The Quiet Guy and the Wild Guy

If I had to put money on two actors that are going to become more and more of a household name, it would be Joseph Gordon-Lovett and Ben Foster.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the actor who's name isn't big enough (yet) to put in a oscar contender, but he avoids the major budget films for those with acting in them. He is easily the other side of Shia La'Beouf's career, no Transformers or Disturbia, but he goes for the understudies. In Brick (2005) he played a high school gumshoe looking into the death of his ex-girlfriend. It was a visual piece, as the former editor of personal favorite May (2002) tried his hand at directing. It was a visual success, and Gordon-Levitt completed the success by his acting in different character stances for the camera. Next was The Lookout (2007), where he is a brain-damaged janitor beside a blind Jeff Daniels. Both were convincing, but the movie was released at the wrong time of year. It wasn't a summer blockbuster, but a late winter/early spring drama of a heist. Gordon-Levitt's performance is thoroughly convincing as the semi-capable janitor exploited by "friends," and given the proper role, he could easily be nominated for an oscar. Richard Roeper calls The Lookout one of the best movies so far (this was said in May 2007). The story of his career. The best, until the bigger comes. His time will come.

The wild guy, and also a "third guy" is Ben Foster. You've probably seen him more than once in the movie, and you remember the character but not the actor. Ben Foster is that character. He doesn't play the leads. He usually plays the person with a memorable role, little screen time, a trailer clip, and large plot importance at either the beginning or end. The pop status (and fangirl obsessions) started after he was beside Kristen Dunst (whom he later dated) in the small-hit teenager film Get Over It (2001). The real start for him was in Hostage (2005) where he played the psychotic Mars Krupcheck in extra creepy scenes with Bruce Willis' daughter. After that was X-Men 3 where he played a small, yet visually symbollic role of Angel (seen left). In Alpha Dog, he played the supporting role of the dealer who owes money to the kids that kidnap his brother. He is opposite Sharon Stone and one of the few actors in the film that targetted the pop/white-gangsta crowd with Emile Hurst (The Girl Next Door) and Justin Timberlake. A true rise of roles came around in 3:10 to Yuma, where he is the third most interesting and intimating of the gunslingers. He plays Charlie Prince, the quick-draw double-gunner who has grown to have affection for Ben Wade (Russell Crowe). The performance and deadliness is unmatched, appearing almost as a monster of the West, a creature and force to be reckoned with. The final character is the stranger in 30 Days of Night, who's creepy line, "That cold ain't the weather. That's death coming." The line made the trailer, if not the movie. The signifigance of this filmography is the variety and the memorability he puts into even the small roles. Much like Val Kilmer switching from Batman to Doc Holiday, Foster switches from gunslinger to gangsta to semi-vampire as fast and easy as Christian Bale does for his roles. This variety gives him the advantage to fill any big role, and the recent history of the memorable smaller roles in multiple movies makes him one of the most marketable and promising actors right now.

Keep an eye on these guys. Foster is hard to recognize he changes his appearance so often, and Gordon-Levitt isn't in the most advertised movies, but I can bet you money one day they will be.