Stuck In Love stars Greg Kinnear and Jennifer Connelly as an estranged couple coming to terms with their new separate lives, whilst their children form relationships rife with their own complications and drama.
Filled with music that’s in equal parts heart-breaking and uplifting, and with more literary references than you could throw a book at, Stuck In Love is a top notch independent film starring former indie darling Logan Lerman.
Here, we take a look at other actors who made their marks in indie films but have gone on to global blockbuster roles.
- Dane DeHaan
DeHaan’s first noticeable lead came in 2012’s Chronicle, Josh Trank’s low-budget human slant on the found-footage film and superhero genre.
Since then, memorable roles in the likes of John Hillcoat’s Lawless (2012) and Blue Valentine director Derek Cianfrance’s The Place Beyond the Pines (2013) have followed.
Despite a performance in Allen Ginsberg-biopic Kill Your Darlings, DeHaan will be flexing his blockbuster muscles by stepping into the role of Harry Osborn in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in 2014.
- Kat Dennings
With roles in comedies The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) and Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist (2008), Kat Dennings has always been an ever-welcome presence, but none more so than when she brought her indie charm to proceedings in Marvel’s first instalment of Thor (2011) - and, of course, the sequel Thor 2: The Dark World.
- Tom Hardy
Originally starring in TV Miniseries Band of Brothers back in ’01, Tom Hardy has worked extremely hard to make it to the top; a mere supporting role in Matthew Vaughn’s Layer Cake (2004), it was his role as criminal Charlie Bronson in Bronson in Nicolas Winding Refn’s 2008 film that really put this actor on the map.
Ironically, this is what led Christopher Nolan to cast Hardy in critical-smash Inception (2010) - leading to his chief villain role as Bane in Nolan’s final Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises (2012).
- Jennifer Lawrence
Actress of the moment Jennifer Lawrence started her career early with roles in small-time US television shows - but appearing as Ree Dolly in Debra Granik’s indie Winter’s Bone (2010) saw Lawrence earn an Oscar nomination.
Now perhaps best known to millions as the one who brought Katniss Everdeen to life in The Hunger Games (2012), Lawrence manages to merge blockbusting smashes (X-Men: First Class in 2011) with quirkier appearances in smaller films - seen to Oscar-winning effect last year in David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook.
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt
A regular fixture in television as a young actor (Third Rock from the Sun), Gordon-Levitt made a memorable appearance in 1999 teen comedy 10 Things I Hate About You, before going on to cause quite a stir in several slices of independent cinema: Mysterious Skin (2004), Brick (2008) and 500 (Days of Summer)
2009 saw him go on to huge things - which came in Chris Nolan’s 2010 mindbender Inception, not to mention The Dark Knight Rises in 2012. 50/50 (2011), Looper (2012) and directorial debut Don Jon (2013) all show this is a man who isn’t forgetting his indy roots.
- Elizabeth Olsen
Everybody knew Mary-Kate and Ashley, and now nobody can forget Elizabeth. Striking roles in chiller Silent House and the mesmerising Martha Marcy May Marlene have paved the way for Liberal Arts and Kill Your Darlings.
However, Hollywood have snapped the starlet up, with roles in Spike Lee’s Oldboy remake, Godzilla (2014) - alongside Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston - and The Avengers: Age of Ultron, due out in 2015.
- Andrew Garfield
This young Brit began showing his acting chops on British television (Sugar Rush, Red Riding), but through roles in Never Let Me Go (2010) and - most memorably as Eduardo Saverin in 2010’s The Social Network - he is now Peter Parker himself, Spider-Man.
With the sequel due out next year, Garfield’s career is going from strength to strength.
- Ellen Page
Juno is the film responsible for putting Ellen Page on the map in 2007, a young actress who has also appeared in indie flicks Hard Candy (2005) and Drew Barrymore’s acclaimed cult Whip It! (2009), as roller derby sensation Bliss Cavendar.
The female lead in Chris Nolan’s Inception in 2010 showed how Page seamlessly bridged the gap between independent film and huge-budget blockbuster, and with a return to the X-Men franchise in Days of Future Past due next year, she shows no signs of stopping.
Stuck In Love is available to download now, and released on Blu-ray and DVD on 18th November 2013 from Koch Media.
Tagged in Tom Hardy Kat Dennings Logan Lerman Dane Dehaan