Films with Lily James: a list of the best works

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Lily James is a British stage and film actress. After starting her career in 2010, the girl was able to break out into the status of a rising star in a few years. And today, by the age of thirty, she has the main roles in festival dramas, productions of the best theaters in England and Hollywood blockbusters. In this article, you can find a list of the best movies starring Lily James.

Biography and first roles

Lily Chloe Ninette Thomson was born on April 5, 1989 in the English city of Esher, which is located in Surrey. Since childhood, she was interested in an acting career and attended a school with a theatrical bias. She graduated from the prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Then the girl took the pseudonym Lily James.

The screen debut for the actress was the British series "Just William" in 2010. At the same time, James began to play in the theater, where she received the roles of Nina Zarechnaya and Desdemona. The first popularity came to her after appearing in a minor role in the world-famous TV series"Downton Abbey", which also earned Lily the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble Cast. The young actress also appeared in small roles in the blockbuster Wrath of the Titans and the independent drama Broken.

Cinderella

This picture was a real breakthrough in the career of an actress. "Cinderella" with Lily James in the title role was filmed by an outstanding theater and film director Kenneth Branagh, who also has blockbusters "Thor" and "Murder on the Orient Express". The film was one of the first playable remakes of classic Disney cartoons.

The picture tells the well-known story of a classic European fairy tale about a girl whose mother died and her father remarried. The heroine is forced to endure humiliation from her stepmother and new sisters. Thanks to the Fairy Godmother, she gets the opportunity to get to the main ball in the kingdom, where the prince falls in love with her. "Cinderella" received critical acclaim and grossed over half a billion dollars worldwide.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

The next major film with Lily James was the adaptation of the popular novel by Seth Graham-Smith "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies". Work on the project began in 2009, but was significantly delayed due to budget problems. During this time, the film has changed almost a dozen directors, and Natalie Portman and Lily could play the main role before JamesCollins.

The plot of the picture is based on numerous adaptations of the classic British novel "Pride and Prejudice", but takes place in the context of a zombie virus epidemic. The main character named Elizabeth Bennett and her sisters are forced to solve romantic problems, killing the living dead along the way. The film flopped at the box office, earning only $16 million on a budget of $28 million, and received negative reviews from critics and audiences immediately upon release. However, it has a loyal fan base and has achieved cult status in the three years since its premiere.

War and Peace

A year later, a serial film starring Lily James based on the classic novel by Leo Tolstoy was released. The actress transferred the image of Natasha Rostova to the screen. The big-budget British production follows the storyline of the book and tells the story of several noble families in early nineteenth century Russia. The mini-series received excellent reviews from critics and general audiences, and also earned Lily James several nominations for various awards.

Romeo and Juliet

In the same 2016, a screen version of the theatrical production of William Shakespeare's famous tragedy "Romeo and Juliet" starring Lily James was released in a limited release. Her partner on stage was Richard Madden, with whom the actress had already worked on the film Cinderella. The play told the story of young peoplewho fall in love with each other despite the fact that their families have been feuding for years.

Baby Driver

The next successful work of Lily James in genre cinema was the new project of the famous British director Edgar Wright, who had previously shot the cult films "Zombie named Shaun" and "Like tough cops". The film tells about a young talented driver named Baby, who is forced to participate in bank robberies. Lily played the protagonist's love interest, a waitress named Deborah, whose relationship forces Baby to leave his past life behind.

"Baby Driver" became the most commercially successful film of Edgar Wright's career and grossed a quarter of a billion dollars worldwide on a modest production budget of 34 million. The project also received a huge number of positive reviews from critics and high ratings from viewers. Immediately after the premiere, news broke that the studio was interested in a sequel to the picture.

Dark Times

That period turned out to be extremely productive for the actress. Almost simultaneously with "Baby Driver" Lily James appeared in a more serious project - "Darkest Times". The 2017 film follows Winston Churchill's first months as British Prime Minister and the outbreak of World War II. The famous politician was played by Gary Oldman, who became almost unrecognizable thanks to many hours of makeup, and stagedThe film is directed by Joe Wright, also known for the costume dramas Atonement and Anna Karenina. Lily James played Churchill's new secretary named Elizabeth in the film, who inadvertently influences the protagonist and forces him to change his political stance. Darkest Hour was the first film with Lily James to be nominated for an Oscar in the Best Picture category.

Book and Potato Peel Pie Club

The film adaptation of the novel of the same name tells about a young writer living in post-war London named Juliette Ashton, whose role was played by Lily James. She is trying to find new plots for the book, not wanting to write about the horrors of the recent war, and accidentally learns about a book club on a small British island, which during the German occupation served as a cover for illegal meetings of local residents. She begins to correspond with the inhabitants of the island, and this dramatically changes her life.

The picture will be released in Russian distribution only in August 2019, then fans of films with Lily James will be able to see it. At the same time, its premiere has already taken place in many countries. There, the film received positive reviews from professional critics and general audiences. The film has already earned over $20 million at the box office.

Mamma Mia 2

Continuation of the incredibly popular film musical. The project has become one of the most commerciallysuccessful films starring Lily James. The first part, unexpectedly for many, collected more than $ 600 million at the global box office and became a cult, so a sequel was released ten years later. The film takes place in two time periods. In the first, the plot focuses on the daughter of the main character of the first part, Donna, who died shortly before the events of the picture. The second line of the picture tells about Donna's youth, it was the heroine Meryl Streep from the first film that Lily James played. In this segment of the plot, the heroine's past is revealed and it is told how she met with all three possible fathers of her daughter. "Mamma Mia 2" grossed over $400 million worldwide, received positive reviews from critics, and was highly acclaimed by mainstream audiences, becoming one of last year's biggest surprise movie hits.