Connor Storrie is trading his Heated Rivalry heartthrob energy for something considerably darker. The Emmy-nominated actor is joining Billie Eilish and Carey Mulligan in The Bell Jar, the upcoming film adaptation of Sylvia Plath’s only novel, and his new character could not be further from the roles that made him a fan favorite.
Billie Eilish Enters The Bell Jar
Directed and adapted by Sarah Polley, The Bell Jar follows Esther Greenwood, a 19-year-old woman whose life begins to unravel while she is interning at a fictional New York fashion magazine. The semi-autobiographical novel explores Esther’s growing sense of alienation, anxiety, and mental illness against the expectations placed on young women in the 1950s.
For Eilish, the movie marks her film acting debut. The two-time Oscar-winning singer-songwriter will play Esther, while Mulligan is set to portray her mother, Mrs. Greenwood. Eilish has acted previously in television, including a notable appearance in Swarm, but this will be her first major feature-film role.
And then there is Storrie.
READ: Connor Storrie’s New Movie is Getting Postponed…For Good Reason
Storrie Goes From Heartthrob to Villain
According to Variety, Storrie is joining the ensemble as Marco, a wealthy, misogynistic Peruvian man who is introduced to Esther on a date.
Unfortunately, this is not exactly the dreamy romantic setup one might expect from the man who has recently become a major queer-fandom obsession. Marco is described as misogynistic, and the encounter takes a deeply disturbing turn when he attempts to sexually assault and rape Esther. She ultimately fights back and breaks his nose.
In other words, anyone coming into The Bell Jar expecting Storrie to deliver another charming, swoon-worthy performance may want to emotionally prepare themselves.
The role is a particularly intriguing departure for the actor, and seeing him play someone so deliberately unlike his previous characters could be one of the film’s most fascinating elements.
Meanwhile, Garfield Is Playing Sam Altman
While Storrie is diving into Plath, Andrew Garfield is diving into the chaotic world of artificial intelligence.
Garfield stars as OpenAI’s openly gay CEO Sam Altman in Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial, a darkly comic drama centered on the explosive five-day boardroom crisis that saw Altman fired and then rapidly rehired in November 2023.
The film has already had its own behind-the-scenes drama. Amazon MGM dropped the project after entering a major financial partnership with OpenAI, but NEON subsequently acquired it. A first teaser arrived this week, giving audiences their first proper look at Garfield’s unsettling take on Altman.
The cast also includes Yura Borisov as OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, Monica Barbaro as Mira Murati, and Ike Barinholtz as Elon Musk.
On top of Artificial, Garfield is also starring in The Uprising, a Robin Hood film set at the time of the Peasants’ Revolt of the 1380s. The movie is set to premiere on September 10.
READ: Andrew Garfield Once Asked: What If They paired Him Up with Michael B. Jordan?
Two Actors, Two Very Different Worlds
And yes, both projects have another juicy connection: Artificial is directed by Guadagnino, the filmmaker behind Challengers and Queer.
So while Storrie is preparing to make audiences uncomfortable as Marco and Garfield is turning one of Silicon Valley’s biggest names into movie material, both actors are clearly moving beyond the roles that made audiences fall for them in the first place.
The Bell Jar has now wrapped production, while Artificial is heading to the New York Film Festival before its U.S. theatrical release on December 25.
Two heartthrobs. Two wildly different roles. And absolutely no shortage of reasons to be curious.