A third generation seizes the spotlight
Zoë Kravitz, Riley Keough and Dakota Johnson have the pedigree — and the talent
In Mad Max: Fury Road, her character has the sublimely absurd name of Toast the Knowing. But there’s nothing laughable about Zoë Kravitz — the only child of Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet, granddaughter of actress Roxie Roker — and her career moment. She’s also the female lead in Good Kill, playing a drone pilot who can’t quite handle the cool, distant brutality of her job.
Then there’s Riley Keough, daughter of Lisa Marie Presley, granddaughter of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, and, along with Kravitz, one of the tenacious brides in
Mad Max. Next up, she’s headlining the 13-part series The Girl- friend Experience on Starz, executive-produced by Steven Soderbergh.
Even more high-profile is Dakota Johnson, daughter of Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson, granddaughter of Tippi Hedren; she plays the cool, resilient Anastasia Steele in the blockbuster Fifty Shades of Grey and 2017 sequel Fifty Shades Darker. In September, she’s the commonlaw wife of Whitey Bulger (Johnny Depp) in Black Mass.
But these third-generation actresses have more going for them than their pedigrees.
“These three are naturally charismatic,” says longtime casting director Marcia Ross ( Oblivion, Enchanted). “They are all talented and capable of having the careers they are having even if they had no lineage or connection. They have put the time in, doing consistently strong work.”
Johnson never entertained a Plan B. “I always wanted to make movies,” she told USA TODAY while promoting Fifty Shades. “I grew up on set. I think I thought there wasn’t anything else I was capable of doing.”
Sure, having a successful par- ent helps, but no studio or director would hang a potential blockbuster movie on someone they met once at a barbecue.
“A famous last name gets you through the door. But talent is what will win you the role,” says Chris Phoenix, who heads his eponymous entertainment production company and has known Kravitz professionally for years. “In this age of every penny counting, no studio will entrust a movie to someone who can’t cut it.”
Director/writer Andrew Niccol cast Kravitz in Good Kill without being aware of her genetics. “Later on, I realized,” he says. “They’re not bad genes. She could have been Zoë Smith. She put in the mental energy it required.”