All posts tagged: Next Big Thing

Sarah Pidgeon on Carolyn Bessette Kennedy Style, Criticism

Sarah Pidgeon on Carolyn Bessette Kennedy Style, Criticism

Published by Daniella Wilson

To play ’90s power couple John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette, Ryan Murphy and the team behind FX’s Love Story took the Star Is Born route: they cast two unknowns. For JFK Jr.’s role, creator Connor Hines saw more than 1,000 actors before landing on Paul Anthony Kelly. Sarah Pidgeon, meanwhile, emerged as an immediate frontrunner to play Carolyn from her first audition tape. In recent years, she’s appeared in Tiny Beautiful Things, earned a 2024 Tony nomination for Stereophonic and had a major role in last summer’s I Know What You Did Last Summer legacy sequel. Now, she’s entering a new realm of fame. Much like the real Carolyn — a rising star at Calvin Klein who worked her way up to become a publicist — Pidgeon’s career is beginning to mirror that elusive “It” girl trajectory, earning rave reviews for her performance. Still, the actress felt the weight of portraying a figure so beloved for her signature minimalist style. Carolyn Bessette’s aura and famed wardrobe remain touchstones of fashion inspiration, even three …

Enhypen’s Jake on His Producing Debut, Realities of Being a K-pop Idol

Enhypen’s Jake on His Producing Debut, Realities of Being a K-pop Idol

Published by Daniella Wilson

Enhypen, the powerhouse boy group hailing from Hybe sub-label Belift Lab, is finding a new stride, according to member Jake. The 23-year-old Korean-Australian singer is exuding passion about the seven-member group’s latest album, The Sin : Vanish, when he speaks to The Hollywood Reporter shortly before its release. I’ve found Jake on a rare off day, joining the Zoom call himself instead of at his company. Enhypen is as solid as ever, and Jake’s found himself finding joy in producing for the group for the first time. The singer produced a narration track and a song on The Sin : Vanish. “Producing a song sparked something inside me that I didn’t really know that I had because being a K-pop idol, sometimes, it gets very repetitive,” he explains. “We wake up, we have a very tight and set schedule down to the minute. We have to wake up at this hour, this minute. We end our schedule at this [time]. I used to enjoy that,” he continues. “I’m a person that really likes that because …

Jermelle Simon on How ‘The Upshaws’ Stopped Him Fearing His Sexuality

Jermelle Simon on How ‘The Upshaws’ Stopped Him Fearing His Sexuality

Published by Daniella Wilson

When most actors talk about life-changing roles, they’re referring to projects that catapulted them to new levels of success or critical acclaim. Starring as Bernard “Benny” Upshaw Jr. in The Upshaws certainly did that for Jermelle Simon as his first main role in a TV series. But it was portraying an initially closeted character who eventually comes into his identity as a gay man that truly transformed Simon. “What helped me to come out myself was, year after year, Bernard just kept growing,” Simon tells The Hollywood Reporter. “It felt like in the beginning we were on the same playing field. We were both struggling. And then he came out, and I’m like, ‘Bro, whoa, whoa, I’m not [ready], hold on,’ and he just kept going. Parts of me felt like I had to catch up with Bernard’s expansion because Bernard is also me…I can’t do him justice if I’m not free myself because he deserves to be able to express himself.” Over five seasons broken into seven parts, audiences have witnessed that expansion, from …

How ‘Dead Man’s Wire’ Star Dacre Montgomery Committed to Richard Hall Role

How ‘Dead Man’s Wire’ Star Dacre Montgomery Committed to Richard Hall Role

Published by Daniella Wilson

[This story contains spoilers from Dead Man’s Wire.] Don’t expect Dacre Montgomery to half-ass his performance, and especially not in his new movie, Dead Man’s Wire. The 31-year-old actor slowly fell “in love with movies and the idea of the process of making films” growing up while watching his parents, who worked as a 1st AD and sound recordist. After grinding for 10 years and studying drama in college, Montgomery eventually landed his breakout role as Billy in Stranger Things in 2017. But as someone who is always looking to “explore the limits of what I’m capable of in every way,” the actor says, his latest role in filmmaker Gus Van Sant’s Dead Man’s Wire made for the perfect challenge. The film is based on the real 1977 Indianapolis hostage situation, where disgruntled businessman Tony Kiritsis (Bill Skarsgard) held mortgage executive Richard Hall (Montgomery) captive, with a shotgun rigged to a “dead man’s wire” around his neck. “I’m always someone who’s going to be pushing to have the handcuffs tighter and the wire to be …