Some movies are only impressive in retrospect. These include films with unknown actors who became famous later on. Considering that most actors don't get famous immediately (or at all), and many of these young, hungry performers cross paths, there are numerous flicks full of future stars. Here are a few films with the most surprisingly star-studded casts.
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Although they were outsiders at the time, the cast of The Outsiders went on to monumental fame. Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Matt Dillon, Emilio Estevez, Diane Lane, and Ralph Macchio were launched by this 1983 coming-of-age film, while first-billed C. Thomas Howell hit his peak. That's still an incredibly high success rate for future stars.
We don't know how director Francis Ford Coppola did it, but we're happy he did.
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This 2001 depiction of the Battle of Mogadishu is also a battle of actors who would become famous. Tom Hardy made his film debut as Lance Twombly; Orlando Bloom mesmerized moviegoers as Todd Blackburn in concurrence with Legolas in The Fellowship of the Ring; and, in playing Norm "Hoot" Gibson, Eric Bana introduced himself to American audiences.
Moreover, the film contains a pre-Modern Family Ty Burrell, a pre-Entourage Jeremy Piven, a pre-Sons of Anarchy Kim Coates, and a pre-Game of Thrones Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, as well as firmly established actors like Josh Hartnett, Tom Sizemore, Ewan McGregor, William Fichtner, Sam Shepard, and Jason Isaacs.
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Ten years after 10 Years premiered, many of its then-unknown cast members are superstars. Channing Tatum, who played main protagonist Jake Stafford, was then the “Step Up guy” and is now the guy who has stepped up to all types of roles; lower-billed Chris Pratt and Aubrey Plaza had just begun Parks and Recreation and are now major movie stars; and Oscar Isaac, who played supporting character Reeves, was still years away from being a Hollywood hunk.
The little-seen rom-com also features Justin Long, Rosario Dawson, Ron Livingston, a pre-Falcon Anthony Mackie, and a pre-House of Cards Kate Mara.
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With Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Bradley Cooper, Elizabeth Banks, Judah Friedlander, Michael Ian Black, Joe Lo Truglio, and H. Jon Benjamin, Wet Hot American Summer looks like the biggest comedy blockbuster of summer 2012… only it was released in 2001 to very little attention. The filmmakers cursed themselves by casting the best comedic actors too early in their careers.
Thankfully, comedy fans eventually recognized the film's prescience and gave it belated acclaim, which resulted in most of the cast (now adequately famous) reuniting for two spinoff series, the first in 2015 and the second in 2017.
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There are angels - and now-famous actors - in the outfield of this 1994 family sports film. Preteen Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as Roger, while fresh-faced Matthew McConaughey and Adrien Brody play minor California Angels players. Fast forward 18 years and that trio has several billion dollars in box-office revenue.
In addition to actors on the rise, Angels in the Outfield debuted with actors in their prime/on the decline (depending on your perspective), such as Danny Glover, Tony Danza, and Christopher Lloyd.
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Tom Hardy was hardly a movie star when he appeared in this 2008 Guy Ritchie actioner, and neither was Idris Elba, whose most notable credit was The Wire. Today, they're rocking and rolling throughout Hollywood.
In addition to Hardy and Elba, RocknRolla features Gerard Butler, Thandiwe Newton, Ludacris, Jeremy Piven, and several other established actors.
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