Harry Styles, Paul Mescal, more breakout fall movie stars

Four faces to watch from big fall movies

By Los Angeles Times Staff

Aug. 30, 2022 7:30 AM PT

One of the benefits of a fall season full of adult dramas and prestige titles is the opportunity to watch actors sink their chops into juicy showcase roles.

The four actors below are each poised for big-screen breakthroughs in the next two months that could carry them all the way into awards season.

Danielle Deadwyler, ‘Till’

A woman in a light mock turtleneck with her long hair pulled back in a ponytail

After a steady rise in a variety of TV projects, Deadwyler delivered a stunning one-two punch last year with supporting roles in the HBO Max limited series “Station Eleven” and the star-studded Netflix western “The Harder They Fall.” Now she’s carrying the emotional historical drama “Till” as Mamie Till-Mobley, a mother who becomes a civil rights crusader and icon after the brutal death of her son, Emmett.

Harry Styles, ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ and ‘My Policeman’

A man with tattoos on his chest sings ardently into a microphone

Already one of the biggest pop stars in the world today, Styles — who appeared in Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk” — steps into his most significant film roles yet. In Olivia Wilde’s thriller “Don’t Worry Darling,” he’s the seemingly perfect husband to Florence Pugh’s unsettled housewife, and in the Amazon drama “My Policeman,” he’s a gay man hiding his sexuality in the oppressive U.K. of the 1950s.

Paul Mescal, ‘Aftersun’ and ‘God’s Creatures’

A man in a pale brocade jacket and dark ribbon tie.

The “Normal People” Emmy nominee had two films premiere at the Cannes Film Festival this year and both are due this fall from A24. The thriller “God’s Creatures” stars Emily Watson as the matriarch of a family in a small fishing town, but it’s “Aftersun,” where Mescal plays a young father bonding with his daughter on a bittersweet summer vacation, that earned the actor more “Normal People”-level raves.

Dolly De Leon, ‘Triangle of Sadness’

A man in a tuxedo and a woman in a formal dress pose with an award before a crowd of photographers.

The veteran Filipino actor hit the Cannes Film Festival like a hurricane with her scene-stealing performance in Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or-winning social satire. Many felt she walked away with the whole movie, and her commanding turn in the film’s third act could make De Leon a force come Oscar time.