The movie musical: a genre that used to hold intense gravitas and importance in the film diet but now stands as a sort of underrepresented and undervalued trapping of the modern IP glut. Movie stars and up-and-comers alike would flock to do a big Hollywood musical in order to take their careers to the next level. Nowadays, movie musicals often don’t even register as event films to the public. Increasingly, people deign to call movie musicals “unrealistic” or “melodramatic,” citing the fact that people spontaneously burst out into song to be some type of demarcation on the film’s quality.
Update September 23, 2023: This article has been updated with even more actors who should absolutely do a musical sometime soon.
Fortunately for those in the know, that isn’t an issue that holds any real weight. Movie musicals are like a performer’s playground. It opens up a consummate creative to the possibility of doing it all: singing, dancing, acting, and — the real hard part — selling it. To see if an actor or actress really has the juice, putting them at the front of a movie musical will be the truest test of might. In that spirit, here are thirteen actors that we would love to see lead a movie musical soon.
13 Tom Holland
With a Fred Astaire biopic on the docket, we may end up seeing what he’s capable of as a musical performer in due time, but it’s high time we saw what Tom Holland can do as the lead in a full-on musical. He’s enraptured audiences for years now with his nimble and light physical presence as a performer, while his affable and boyish charm makes him an endearing lead in pictures.
Where his career has been sort of disappointingly mediocre outside the MCU, there is ample room for a big, showy performance in stage musical adaptation or something of the sort. We’ve all seen the clip of him on Lip Sync Battles, so it’s clear the guy has a certain voracity for the pomp and circumstance of the stage. His experience in London’s theater scene as the title role in Billy Elliott only solidifies that Holland needs to get his song and dance on sooner rather than later.
12 Florence Pugh
One of the most exciting and well-regarded talents to arrive on the scene in the last few years, Florence Pugh has taken many people hostage with her alluring film performances and down-to-Earth online persona. Turning in career-defining performances in films like Midsommar, Little Women, and (potentially) Dune: Part Two, Pugh has really made a name for herself as one of the steadiest hands in the business working right now.
Even when the surrounding film doesn’t quite work, it’s hard to really say that the onus is on her at all. What would really launch Pugh into the stratosphere would be a big, flashy performance in a movie musical that gives the room to be as acerbic and strong-willed as she is in her best parts while maintaining the affability and personability of her public persona.
11 Robert Downey Jr.
Undeniably one of Hollywood’s most charismatic and sensational stars, Robert Downey Jr. has had an illustrious career spanning over forty years and has garnered global recognition for his epic portrayal as Tony Stark/Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While he will forever be the sarcastic, arrogant inventor and playboy we know and love, Downey has showcased his impressive acting range in a slew of acclaimed films like Chaplin, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Zodiac, and most recently in Oppenheimer, and there truly isn’t a role the charming performer couldn’t nail.
Downey would be a fantastic choice to headline a musical because not only has he proven time and time again he can effortlessly carry a movie (and a whole franchise), but he also has a music background and even released a studio album in 2004 entitled The Futurist. Audiences can’t get enough of the always-entertaining leading man, and his overall temperament would translate well in a musical role.
10 Lupita Nyong’o
Name a more electric on-screen presence in the last decade than the incomparable Lupita Nyong’o. While her number of roles in the last few years has been lesser than many would hope, each and every time she turns up on screen, it is a gift to the movie-going public. Landmark roles in films like 12 Years A Slave and Us have cemented Nyong’o as one of those people who can literally never give a bad performance.
The question might still remain: why her for a movie musical? The short and simple of it is that Nyong’o has proven she can give the same level of tact on the stage as she can on the screen, which gives her an edge over a great deal of the stars on this list. Her physicality as a performer is tenacious, which makes us think that she can more than handle a huge movie musical being put on her shoulders.
9 Keke Palmer
The absolutely stunning breakout performance of 2022 was Keke Palmer in Jordan Peele’s Nope, a fact that has only been emboldened by her continued climb up the social ladder of Hollywood in the time since. Everyone was so immediately endeared to her as soon as she appeared on-screen that a collective cry to give her more roles rang out across the internet.
What would really take advantage of Palmer’s almost infectious charisma wouldn’t be another conventional star vehicle in our day — something like a comic book movie or straight-to-streaming action comedy. No, what would really put her skills on display would be a movie musical on the scale of the best and biggest. Her talents should be given the largest stage on the biggest screen with the biggest budget, which is essentially tantamount to a movie musical from back in the day.
8 Donald Glover
This one sort of speaks for itself, doesn’t it? We’ve all collectively been in awe of what Donald Glover has been able to accomplish in the years since he broke out onto the scene as Troy Barnes in Community (and as Childish Gambino on the music side of things). One of the most accomplished and well-regarded multi-hyphenates of the 2010s, Glover is coming hot off the heels of finishing off his run as creator and lead of the TV show Atlanta, which opens him up to a world of possibilities.
We all are wondering what that next step might be for Glover, but we have the answer already. Put Glover at the center of a movie musical and just let him run buck wild. Allow him to make something as surreal and all-around insane as those last couple seasons of Atlanta, but let the talents as an actor and as a musician fuse into one. We want more music from him as much as we want more performances, so just get it all out at the same time.
7 Margot Robbie
What can’t Margot Robbie do? The Oscar-nominated actress has demonstrated her chameleon-esque capabilities by portraying a beloved DC Comics villain, famous historical figures, an apocalypse survivor, and even Barbie herself, taking each character and completely immersing herself into their psyche. Robbie has worked with some of the industry’s most acclaimed directors, including Quentin Tarantino, Wes Anderson, Martin Scorsese, and Greta Gerwig, swiftly becoming one of Tinseltown’s most sought-after talents.
With a passionate and devoted fanbase, Robbie’s biggest champions will watch the actress do anything, and she has shown in countless instances that there is no genre or role too big for her to sink her teeth into. It’s easy to imagine Robbie starring in a musical, as she’s already showed off her dancing skills in Barbie and overall impressive physicality as Harley Quinn, so performing in a musical would just be another feather in her already decorated cap.
6 Chris Hemsworth
Perhaps the most charming leading man in Hollywood is, without a doubt Chris Hemsworth, who for over a decade has dazzled audiences with his glorious portrayal as the “God of Thunder” himself, Thor in the MCU. Outside of his celebrated superhero role, Hemsworth has branched out and starred in an array of films and genres like Rush, In the Heart of the Sea, Snow White and the Huntsman, and Bad Times at the El Royale, firmly cementing his status as one of the silver screen’s most charming actors.
Hemsworth has already shown he can hang with the best of them, starring alongside mega stars like Charlize Theron, Jeff Bridges, Robert Downey Jr., and Cillian Murphy, having no problem commanding the screen. He’s already one of the country’s most loved performers, and seeing him attempt a more whimsical performance in a musical would be quite the treat for moviegoers.
5 Daniel Radcliffe
The biggest star to come out of the Harry Potter franchise, who has continued to cut his teeth on independent oddities and leading roles in outsider films, Daniel Radcliffe, has made a career out of defying expectations. Very few expected the kid actor playing Harry Potter to be anything other than a flash-in-the-pan movie star, but he’s made it his goal to really go out and do the work.
Between appearances in Swiss Army Man, Horns, The Lost City, and many others, Radcliffe has made it known that he always commits 100% to whatever role he’s taken on. Were he to bring that level of dedication to something like a big-budget movie musical, the results would be incredibly fruitful for all involved. He’s already proven with his performance in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story that he can carry a musical-adjacent part, so let’s allow him to really run wild with it. Radcliffe has also done musicals on Broadway as he was the lead in the revival of How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, so the fact that he hasn’t been given a big musical movie feels like an oversight on somebody’s part.
4 Kristen Wiig
With a superb comedy resume including beloved flicks like Bridesmaids, Adventureland, and Despicable Me and a seven-season tenure on Saturday Night Live, Kristen Wiig is one of the entertainment industry’s most fearless and endearing performers. She first dipped her toe in the improv world when she joined the Los Angeles comedy troupe The Groundlings and later became a major scene-stealer and breakout cast member on SNL from 2005 to 2012.
Wiig would be a knockout in a musical role, as she’s not afraid to be delightfully zany and over-the-top, and her stage presence alone would endear her to audiences. The talented comedian can play any character, big or small, whether it’s a scheming villain, ghost exterminator, or struggling single lady looking for love, and it would be great to see Wiig kill it performing an intricate and dazzling musical number.
3 Robert Pattinson
From Twilight to Cosmopolis to The Lighthouse to The Batman, Robert Pattinson has spent the entirety of his career proving that he can do anything with whatever role he’s been given. Once the ire of any and all online film commenters, Pattinson has been building a filmography of genuinely dynamic and exciting performances that any actor would be jealous to have.
As if working with David Cronenberg and the Safdie Brothers wasn’t enough street cred, his bombshell performances in films like The Lighthouse and Lost City of Z cemented him as a performer worth keeping an eye on. At this point, its sort of pointless to ask what this guy can’t do — especially after he nailed it in The Batman. But, if there is one true test of a performer’s strength (as we’ve already stated), it is the movie musical. We must see what Pattinson can do with big numbers and strong choreography.
2 Zoë Kravitz
With a talented actress for a mother and world-famous musician as her father, it’s a no-brainer that Zoë Kravitz would deliver a phenomenal performance if she were to headline a musical film. The actress is steadily taking over both the big and small screen with compelling portrayals in hits like the Fantastic Beasts franchise, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Batman, and the HBO series Big Little Lies.
Her cool-girl, laid-back persona has captivated audiences everywhere, and being that Kravitz is the frontwoman for the R&B/electropop band Lolawolf, it’s safe to say she also has a set of pipes on her that would make starring in a musical a walk in the park. It is easy to picture Kravitz singing and dancing and showing off both her acting and vocal skills, and she would undoubtedly make her parents proud.
1 Channing Tatum
And, finally, we have to give a shout-out to Magic Mike himself. If there’s any performer on this list who has unequivocally proven they have the goods to carry something like a movie musical, it would have to be Channing Tatum. His experience as a stripper and dancer gives him a certain leg up on the rest of the talent on this list, as well as his unbelievable on-screen charisma.
His himbo status might make him seem too ineffectual or goofy to play the pomp and circumstance of musical lead, but anyone who’s seen his performances in the Magic Mike series or Dog can attest to his ability to play all corners of a performance. Tatum’s physical abilities as a performer are storied, and given ample screen time in a lot of his films, so his potential in a screen musical would be intensely high.
