The Boys Who Brought Back Movie Stardom
You see them on the sidewalk of SoHo, headphones around their neck, tote bag hanging on their shoulder, drifting out of a hotel lobby with a take-away coffee. They float like movie stars and trigger your inner fangirl mode. The one you thought you left behind in your childhood bedroom, where you plastered million posters on the walls. But here they are again. They make you believe in fantasy again. You dream of bumping into one of them on a city street, falling into some unplanned moment of connection and instant chemistry.
They play rough, messy, toxic roles. But off-screen? They’re more quiet and mysterious. The fact that they can be the hot mess, the emotionally unavailable, the bad guy we all somehow choose over the nice one. Chaos on screen but in real life, they’re soft. Polite. That combination of good posture and good manners, the “raised-right” energy wrapped in perfect jawlines. They’re tall, they fit their clothes perfectly, they know how to look at a camera but somehow they’re not trying too hard. They know what they’re doing. And it works. It’s annoying, almost. Because you assume there’s a normal guy somewhere in there and you want to see him for himself. You see through it. Or at least, you think you do.
Jacob Elordi, the tall chaos we can’t escape
He’s everywhere. Saltburn, Euphoria, Priscilla, now Frankenstein. Jacob Elordi is the new blueprint of a movie star who doesn’t even try to be one. He’s got that energy, playing the bad guy so well that you forget it’s acting. And yet, off-screen he’s calm, almost shy. You see him at Fashion Week sitting front row in a designer coat, or walking through New York in loose linen trousers and a simple t-shirt, holding a coffee and carrying a Burkin the most casual way possible. He’s the face of Bottega Veneta, in Hugo Boss campaigns, but never loud about it. No social media. That’s his magic, he knows he’s the moment. You hate how easy it is to fall for it.
Photo: Elisabetta A. Villa
Chris Briney & Gavin Casalegno, the summer crush revival
If you survived this summer, you survived Team Conrad vs Team Jeremiah. Chris Briney and Gavin Casalegno brought back something rare; the innocent, collective crush. The kind we haven’t seen since the early 2000s. We used to know it from Team Edward vs Team Jacob, Team Damon vs Team Stefan, Team Cuck Big vs Aiden. The summer I turned pretty brought it back in 2025. Chris is the quiet one, the black-cat boyfriend energy, the slow burn. He’s not loud, but you feel him. He’s the guy whose silence says too much. Off screen, he shows up at Prada shows, soft-smiling with hands in pockets. He’s in a relationship, low-key, kind of private, kind of normal. Which makes him even more crushable.
Courtesy of Louis Vuitton
Gavin is the opposite; golden boy, sunshine energy, the nice guy everyone thought they didn’t want until they realized they did. He’s married, travels the world with his wife and appears in her influencer content like he doesn’t realize he’s famous. TSITP turned love triangles into culture again. They made fangirling fun again, a little ironic and overanalysing behavior like we are their personal therapist, fighting over which boy is the green and which is the red flag. Somehow they made us forget for a moment we are actual grown ups with real responsibilties.
Photo: Michael Loccisano
Timothée Chalamet, the DiCaprio of our generation
He’s the one everyone agrees on, the new Hollywood legend. He carries that same electricity Leo had in the 2000s, the kind where you don’t even need to like him to be obsessed watching him play in every movie. Call Me By Your Name, Dune, Wonka, Bones and All and now this upcoming ping-pong biopic that he’s apparently been preparing for six years. Who even does that anymore? He trains like an athlete, studies like a historian and still somehow keeps the same boyish energy that made everyone fall for him in the first place. There’s something iconic about the fact that he’s also dating Kylie Jenner, the ultimate modern it-girl. Together they look like the new power couple of fame: a script you couldn’t write better. And when he’s not on a red carpet or in a blockbuster, he’s just himself in a Hoodie, cheering loud for his favorite NBA team somewhere in New York. He’s humble and approachable in a way that makes fame look human again. He’s the kind of actor who reminds you that authenticity is charisma.
Photo: Aidan Zamiri
Austin Butler, the modern classic
Austin Butler carries his charm and confidence like someone who belongs on screen. After Elvis he became the next big thing. The accent stayed, the intensity stayed and what really lingered was that old Hollywood rhythm he seems to move in. He feels borrowed from another era but completely made for this one. The tall blond with blue eyes and a half-smile that somehow slows time. He played the soldier, the poet, the heartbreaker and you fall for every version. Off screen he’s calm and funny. You see him at the Bad Bunny concert laughing like a guy you actually know, at a Saint Laurent premiere in perfect tailoring. He’s what happens when old school romance meets new age cool and the perfect example why we fell in love with movie stars in the first place.
Photo: Theo Wargo
The Fangirl Renaissance
Maybe it’s not even about them, maybe it’s about us. We grew up watching movie stars and building entire worlds around the idea of them. We used to fall for the fantasy, the moment they’d lock eyes with us across the school cafeteria, the way they’d fall in love quietly, mysteriously. Back then in 2010 it felt harmless. Sweet. Something you’d grow out of.
But here we are again, older, more self-aware, still catching ourselves scrolling through edits, movie clips, red-carpet interviews, feeling that same teenage heartbeat. The new generation of movie boys let us remember what it feels like to fall for a crush.
So yeah, fangirling is cool again.