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Five Budding Stars to Watch at Cannes

Barry Keoghan stars in coming-of-age tale 'Bird'. Adrian DENNIS / AFP
Barry Keoghan stars in coming-of-age tale 'Bird'. Adrian DENNIS / AFP
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Five Budding Stars to Watch at Cannes

Barry Keoghan stars in coming-of-age tale 'Bird'. Adrian DENNIS / AFP
Barry Keoghan stars in coming-of-age tale 'Bird'. Adrian DENNIS / AFP

This year's Cannes Film Festival, which runs from May 14 to 25, has a heavy dose of Hollywood veterans, but it's also the place to see the budding young stars who will take their place, AFP said.
Here are five names to watch as they walk the red carpet on the French Riviera.
Sebastian Stan
Bound to be the most talked-about role at the festival, Stan finds himself in the skin of Donald Trump in "The Apprentice" about the early years of the property mogul, reality TV star and US president.
The 41-year-old Romanian-born actor's biggest role to date has been as the Winter Soldier in a number of Marvel films, but he received critical acclaim for his performance as rocker Tommy Lee in miniseries "Pam and Tommy" and won best actor at this year's Berlin Film Festival for "A Different Man".
Barry Keoghan
Keoghan emerged from a difficult childhood -- his mother died aged 12 from a drug overdose and he was raised in foster homes -- to become one of Ireland's most sought-after actors.
He earned Oscar and Golden Globe nominations, and won a BAFTA for his role in "The Banshees of Inisherin" and reached new levels of fame with the heavily-memed hit "Saltburn".
Keoghan, 31, comes to Cannes with "Bird", a coming-of-age tale set in suburban England from Oscar-winner Andrea Arnold, having reportedly given up a part in "Gladiator 2" for the role.
He has plenty of blockbuster fame to come as he plays Joker in "The Batman Part II", due in 2026.
Anya Taylor Joy
The lead of pandemic-era Netflix hit "The Queen's Gambit", for which she won a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award, Joy has appeared in a number of creepy and supernatural films like "The Witch", "Split" and "The Menu" -- as well as lighter fare such as "Emma" and "The Super Mario Bros Movie".
The 28-year-old tries her hand at full-blown action in the latest "Mad Max" installment, "Furiosa", which premieres at Cannes on May 15, playing a younger version of Charlize Theron's character from "Fury Road".
Margaret Qualley
Still regularly referred to as the daughter of Andie McDowell, Qualley may soon eclipse her mother's fame.
The 29-year-old has already had scene-stealing moments in films by Quentin Tarantino (as a Manson Family member in "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood") and Ethan Coen ("Drive-Away Dolls"). She earned Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for Netflix hit "Maid" and mini-series "Fosse/Verdun".
Now she features in two competition entries at Cannes: Yorgos Lanthimos's "Kinds of Kindness" -- she already had a small part in his "Poor Things" -- and slasher horror "The Substance" alongside Demi Moore.
Karla Sofia Gascon
The film with the most intriguing premise at Cannes is "Emilia Perez", a musical about a Mexican cartel boss undergoing a sex change to escape the authorities and affirm her identity.
For the starring role, French director Jacques Audiard chose 52-year-old transgender actor Gascon from Madrid, known for a number of Spanish-language soap operas and films.

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André 3000's Alt-Jazz, ‘No Bars’ Solo Album Stunned Fans. Now, It’s up for Grammys

André Benjamin, also known as Andre 3000, arrives at the 30th Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, Calif., on Feb. 21, 2015. (AP)
André Benjamin, also known as Andre 3000, arrives at the 30th Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, Calif., on Feb. 21, 2015. (AP)
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André 3000's Alt-Jazz, ‘No Bars’ Solo Album Stunned Fans. Now, It’s up for Grammys

André Benjamin, also known as Andre 3000, arrives at the 30th Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, Calif., on Feb. 21, 2015. (AP)
André Benjamin, also known as Andre 3000, arrives at the 30th Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, Calif., on Feb. 21, 2015. (AP)

No one was expecting it. Late last year, André 3000 released his debut solo album, "New Blue Sun," 18 years after his legendary rap group Outkast's last studio album, "Idlewild."

But "New Blue Sun" has "no bars," he jokes. It's a divergence from rap because "there was nothing I was liking enough to rap about, or I didn't feel it sounded fresh. I'm not about to serve you un-fresh (expletive.)"

Instead, he offered up a six-track instrumental album of ambient alt-jazz — with special attention paid to the flute.

"The sound, that's how I got into it," he says of the instrument. "The portability, too. You can't tote around a piano and play in Starbucks."

He's also invested in the flute's history — like learning about Mayan flutes made from clay, a design he had re-created in cedarwood. "There’s all kinds of fables and, you know, indigenous stories that go along with playing the flute — playing like the birds or playing your heart like the wind — it kind of met (me) where I was in life," he says.

"Flutes — wind instruments in general — are the closest thing you get to actually hearing a human," he continues. "You're actually hearing the breath of a person."

"New Blue Sun" is a stunning collection, one that has earned André 3000 three new Grammy Award nominations: album of the year, alternative jazz, and instrumental composition. Those arrive exactly 25 years after the 1999 Grammys, where Outkast received their first nomination — for "Rosa Parks," from their third album, "Aquemini" — and 20 years after the group won album of the year for "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below."

"It matters because we all want to be acknowledged or recognized," André 3000 says of his new Grammy nominations. "It's a type of proof of connection, in some type of way ... especially with the Grammys, because it's voted on by a committee of musicians and people in the industry."

He's a bit surprised by the attention, too, given the type of album he created. "We have no singles on the radio, not even singles that are hot in the street," he says. "When you're sitting next to Beyoncé and Taylor Swift, these are highly, hugely popular music artists, I'm satisfied just because of that ... we won just to be a part of the whole conversation."

He theorizes that it may be because popular music listening habits are broadening. "A lot of artists are just trying different things. Even, you know, the album that Beyoncé is nominated for, it’s not her normal thing," he says of her country-and-then-some record, "Cowboy Carter.We’re in this place where things are kind of shifting and moving."

For André 3000, "New Blue Sun" has allowed him to "feel like a whole new artist," but it is also an extension of who he's always been. "Being on the road with Outkast and picking up a bass clarinet at a pawn shop in New York and just sitting on the back of the bus playing with it — these things have been around," he says.

He's also always embraced "newness," as he puts it, experimenting creatively "even if it sounds non-masterful."

"Even producing for Outkast, I was just learning these instruments. If I ... put my hands down and play ‘Ms. Jackson,’ I'm not knowing what I'm playing. But I like it," he says.

As for a new Outkast album, "I never say never," he says. "But I can say that the older I get, I feel like that time has happened."