One of my favorite films last year was The Guest, by the creators of You’re Next (2011), Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett. Admittedly, I’ve never seen one episode of Downton Abbey, so Dan Stevens was a revelation for me after watching his brilliantly creepy performance. Another highlight of The Guest, apart from the atmosphere and the soundtrack, was Maika Monroe’s performance. She’s a 22 year-old Santa Barbara native, kite surfer turned actress and fairly new to the industry. Her big screen debut was with At Any Price, opposite Zac Efron and Dennis Quaid, only three years ago. Monroe went on to work with some other big names in Hollywood, under the direction of Sophia Coppola in The Bling Ring (2013) and Jason Reitman in Labor Day (2013).
Earlier this year, It Follows wowed audiences around the world. Since it began screening in film festivals I heard rumors about how great and scary this horror flick was. Needless to say, the fact that Maika Monroe was in it sold it for me instantly. Now, the film is not flawless, especially because of its third act, but Monroe is. She has something so refreshing about her that makes the characters she plays extra interesting and convincing.
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So if you haven’t seen any of those films, do yourself a favor and go watch them. After that, be prepared to see much more of this woman, because it seems like she’s here to stay, and I love that.
In her filmography schedule for the next couple of years we find: Bokeh, a scifi drama which I’m very excited about; The Tribes of Palos Verdes, with Jennifer Gardner, still in pre-production; The 5th Wave, based on a novel by Rick Yancey and including Chloë Grace Moretz, Liev Schreiber and Maria Bello in the cast.
But the one fact that has brought Maika Monroe’s name up in movie news outlets has been her involvement in the upcoming Independence Day sequel, recently revealed to be titled Resurgence. Maika has been cast as the daughter of the President of the United States, Patricia Whitmore, who was portrayed by Mae Whitman in the original 1996 film. Some of the cast, including Bill Pullman and Jeff Goldblum, reunited last June 23rd and were joined by newcomers Liam Hemsworth and Maika Monroe herself for a Q&A event to announce the release date: Summer of 2016. Look out for our review by then.
I don’t know about you, but I am actually excited to see what’s coming next for this young, ambitious and talented actress, seeing how I’ve loved her in everything she’s worked on so far.
