LaKeith Stanfield
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LaKeith Stanfield is just one of those actors who is incapable of delivering anything less than 110 percent. Even when he stars in a movie like The Haunted Mansion — a sleepy Disney family comedy based on a theme park ride — the guy brings his A-game, providing emotional stakes to an otherwise soulless effects film.
Stanfield has already had supporting roles in action-adjacent films like The Harder They Fall, The Purge: Anarchy, and The Girl in the Spider’s Web so one has to assume that he could comfortably anchor a high-concept tent-pole film. He has the talent to elevate any project he signs on to.
Sydney Sweeney
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The twenty-six-year-old actress is already one or two major hits away from becoming a household name, and a big dumb action film might be the thing to put her over the top. Yes, she has already done the superhero thing, but playing one of three future Spider-Women in a Marvel-adjacent Sony film isn’t exactly going to get the job done.
She’s already proven she’s a burgeoning box office draw, as her romantic comedy vehicle Anyone But You made over $100 million internationally against a modest budget of $25 million. Another highlight on an already impressive body of work.
Ali Wong
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Every action movie needs some comedy relief.
Ali Wong began her career in entertainment as a stand-up comedian and then smoothly transitioned into acting, appearing in supporting roles in TV series like Bojack Horsemen, Big Mouth, Are You There, Chelsea? and Black Box. Recently, Wong has produced and starred in her own projects, like the Netflix movie Always Be My Maybe and the award-winning mini-series Beef. While she’s demonstrated plenty of dramatic chops, Wong’s talents rely on her ability to be relatably funny. It isn’t hard to picture her being the grounding, release-valve presence in a loud, kinetic action film.
Paul Giamatti
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Paul Giamatti, action film leading man. Sounds weird? Perhaps. But you could have said the same thing about Liam Neeson before the release of Taken in 2008.
Technically, Giamatti has already dipped his foot into the genre. He had what amounted to an extended cameo in The Amazing Spider-Man as the classic low-level Marvel villain Rhino, and was a major play in the Dwayne Johnson disaster porn-vehicle San Andreas. Still, it would be fascinating to see the quirky actor’s actor get a chance to take center stage in a smaller action movie in the same vein as Bob Odenkirk’s Nobody.
Donald Glover
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This one is a little obvious, but it still needs to be said. Is there anything this man can’t do?
Donald Glover began his career as a writer for Tina Fey’s 30 Rock while he was still a student at NYU. He broke out as an actor on the hit sitcom Community and then parlayed that into a successful music career under the stage name Childish Gambino.
There have already been rumors of Glover getting his own Star Wars film where he would once again step into the stylish cape of Lando Calrissian. After the success of his action-thriller mini-series Mr. and Mrs. Smith that sounds like a no-brainer.
Zendaya
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Another big name who is no stranger to action films, but has yet to be put in the driver’s seat of her own. Zendaya has now played second fiddle to destiny-burdened waifish pretty boys in both the Spider-Man and Dune franchises. Three, if you’d put Bugs Bunny in that category.
They’ve yet to find something this young star can’t do. From model to Disney Channel star to singer to Emmy-winning actress, it stands to reason that she could head up her major action franchise as well. While something original is always preferable, you could see them calling her name if some studio executive wanted to reboot something like Æon Flux again.
Matt Berry
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If you don’t know the name, you know the voice. Matt Berry is an English actor, musician, and comedian who has starred in incredible comedy series like What We Do in the Shadows, Garth Marenghi’s Dark Place, Toast of London, and the original IT Crowd. His unique talent for being able to make a meal of even the most innocuous lines of dialogue is without peer.
The fact that no studio has thought to put this man front and center in a huge action comedy is money left on the table. A parody of James Bond is the low-hanging fruit. Just casting him as the next James Bond would be the real galaxy-brain move.
Florence Pugh
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Florence Pugh is another young English actress who in a short period has put together an incredible filmography that demonstrates her range and depths as an actor. Technically, she’s already made a few appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe — portraying Yelena Belova in the Black Widow film and the Hawkeye mini-series — so she’s no stranger to the action genre. Still, it would be nice to see her appear in something a little more outside the box.
With the success of Civil War, A24 might start to take a few more chances with bigger budgets in the action genre. Pugh is exactly the kind of young star to build a movie around.
Walton Goggins
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This is another curveball choice in the same vein as Paul Giamatti, though recently Walton Goggins has started to leap from all-timer “that guy” supporting actor to mainstream actor with actual name recognition.
Goggins has the kind of effortless charm that thrives in big dumb action films, particularly those that have comedic hearts. No stranger to neo-westerns or police dramas (having starred in the criminally underrated shows Justified and The Shield for many, many years), you could see him starring in a remake of Die Hard or even a Big Trouble in Little China, as blasphemous as that seems. Everything is going to get remade eventually anyway, might as well try and make them good by using Goggins.
Issa Rae
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Is Issa Rae the most successful actor and writer to break out in a web series? Perhaps!
Rae was able to use the buzz generated by Awkward Black Girl to create Insecure. Running for five seasons, the series was a critical hit and Rae was nominated for three Emmys. Though she didn’t take home any hardware she firmly established herself as a fresh voice in Hollywood that will have a long, fruitful career of creating quality entertainment.
If it was announced tomorrow that she was writing and starring in a big-budget action film, don’t even pretend like you wouldn’t be interested.
