It’s a fun coincidence that two of the most exciting breakout stars of 2024 were born in the same part of Missouri within months of each other. Willard and Springfield — not New York or Los Angeles, but Willard and Springfield, Missouri, with a combined population of under 180,000 — are the birthplaces of Chappell Roan (Willard) and Cailee Spaeny (Springfield). One is the biggest non-Taylor Swift pop star of the moment, while the other is having a Glen Powell-like run of popular, critically-acclaimed movies but with only half the attention. It’s time to change that.
It’s Cailee Spaeny summer. And spring. Her winter was pretty good, too.
Born on July 24, 1998, Spaeny started in local theater before she made her on-screen debut in 2016’s short film Counting to 1000 (you can watch the crime-thriller on Vimeo). Two years later, she had a small role in Pacific Rim Uprising, but made enough of an impression to be one of the few good things about the otherwise-disappointing Pacific Rim sequel. With a knowing sense of humor, she explained what happened next to the New York Times: “This fresh-faced little girl comes to town. She’s from the Midwest, she’s got a bit of an accent, bright-eyed, bushy tailed. They jump on that opportunity.”
Suddenly, Spaeny was booking parts in quick succession — Dakota Johnson’s sister in Bad Times at the El Royale, a young Lynne Cheney in Best Picture nominee Vice, one of the teen witches in The Craft Legacy, as well as roles in FX’s Devs and HBO’s Mare of Easttown — but she was still a relative unknown.
Then came Priscilla, the exquisite and poignant biopic of Priscilla and Elvis Presley that earned Spaeny serious Oscar buzz (she was snubbed, but she did receive a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama). Director Sofia Coppolla was intimidated by the prospect of casting someone “that could believably pull off a journey from the age of 14 to 29,” as she told Deadline, but when she met Spaeney, “I found her to be thoughtful and sensitive.” An endorsement from Kirsten Dunst helped, too.
“Kirsten said how talented she was and how great she was to work with,” Coppola said. Spaeny and Dunst worked together on Alex Garland’s Civil War, which is quietly one of the major box office success stories of the year. A24’s mid-budget feature (which started filming before Priscilla but came out after) grossed over $120 million at the box office on a $50 million budget, but more importantly, like Powell being attached to Tom Cruise’s hip while making Top Gun: Maverick, Spaeney found a movie star mentor in Dunst.
Unlike the dynamic between photojournalists Lee and Jessie in Civil War, Spaeney has learned the right lessons from Dunst. The Bring It On / The Virgin Suicides / Spider-Man / Melancholia / The Power of the Dog (the list could keep going) actress has stayed in the public eye for as long as she has with her ability to star in both emotionally complex indies and blockbusters appealing to the broadest audience possible, and now Spaeney can say the same thing.
There’s decades of expectations that come with playing the female lead in an Alien movie; Sigourney Weaver probably would have become a star no matter what, yet Ripley made her an icon. But Spaeney crushes it in Alien: Romulus. She commands the screen when she’s shooting a big gun at a bunch of wet aliens, and her scenes with David Jonsson’s robot brother Andy are genuinely touching. Plus, she looks cool as hell. The reception to Alien: Romulus has been divisive (I liked it, except for one thing I hated), but everyone agrees that Spaeney’s Rain does Ripley justice with her performance.
What’s next for Spaeney, now that she no longer has to worry about losing talent shows to Chappell Roan? She’s in the next Knives Out movie, and she’ll also reportedly star alongside Charles Melton, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Anne Hathaway in the next season of Netflix’s Emmy-winning anthology series Beef.
Science-fiction, action, drama, comedy, horror, mystery. There’s not one path Spaeney is drawn to. She wants to try it all. “Going from Civil War to Priscilla, and then Alien: Romulus,” she explained to Empire, “those are completely different films in every way. I’m trying to flip it on its head all the time to keep things interesting.” It’s a similar, refreshingly Marvel-free path as Powell, who bounced from crowd-pleasing sequel Top Gun Maverick to rom-com Anyone But You to the darkly funny Hit Man to disaster film Twisters in short order. It’s not time to make Cailee Spaeny happen. It’s already happening.
For her part, Spaeny is fine with keeping a low profile; she’s not even sure if Movie Star is in her future. “This could really easily be a chapter of my life and not my whole life,” she told the New York Times. “There’s only so many tricks an actor has up their sleeve.” And maybe that’s a part of what makes her such a special talent for this moment. We’re inundated by people who want to take over the world and drive the culture, but sometimes decisions made in pursuit of celebrity wind up making bad movies or forcing cringe moments. There’s such a thing as being too thirsty for fame. Maybe what we all need is someone who just wants to enjoy the ride and do cool sh*t.
Hopefully Spaeny will continue to do cool sh*t for as many summers as she wants.
