Here's Where You Know The Cast Of Bodies Bodies Bodies From
Director Halina Reijn's new horror film for A24, "Bodies Bodies Bodies," is about a group of Gen Z friends (and one older boyfriend) who meet up at a remote mansion to wait out a hurricane. While they're there, one of them suggests they play a game. Before they know it, the night devolves into a real-life murder mystery, full of "backstabbing" and "fake friends" (per IMDb). The film is "like 'Mean Girls' meets 'Lord of the Flies,'" Reijn explained to Entertainment Weekly. "Bodies Bodies Bodies" is garnering rave reviews, and it's sure to be a career boost for its young, talented cast.
"The whole cast was incredible," one of the stars, Maria Bakalova, told Collider. "These are all people I'm dying to work with over and over and over again." But... who are Bakalova's fellow actors, exactly? While a couple of them have been around a while, many of them are just starting their journeys on their ascent to stardom; the more famous ones may look familiar, but from where? There are lots of things to fear in "Bodies Bodies Bodies," but recognizing the cast doesn't need to be one of them; read on instead for a look at why you know the cast of what Entertainment Weekly called "the summer's must-see horror-comedy."
Pete Davidson is an SNL breakout
When he first became famous, Pete Davidson was just the "Resident Young Person" on "Saturday Night Live," bantering with his older castmates about what it was like to turn 21. He went on to create fan-favorite recurring character Chad, known for being an affable, lovable doofus, but it wasn't long before Davidson's off-camera persona threatened to overtake his comedic one. Davidson kicked up a whirlwind romance with pint-sized pop star Ariana Grande in 2018, dominating the tabloids as the couple walked around New York together, Grande staring lovingly up at her boyfriend while sucking on a lollipop.
She even told the world about Davidson's, uh, "BDE," sparking a cultural movement (via The Cut). Their relationship was not to last, but he quickly rebounded, staying in the press thanks to high-profile hookups like Kate Bosworth and a certain someone named Kim Kardashian. He also became a bona-fide movie star, acting in films like Judd Apatow's "The King of Staten Island" and "The Suicide Squad."
That brings us to Davidson's appearance in "Bodies Bodies Bodies," where he plays into his status as an unlikely sex symbol as David, the boyfriend of Chase Sui Wonders' character Emma. In the film's trailer, Davidson deadpans, "I just look like I f***, you know what I mean? I look like I f***, and that's the vibe I like to put out there."
Lee Pace made pies
In "Bodies Bodies Bodies," Lee Pace's Greg is the odd man out. He's much older than the twenty-something friend group that makes up most of the cast — Pace himself is in his 40s, per IMDb — but he's in a relationship with Rachel Sennott's character Alice, who is significantly younger. Still, Greg is as eager as the rest of them to play the dangerous game at the center of the film, and as the situation spirals out of control, he might just wind up being the villain. (So could any of them; that's how "Bodies Bodies Bodies" works). At the film's red-carpet premiere at SXSW, Pace told interviewer Julian Soto, "I want people to get raucous. I think it's gonna be good."
TV audiences first met Pace in a pair of Brian Fuller television shows, "Wonderfalls" and "Pushing Daisies." In the latter, he played Ned the Piemaker, a pastry chef with a whimsical ability to bring things back from the dead simply by touching them. "When you have love, when you have enjoyment, a love of life, that's the thing that makes a show about death not really about death," Pace told Vulture years later.
He has since gone on to star in the critical hit show "Halt and Catch Fire," and he played Thranduil in Peter Jackson's "Hobbit" trilogy. He also goes viral semi-regularly for his thirst-trap habit, including one infamous photo that saw the 6'3" actor sprawled out on the bow of a boat.
Amandla Stenberg wants to play a game
"Who wants to play Bodies Bodies Bodies?" asks Amandla Stenberg's character Sophie in the opening moments of the film of the same name. Little does Sophie know that her invitation will lead her friends into what the film's official description calls "one party gone very, very wrong."
Stenberg (who uses she/they pronouns, per People) has been a regular fixture in Hollywood ever since they starred as the ill-fated Rue in the first "Hunger Games" film. Television roles on "Sleepy Hollow" and "Mr. Robinson" followed before she had her real breakout in the 2018 film "The Hate U Give." In that movie, Stenberg played Starr, a girl who watches her boyfriend get shot by police; the incident sparks an uprising and a social justice movement. They told Popsugar, "I think it's not often that we, as women of colour, are afforded such colourful and multidimensional depictions of ourselves. I felt like I had never seen myself represented in a way that was honest and candid and depicted all the facets of self that we experience as women of colour who often have to code-switch in our contemporary world."
Since "The Hate U Give," Stenberg starred on Netflix's limited series "The Eddy." For their part in the film adaptation of "Dear Evan Hansen," they even co-wrote and sang an original song (per EW), called "The Anonymous Ones." Now that you know why you recognize Amandla Stenberg, she's anonymous no longer!
Rachel Sennott had a great 2021
Before the last few years, standup comedian Rachel Sennott was best known for her on-stage comedy work and for her funny internet presence. You may have seen one viral video she made about what movies set in Los Angeles think the city is like; wearing a too-stylish crop top and red sunglasses, she twirls in front of the camera while delivering instantly-quotable lines like "C'mon... it's LA!" She explained her thinking behind the video to Interview Magazine, noting, "There's a few things about that kind of a comedy bit: Dress hot. Someone else is holding the phone. It's under one minute. And it can't feel too forced."
Despite telling The Guardian that she preferred comedy to acting, Sennott had a busy 2021 as an actor. The comedian moved to (where else?) LA to star in "Call Your Mother," a since-canceled multi-cam sitcom where she acted opposite Kyra Sedgwick. She also played the lead role in "Shiva Baby," Emma Seligman's anxiety-inducing, critically-beloved comedy-drama about a young woman who runs into some people she'd rather avoid at a shiva.
In "Bodies Bodies Bodies," Sennott is poised to break out even bigger. She's particularly proud of the film's queer inclusivity, telling High Snobiety, "What's really important to me is seeing queer women portrayed as they are, where it's not just shiny perfect or really sad. The queer girls in this movie are so messy and toxic, and I love it."
Chase Sui Wonders is a star for a Generation
"Bodies Bodies Bodies" sees Chase Sui Wonders step into a role previously held by superstars like Ariana Grande and Kim Kardashian: Pete Davidson's girlfriend. Speaking with Hollywire, Wonders described her character as "hiding," which we suspect might just have a double meaning, considering the deadly game at the center of the film! "I think a lot of the characters are," she said. "It is a toxic group, a lot of toxic dynamics swirling about ...Part of what comes from those group dynamics is like, not being yourself and not really coming to terms with who you are .... Emma is a girl who is definitely concealing a lot."
This isn't Wonders' first time acting in a horror film; she also appeared in the 2019 movie "Daniel Isn't Real." In addition to her role in Sofia Coppola's "On the Rocks," Wonders is perhaps best known for her star turn on HBO Max series "Generation." She played Riley on that show, a character who she described to Harper's Bazaar as a "rock for other people." However, she enjoyed letting viewers into the character as the series went on, adding, "Getting to play that and getting to play what's behind the mask was something that was really, really fun."
Wonders is also recognizable thanks to her off-screen relationship with "Riverdale" star Charles Melton. They went Instagram-official weeks before the release of "Bodies Bodies Bodies," sharing a snap online of themselves at a baseball game.
Maria Bakalova pranked Rudy Giuliani
It's rare for a debut role in Hollywood to make international political news — as opposed to just entertainment news — but that's exactly what happened to Bulgarian actor Maria Bakalova. She broke through when she starred in Sacha Baron Cohen's 2020 sequel to "Borat," playing his daughter Tutar, a young woman learning about America just as her hapless father did in the first film. "Borat Subsequent Moviefilm" included an infamous sequence where Bakalova wound up in a hotel room with Rudy Giuliani, lawyer for then-President Donald Trump; though Bakalova's character was said to be underage, the "Borat" cameras captured the former Mayor of New York City putting his hands down his pants. Everyone from The New York Times to The Guardian covered the incident, putting Bakalova at the center of a political firestorm.
She has since relaxed into the role of bona-fide movie star; according to /Film, she was on-hand at the 2022 edition of San Diego Comic-Con to promote her upcoming role as Cosmo the Spacedog in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3." The next role most people will see, however, is in "Bodies Bodies Bodies;" in the A24 horror film, Bakalova plays Bee, new girlfriend of Amandla Stenberg's character Sophie. She told Collider that she was initially afraid of acting in the movie. "I'm scared of horror, but A24 horror movies are something different," she said. "Plus, I think at the end, 'Bodies Bodies Bodies' feels more like an R-rated comedy because everybody brought their funniness."
Conner O'Malley is a comedian
Deadline announced that Conner O'Malley had joined the cast of "Bodies Bodies Bodies" back in May 2021; his character's involvement in the story has been kept quiet ahead of the film's release, so we won't spoil it here. O'Malley is best known as a comedian, the creator of bitingly-satirical viral videos like "SMOKING 500 CIGARETTES FOR 5G." In that video, a parody of the increasingly-ridiculous world of online conspiracy-theorizing, his character becomes convinced that the Burlington Coat Factory killed Jeffrey Epstein. Proving O'Malley's impact on his fans, the refrain can still be found in the replies to many Burlington Coat Factory tweets.
O'Malley has also helped shape television behind-the-scenes. He worked as a writer for "Late Night with Seth Meyers," and he told KCPR that the gig was a dream job. "To be part of a show that's launching from the ground up and you get to help decide what the show is going to be — or get to contribute your comedic voice to it — was kind of the dream," he reflected. According to IMDb, he also appeared on-screen multiple times on the talk show, joining sketches as characters with names like "DJ Puncher" and "Stink Mouth PigMan." He has appeared on other shows, too, including Netflix's "I Think You Should Leave" and Adult Swim's "Joe Pera Talks With You." Vulture even wrote multiple guides to getting into O'Malley's oeuvre, suggesting that this comedian will be sticking around a while.
Horror movies are new for Myha'la Herrold
"Bodies Bodies Bodies" star Myha'la Herrold doesn't like horror movies. "I'm cool with a thriller. I love a murder mystery. Give me true crime any day. But a slasher moment? So not my jam at all," she told High Snobiety ahead of the release of the film. Still, though, Herrold seems to have enjoyed making the film; the cast all speak very highly of one another. She even told Yahoo! that the film's hurricane sequences were more lifelike than audiences may assume, because they were filmed during an actual rainstorm on set. "We were fully in a hurricane," she recalled. "Actual tons and tons of rain. And then trees and things flying through the air, slapping us in the face."
Herrold's star is on the rise thanks to parts in a number of high-profile projects, including a secondary role in actor Natalie Morales' film for Hulu, "Plan B." Herrold also stars on HBO's well-received drama "Industry" as Harper, a young Black woman working in finance. She told Complex that she was particularly proud of the response to the role that she'd gotten from Black Twitter. "That is the most fulfilling, greatest honor I could ask for, or even imagined for myself because I know that these people exist," she said. "They just haven't seen themselves onscreen. It's a huge privilege to be able to be one of the first people to do it."