Who deserves a shot at romantic lead stardom?
Friday, July 24, 2020 at 10:00AM 
This question is brought to you by a recent rescreening of North Country (2005). The movie is too didactic to dimensionalize its characters but there are lots of little things worth thinking about and discussing therein... especially the kind of topics that can only come when a movie is now an older if not an 'old' movie. Like... why didn't Michelle Monaghan (who really pops in a small role) become a bigger deal? And why hasn't Hollywood given Corey Stoll a shot as a romantic lead? There he was, 15 whole year ago, being bald and sexy and crushworthy six years before his breakthrough (Midnight in Paris). He plays one of the only redeemable guys in the mine where Charlize works (and is continually harassed, both violently and sexually). There's a lovely but sad moment when he asks her to dance at a local bar and as she relaxes into his arms, drunk, she asks him twice... "you're a nice guy, right?"
Are they any other character actors that you think deserve a shot at a romantic leading role?