Nearly 15 years after they shared the screen in the Best Picture nominee The Help, Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer are finally reuniting, but it’s not for a sequel to The Help. In fact, they aren’t even reuniting for an uplifting drama, but rather a holiday comedy called Deck the Y’alls, from Girls Trip writer Tracy Oliver (via Variety).
Chastain will be playing a New York City banker named Rachel Stein, who falls for a Southern gentleman named Beau and heads to Charleston, South Carolina for Christmas to meet his family. Spencer — who recently signed on for a new Death of a Salesman adaptation — is playing Beau’s mother, Gladys Gibbes, a celebrity chef who doesn’t take kindly to Rachel.
This is quite different from previous Chastain movies and should offer a unique contrast to her work with Spencer in The Help. With production starting next year, we still have quite a way to go until we can see these actresses sharing the screen once more. Thankfully, there are many more on-screen reunions that contrast their previous work.
Matthew Broderick and Alan Ruck in The Best Is Yet To Come (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off)
This may be several years away since it was just announced back in May, but it’s exciting nonetheless, and a perfect vehicle for this reunion. The Best Is Yet To Come is based on the French film of the same name, following a pair of best friends who embark on a journey to do all the things they haven’t done in life yet, including finding an estranged son.
While it’s not a direct follow-up to Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, it feels like a perfect spiritual sequel and a chance to bring together one of the best duos of the 1980s one more time. Whether said road trip will take place in a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder remains to be seen.
Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie in Ocean’s 11 Prequel (Barbie)
Not long after Barbie became a box office sensation, reports surfaced that Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie were eyeing a reunion in an Ocean’s Eleven prequel, where they would play the parents of George Clooney’s Danny Ocean. The story was rumored to be set in 1960s Europe, though little else was revealed about the project.
Jay Roach (Meet the Parents) was originally set to direct from a script by Carrie Solomon (A Family Affair), but it was reported in January that Lee Isaac Chung (Twisters) was set to direct an Ocean’s Eleven prequel. While the status is unclear at the moment, fans would be thrilled to see Gosling and Robbie on the big screen.
Tom Holland and Zendaya in The Odyssey (Spider-Man trilogy)
The beloved on-screen couple turned off-screen couple in the latest Spider-Man trilogy (and the upcoming Spider-Man 4) will both help tell one of the oldest stories of all time in director Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. Holland will be playing Telemachus, the son of Matt Damon’s Odysseus, though it’s currently unclear who Zendaya will be portraying.
They both captured hearts with their performances as Peter Parker and MJ in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home and 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, and their real-life romance that blossomed. Since we don’t know who Zendaya will portray, it’s unclear if she will share any scenes with Tom or not, but it will certainly be something fans will be eyeing.
Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt in The Smashing Machine (Jungle Cruise)
While there is a Jungle Cruise sequel that’s in development at Disney to see Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Emily Blunt together on the big screen, they’ll be reuniting much, much sooner. The duo will play UFC star Mark Kerr and his wife Dawn Staples in A24’s The Smashing Machine, in theaters October 3.
This critically-acclaimed drama — which earned a 15-minute standing ovation after its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month — could not be more different from Disney’s lighthearted action-adventure. The film delves into the fighter’s life in and out of the octagon. Johnson and Blunt are also slated to reunite again in a Hawaii crime drama from Martin Scorsese.
Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro in One Battle After Another (21 Grams)
While they share few scenes together, Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro’s performances lie at the very heart of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s 2003 drama 21 Grams. 22 years later, it seems that may be the case again, playing what appear to be quite different characters in Paul Thomas Anderson’s highly-anticipated One Battle After Another.
Penn played Paul Rivers, a professor in need of a heart transplant in 21 Grams, which he fatefully received after del Toro’s reformed ex-con Jack Jordan killed the husband and daughters of Cristina (Naomi Watts) in a car crash, as the film follows how all three of their lives intersect.
Their characters couldn’t be more different in One Battle After Another, with Penn playing a rigid military man trying to take down Leonardo DiCaprio’s Bob and del Toro playing Bob’s accomplice.
Russell Crowe and Michael Shannon in Nuremberg (Man of Steel)
These two battled on Krypton in Man of Steel, with Michael Shannon’s General Zod killing Russell Crowe’s Jor-el in a Kryptonian coup d’état, just before Kal-el was sent to Earth. 12 years later, they’ll be battling in the courtroom in the upcoming drama Nuremburg. This time, though, they’ll be on opposite sides of good and evil.
Nuremburg is set just before the WWII war trials, following a psychiatrist (Rami Malek) sent to evaluate Nazi leader Hermann Goring (Crowe) before the trials get under way. Shannon will be portraying Robert H. Jackson, who served as Chief Prosecutor during the trial. This courtroom battle may be just as compelling as their fight on Krypton.
Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley in Hamnet (The Lost Daughter)
Before playing William Shakespeare and his wife Agnes in Chloe Zhao’s Hamnet, Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley were both integral parts of 2021’s The Lost Daughter. While they didn’t share any scenes together, Buckley took home her first Oscar nomination for portraying the young Leda in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directing debut, while Mescal played Will, a beach bar worker.
While their paths never crossed in The Lost Daughter, they both may be gearing up for their second Oscar nominations apiece for Hamnet. The film has been receiving rave reviews on the festival circuit, following the legendary playwright and his wife and shows how the tragic death of their 11-year-old son Hamnet inspired his masterpiece Hamlet.
Benedict Cumberbatch and David Thewlis in The Thing With Feathers (The Fifth Estate)
This on-screen reunion will be more seen than heard, since David Thewlis will be voicing the тιтle creature in The Thing With Feathers, in theaters October 24, after its Sundance debut. Thewlis lends his voice to a crow who begins tormenting Benedict Cumberbatch’s character, simply known as Dad, following the unexpected death of his wife in Dylan Southern’s drama.
They previously starred in the 2013 biopic The Fifth Estate, with Cumberbatch playing WikiLeaks founder Julian ᴀssange and Thewlis played British journalist Nick Davies, who helped ᴀssange publish American diplomatic cables while he was working for The Guardian in the U.K. Their dynamic will certainly be much, much different in their upcoming film.
Bradley Cooper and Will Arnett in Is This Thing On? (The Rocker)
Not only do Bradley Cooper and Will Arnett reunite as co-stars in Is This Thing On?, but also as creative collaborators, both writing the screenplay together. 17 years earlier, they both played bit parts as rockers Trash Grice and Lex Drennan from the band Vesuvius in the 2008 comedy The Rocker, which shows how far they’ve come in two decades.
Is This Thing On? is based on the true story of British comedian John Bishop, who decided to try stand-up comedy after his divorce. Arnett plays the fictionalized version of Bishop, Alex Novak, with Cooper playing his best friend Arnie, with Laura Dern playing Alex’s ex, Tess. They have both come quite a long way, from small roles in The Rocker to potential Oscar nominations.
