Movie MVPs
PHOEBE WALLER- BRIDGE
It’s starting to feel like Phoebe Waller-Bridge will be an it-person every year she keeps working. Fleabag’s second season completed the fourth-wall-breaking series with more of her trademark dramedy, introducing the world to an impossibly hot priest in the process. Her Saturday Night Live hosting gig was a delight, and Killing Eve, which she created, continued to thrive on its own. She also co-wrote the upcoming James Bond movie, becoming the franchise’s second woman writer in nearly six decades.
KEANU REEVES
We’re in the midst of a full-blown Keanussance. He reprised one of his most badass characters for John Wick 3, repped Canada in Toy Story 4 and had a scene-stealing cameo in Always Be My Maybe. Plus, he’s rebooting Bill & Ted and The Matrix, and will appear in the new SpongeBob film.
FLORENCE PUGH
If there’s one iconic image of 2019, it’s Florence Pugh’s soul-baring scream from pagan horror hit Midsommar. She got into the ring as wrestler Paige in biopic Fighting
With My Family, and she’s one of the many big-name stars of Greta Gerwig’s Little
Women. Look for 2020 to be another big one for Pugh, who is entering the Marvel world in Black Widow.
SHIA LABEOUF
Much of Shia LaBeouf’s work has felt like self-parody, but with Honey Boy, he made sense of his entire life and career. He wrote the autobiographical film in rehab, then played his own father. Somehow, the end result was not a wanky navel-gaze but instead a moving, artistic triumph. Plus, he starred in hit The Peanut Butter Falcon.
KAITLYN DEVER
Booksmart was an explosive viral hit thanks to strong word-of-mouth about its lovable leads. Kaitlyn Dever also had a starring role in Netflix’s gritty rape drama Unbelievable, finally bid farewell to Tim Allen sitcom Last
Man Standing and offered a quiet yet integral performance in underrated film fest gem Them That Follow.