The women of summer films
They’re kicking butt and taking names on the big screen
A look at 10 females breaking down movie stereotypes
Let’s be clear: Gender equality in Hollywood is still a long way off. But there’s progress afoot, and this summer we’re celebrating 10 women who are making their marks by breaking stereotypes. Who should be capturing your attention? USA TODAY’s movie team has thoughts. KATHERINE WATERSTON
Career check: After supporting roles in Michael Clayton, Inherent Vice and Steve Jobs, Waterston, 37, dived headfirst into the tentpole pool last fall as a good-hearted witch in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
Why we’re obsessed: Just as galactic creatures feared Sigourney Weaver, they’d better beware of Waterston’s nononsense Daniels in Alien:
Covenant (in theaters now). With lives on the line, she brandishes a blaster and bungees off a flying spacecraft to take down an alien on the way to being our new cosmic crush. PRIYANKA CHOPRA
Career check: India’s highestpaid Bollywood actress sprang to fame in the USA in 2015, thanks to her role as an FBI agent in ABC’s Quantico, just renewed for a third season.
Why we’re obsessed: Aside from her acting chops, Chopra, 34, has become a red-carpet favorite, with appearances at the Oscars and the Met Gala. Bay
watch (in theaters now) marks Chopra’s first major U.S. film role, and as the reboot’s chief villain, she kills it with a glamorous, ruthless performance that should put her on James Bond’s radar. GAL GADOT
Career check: The 32-year-old Israeli actress earned her actionmovie bona fides in the Fast
and Furious franchise, though she broke out as the powerful Wonder Woman, nearly stealing the show in last year’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Why we’re obsessed: Before she rejoins her fellow do-gooders in this fall’s Justice League, Gadot wields a sword, shield and her signature Lasso of Truth in
Wonder Woman (in theaters now). Princess Diana tackles the battlefields of World War I in her first solo film, with the hearts of fanboys and fangirls everywhere on the line. SOFIA BOUTELLA
Career check: The Algerian-born dancer has worked acrobatic screen magic as a lethal-footed assassin in Kingsman: The Secret
Service and with a scene-stealing turn as the alien Jaylah in Star
Trek Beyond, where she had the audacity to lounge in Kirk’s captain’s chair.
Why we’re obsessed: Boutella, 35, has double duty this summer as a French spy seduced by Charlize Theron in Atomic Blonde (July 28) and as Ahmanet, the cursed ancient princess brought back to life to crush Tom Cruise’s Nick Morton in The Mummy (Friday).
SCARLETT JOHANSSON Career check: Johansson’s career needs little introduction, but let’s put it plainly: Playing Black Widow in Marvel’s Aveng
ers franchise has made her one of Hollywood’s wealthiest, most bankable stars. Still, her recent flop, the critically derided Ghost
in the Shell, means ScarJo, 32, could use a summer rebound. Why we’re obsessed: Johansson gets down and dirty in Rough
Night (June 16), her first raunchy, R-rated summer comedy. The bachelorette romp has everything: copious amounts of tequila, a male stripper who dies and Kate McKinnon. TILDA SWINTON Career check: Swinton, 56, continues to add breadth to her iconoclastic career as the creepiest dictator on a train in the dystopic Snowpiercer (2014) and the wise Ancient One in Marvel’s Doctor Strange (2016). Why we’re obsessed: Swinton straps the evil back on for Snow
piercer director Bong Joon Ho, portraying the powerful CEO of a multinational corporation looking to profit from the massive, lovable title creature in Netflix’s Okja (in theaters in New York and Los Angeles and on Netflix June 28). ZENDAYA Career check: The mononymous youngster has grown up under Mickey Mouse’s eye: The 20-year-old fashion maven, singer and former Disney Channel kid got her start on
Shake It Up and K.C. Undercover and has a self-titled pop album to her credit. Why we’re obsessed: Zendaya offers quirky swagger as Michelle, a classmate of Tom Holland’s Peter Parker in Spider-Man:
Homecoming (July 7). While shrouded in some mystery — is she a new version of Peter’s longtime comic-book love Mary Jane Watson? — her quick-talking character has no problem smack-talking the teen hero. No web shooters needed. CARA DELEVINGNE Career check: The 24-year-old British supermodel has demon-
strated glimpses of serious star potential but hasn’t truly broken out with roles as the mysterious Margo in Paper Towns and Enchantress in Suicide Squad. Why we’re obsessed: The role of Laureline in director Luc Besson’s Valerian and the City
of a Thousand Planets (July 21) sets Delevingne in the spotlight as a futuristic special operative alongside Dane DeHaan ( A Cure
for Wellness). And she’s got some wild outfits to boot. CHARLIZE THERON Career check: She’s one of the most famous actresses in the world, and her Oscar-winning résumé speaks for itself. Action film nerds couldn’t help but put her on a pedestal, however, after the 41-year-old’s turn as the hardcharging Furiosa in 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road. Why we’re obsessed: Seriously, what’s not to love about her badly bruised, emotionally broken but ultra-sexy MI6 agent in Atomic
Blonde? In the midst of taking down a German spy ring, she kicks a dude down a flight of stairs, seduces a lovely lady and looks really good in neon.
DANIELLE MACDONALD Career check: Macdonald, 26, took a turn on American Horror
Story: Roanoke but became an “it” girl at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, thanks to her role as a young rapper in Patti Cake$ (Aug. 18). The art-house film sparked a major bidding war and was bought by Fox Searchlight for $9.5 million.
Why we’re obsessed: The go-for-broke Australian actress makes Patti Cake$ the underdog story of the summer, spitting fire as a blue-collar New Jersey teen with hip-hop aspirations.