Amanda Seyfried, Dwayne Johnson and Daniel Dae Kim to star in summer movies
It might not be a conventional Summer movie season, but expect to catch a handful of local actors on screens both big and small.
Here’s a rundown of Lehigh Valley-connected artists who will be strutting their stuff this season:
Amanda Seyfried: For her follow-up to “Mank,” the Oscar-nominated actress will pop up in “Things Seen and Heard,” which begins streaming on Netflix on April 30. Seyfried, an Allentown native, will play an artist who relocates to the Hudson Valley, only to discover that her marriage seems to possess a darkness that rivals her new home’s history.
Dwayne Johnson: The Freedom High School graduate is likely to have a big Summer thanks to “Jungle Cruise,” a live-action feature due July 30. Based on Disneyland’s theme park ride, the movie stars Johnson as the captain of a small riverboat making its way through a jungle filled with supernaturally skilled animals. Emily Blunt and Jesse Plemmons co-star.
Daniel Dae Kim: Due on April 22 from Netflix is “Stowaway,” an action-packed adventure about a mission to Mars that veers off course thanks to an unexpected passenger. The movie stars
Toni Collette, Anna Kendrick, Shamier Anderson and Kim, a former Bethlehem Township resident who also lent his voice to Disney’s “Raya and the Last Dragon,” now streaming on Disney +.
Bailey Noble: Before the Bethlehem native appears in Sean Penn’s latest directorial outing “Flag Day,” scheduled for a late 2021 release, she can be seen in “Them” — an Amazon Prime series that began in April. The show is about members of a Black family who move to an all-white Los Angeles neighborhood and discover that malevolent forces, next door and otherworldly, threaten to destroy them.
Dane DeHaan: Raised in Zionsville, DeHaan plays a supporting role in “Lisey’s Story,” a miniseries created by Stephen King and filmmaker J.J. Abrams (“Super 8”). The series, which will air on Hulu this Summer, stars Julianne Moore as a woman trying to come to terms with her husband’s (Clive Owen) death two years earlier.
Michaela Conlin: The Allentown native is a key player in AppleTV’s “For All Mankind,” a series set in an alternative version of 1969. Instead of a U.S. moon landing, the Soviet Union gets to the moon first, igniting a space race with grander challenges and goals. She also pops up in the current Netflix comedy “Bad Trip.”
Paul Dano: Before he suits up as the Riddler in “The Batman,”
due in 2022, Dano turns up in “The Guilty,” which is scheduled for a Summer release. The thriller is about a demoted police officer who winds up handling a 911 call from a kidnapped woman. The cast includes Jake Gyllenhaal, Ethan Hawke and Riley Keough. Dano is a frequent visitor to East Stroudsburg, where his retired attorney father lives.
Madeline Zima: In “Insight,” which began streaming on March 12, the Easton-reared actress joins Ken Zheng for the saga of a martial artist who investigates the death of his brother with the help of an
LAPD detective (Zima). The supporting cast includes Keith David and Tony Todd.
Jillian Murray: Born and raised in Wyomissing, Murray will topline “The Downside of
Bliss,” due in theaters on July 1. The drama centers on a musician (Johnny Derek) who is struggling to rekindle a relationship with his estranged daughter. Kay Lenz, Judd Nelson, Eric Roberts and Billy Zane co-star.
Movie writer Amy Longsdorf is a contributor to The Morning Call. Amy can be reached at movieamy@aol.com