Age of the 'ART THROB'

MEET THE NEW GENERATION OF STARS SHUNNING BLOCKBUSTERS FOR INDIE FILMS

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MIKEY MADISON

The year got off to a very good start for Madison after she won Best Actress at the Oscars in March for her breakout role in Anora – a relatively unheard of feat in Hollywood. But since fulfilling her media duties for the movie and accompanying award, the 26-year-old Los Angeles native has been relatively quiet.

It’s rumoured she received an offer to star alongside Ryan Gosling in an upcoming Star Wars film and a Resident Evil reboot, which would have no doubt garnered the star big pay cheques and many adoring new fans. However, she is said to have turned them both down.

Her newest venture? An indie thriller, Reptilia, which tells the story of a seductive mermaid that lures a dentist into the dark and murky underworld of Florida's exotic animal trade. “I'm just a sucker for a good script and people that are passionate about it. I love independents,” she told Interview magazine back in 2017.

JOSH O'CONNOR

O'Connor had his breakout role in God’s Own Country, but it was his turn as a heartbreakingly restrained Prince Charles in The Crown that truly cemented his status in the acting world. Since then, he’s sidestepped the studio blockbuster path in favour of moodier, more character-driven indies - something he had always intended to do.

“I just feel like I'm carrying on as I was before, trying to find stuff that feels really challenging and interesting,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in 2021. And while his filmography leans distinctly independent, The Challengers star, 35, is hardly flying under the radar, with his choices carving out a career that’s quietly redefining leading-man status.