New Faces in Film
Falling in Love With Faces We’ve Never Seen Before
By Samantha Rosenberg
I’m so bored of seeing the same exact cast in every single movie. I mean, Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Robert Pattinson were featured in more than three major blockbuster films each this past summer. This is not to discredit them. There’s no mistaking why they keep being the main stars in many productions. If anything, their constant features reiterate the power and talent they have in the industry. Zendaya is one of the best actors (if not the best) in recent years. She’s made her mark in both movies and television shows, and I hope to see more of her successes in the future. But I must say, I do hope there will be a little more variety in the faces we see on our screens.
As a film major, I spend a lot of time thinking about the people who make a movie memorable and help it stand out.
Sure, a compelling script, beautiful cinematography, and a vibrant soundtrack are what create a film, but the actors are the ones who make us come back. We develop attachments to them: their performances, the personalities they exude, and their future roles.
But along the way, Hollywood has become too comfortable relying on familiar faces, ones we’ve seen on our screens since childhood. When the same established actors are cast, it raises one question: are we watching these movies because they tell great stories, or because we already know and love the people starring in them?
In the recent horror film Obsession and the new coming-of-age show Sterling Point, we have been introduced to fresh faces who have quickly become the most talked-about parts of their projects. There is something so exciting about discovering an actor before anyone else seems to learn their name. Suddenly, their performance becomes the one thing you want to talk about with your friends, the reason you recommend a movie, or the face you search for in other projects.
Inde Navarrette, who played Nikki in Obsession, became a new fan favorite in just the opening weekend. Her dramatic—and honestly, terrifying— performance ignited a spark in all of us while watching the film.
Navarrette’s creepy grin in the movie quickly became a widespread sensation, with many people trying to copy her performance on social media or asking her to recreate it for pictures when they meet her. On a similar note, the entire cast of Sterling Point made the show what it is with their new acting styles, their delivery of lines, and the chemistry they shared with each other.
We are drawn to newer, less familiar actors because their success gives us the hope that maybe one day we could see ourselves up there too. As a college student, I am still figuring out what I want to do and where I hope to end up. I am not suggesting we stop casting talented actors simply because they are famous. Zendaya deserves the opportunities she gets, and I will definitely watch her in whatever her next project is. But when casting becomes too predictable, we not only miss out on the thrill of discovery, but also aspiring performers miss out on opportunities to prove themselves and become big names themselves.
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