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Milly Alcock found out she'd booked the coveted role of Supergirl in one of this year's biggest hits when "Superman" director (and co-CEO of DC Studios) texted her a link to an article announcing her casting. She admitted she had a moment of doubt. "My first thought was: What have I done?" Alcock told a packed audience at the Newport Beach Film Festival. "It's just scary." But she enjoyed her cameo in "Superman" and went on to shoot her own film, "Supergirl," set to be released next year. "I've learned a lot from it, and it's such an honor to play her and be that person for young girls."
Alcock was one of this year's class of Variety's 10 Actors to Watch, an annual honor that's been bestowed since 1998. Past recipients include more than 30 Oscar nominees and winners, including Octavia Spencer, Brie Larson and Timothée Chalamet. All 10 were present at the festival's Honors Brunch, where awards were also presented to actors like Brendan Fraser, Mark Hamill and Diane Lane. Scarlett Johansson, who recently made her feature directorial debut with "Eleanor the Great," was honored with Variety's Groundbreakers and Legends Award. And Steven Gaydos, who recently retired from Variety after over 30 years with the publication, was honored with the festival's Arts Champion Award.
This year's class of 10 Actors to Watch included several thespians making their film debuts: Miles Caton, the star of Ryan Coogler's "Sinners," Chase Infiniti from Paul Thomas Anderson's "One Battle After Another" and Guillaume Marbeck, who stars as Jean-Luc Godard in Richard Linklater's "Nouvelle Vague." Caton joked about how his life has changed since starring as Sammie, a guitarist so talented it attracts supernatural attention. While saying strangers have come up to him and called him Sammie, he noted, "I can still go out and have fun and chill and be with my family."
Infiniti's film debut found her holding her own against heavyweights like Oscar winners Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro. "I took every single moment and I treated it like a Master Class," Infiniti revealed. "I really wanted to make sure that I observed and I learned, and I was there every second of the way to watch what makes the greats great."
Many of this year's class found themselves sharing scenes with major stars. In "Kiss of the Spider Woman," Tonatiuh stars in his first leading film role - or roles, as he plays both a queer man in an Argentine prison and the Golden Era movie star whose film he escapes into. His costars include Jennifer Lopez and Diego Luna. When he won the role, the actor says he was ready. "It felt like it was the opportunity that I've been training for my entire life for and my mother immigrated here and worked at a drive-thru," he said. "And to be in a cast with Jennifer and with Diego, and in a Bill Condon musical, all of that, it felt like I was getting invited to the Olympics."
He added that his prisoner character, Molina, "is this beautiful, genderless expression" and that the film features an all-Latin cast. "And I feel like in a time where Latinos and LGBTQ people are being attacked, our film is saying: We love you, we see you and we're going to give you the Hollywood treatment."
British thespian Jay Lycurgo finds himself starring opposite Cillian Murphy in "Steve," now streaming on Netflix. The recent Oscar winner plays a troubled teacher at a school for young men with societal and behavioral issues. Lycurgo had a personal connection to the material - his father works a similar job. "Some of you may be struggling today with your mental health and for me, personally, I struggle every day with it," Lycurgo revealed. "So I'm just very happy about the film, very passionate about it, and even more so that I get to tell my dad's work."
Also sharing scenes with big names in upcoming films: Ella Anderson, who plays the daughter of Kate Hudson's character in "Song Sung Blue," the true story of a couple who form a Neil Diamond tribute band. The film, which also stars Hugh Jackman, comes out in December. Norwegian actor Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas plays the level-headed daughter of Stellan Skarsgård's film director in Joachim Trier's "Sentimental Value," the follow-up to his Oscar-nominated "The Worst Person in the World." And Edmund Donovan, an Obie and Drama Desk Award winner for his work in the play "Greater Clements," finds himself playing an admirer of Willem Dafoe's forgotten poet in "Late Fame."
Mari Yamamoto will be seen later this year in "Rental Family," starring Brendan Fraser, who visibly teared up as she talked about working with him. She told a story about shooting a scene on a precarious balcony in Japan and how even though he wasn't on camera, he "wanted to be there for me so badly that he was leaning out." She continued, "He's just leaning out so much to put his face as close as he can to me, and he's worried about that, but I'm worried about the Oscar winner falling from the balcony. That's a story that tells you how he is as a person and an actor - that he will do anything to catch you if you fall, he will always be there for you. I learned that that's how I want to be as a person and as an actor. So thank you, Brendan Fraser."