland,Tony Revolori and Tye Sheridan, actually (I'd missed that birthday post).
Nathaniel, thank you for this post! I think Hedges is one of our very best young actors. He was magnificent in Manchester by the Sea and has delivered to one degree or another in everything sense. His performance in Ben is Back was particularly poignant to me, feeling very true to drug addicts I have known in my life. I also like that he takes smaller roles to appear opposite the best screen actresses (Meryl, Michelle, Dianne, Julia, Nicole). he was also fantastic on broadway. I think he's a huge talent and I hope we keep seeing more of him.
I enjoy Lucas H, I thought he was really moving in his 2 best known roles, and liked him in Waves, too.
Early to mid 20s is tough for male actors sometimes, with lots of competition and a lack of great roles. A lot of the actors you've listed will be juggling multiple biopics in 8 or 9 years.
He’s getting some woke BS going on but he deserves a better agent too now.
He's great in Manchester By the Sea and Lady Bird, but I've been pretty underwhelmed by him outside of those films. He needs to do something to shake things up!
As for the other '96 guys, I'm totally on board for a Kodi Smit-McPhee Best Supporting Actor win next year!
I thought he was great in MANCHESTER, LADY BIRD, THREE BILLBOARDS and BOY ERASED. He even held his own in LET THEM ALL TALK, as far as I'm concerned. (I haven't seen WAVES or MID90S.)
It's better, frankly, that he's been somewhat underexposed, lately, than overexposed of late. Remember when Colin Farrell seemed to be in a movie every three months or so in 2003 and people were starting to get sick of him before his career had even fully taken off? It might also get him past those awkward years when people aren't sure if he's supposed to be a college student, a young professional or what?
A lot of his future success will depend on what his best quality, his youthful vulnerability, evolves into. He could take on the kind of roles that made Tom Hanks a big star, though he lacks the funkiness that Hanks brought to some of his comedies. He could also become something of a Gary Cooper/Keanu Reeves type by his middle-age years: a decent, straight-shooter who isn't exactly emotionally open but seems genuine and comforting to audiences nonetheless. He'd probably be great in action films, even though it's kind of a waste when likable stars like Keanu Reeves or Liam Neeson wind up just holding a gun and shooting it at someone film after film.
On the other hand, he could fail miserably. He has the kind of almost bland white-boy looks that sometime lead to a dead end for a star. Poor Patrick Wilson certainly deserves better than a horror franchise and second rate CGI films like MIDWAY. Hedges just doesn't have the kind of intensity that Adam Driver has. His acting thus far doesn't suggest he's the next Daniel Day Lewis, either. He might well be a 21st Century James Stewart, though, someone's whose youthful vulnerability becomes a kind of fully adult male vulnerability that compares to Stewart's work in THE NAKED SPUR and VERTIGO. That's probably the best case scenario, really, but it would likely lead him to television, rather than film. Nobody's making theatrical films like THE NAKED SPUR or VERTIGO anymore. I'm sure his agents are trying to land him a Marvel gig, and I suppose that could work for him. I am really rooting for him and hope he gets some quality dramas and romantic comedies and so forth in the future, because he does seem really likable and compelling to me.
I think he'll have a similar career to Timothy Hutton or Chris O'Donnell.
As you note, he wasn’t the star, but he was excellent in Waves (in a cast full of great performances). He held his own in Let Them all Talk, and deserved Oscar nomination #2 for Boy Erased. Maybe he’s just meant for supporting roles in smaller indies.
He seems like he would be a good fit for a Wes Anderson movie