Chloe Grace Moretz: Career Study
Chloë Grace Moretz is one of the busiest and most underrated young actresses in the industry - we review her career so far
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| Chloe Grace Moretz as Cassie Sullivan in 'The 5th Wave' (CREDIT: Colombia Pictures) |
by Jack Linsdell
For an actress whose only 22-years old to have appeared in over 50 feature-films is quite a feet, but to have done so with consistently good performances but little recognition (you'll recognise her face, but not know her name probably) is even more of an accomplishment. And, this is what defines Chloe Grace Moretz - one of the most sublime, busiest and underrated young actresses out there. So, I decided to examine her incredible career as a platform for giving this young talent some exposure.
There are an exclusive group of young actresses who seem to have reams of dramatic talent and are known as what I call "expressionist" actors. If that phrases sounds stupid then let me explain. By "expressionist" I mean that they are able in the subtlest of glances, actions or shifts in voice tone able to convey so much emotion regarding their character that other actors are physically unable of - this exclusive group act from the details first, not the dramatic gestures of the a-list names. This group often lends itself to young actresses who also happen to have (relatively speaking) successful singing careers as talented musicians too - probably because the expressionist ability lends itself well to the performance of songs at a concert - and some of the leading members include Hailee Steinfeld (The Edge of Seventeen), Isabela Moner (Instant Family) and Sabrina Carpenter (The Hate U Give). However, Chloe (who isn't a singer) is also amongst this group.
Arguably, Chloe Grace Moretz's break into mainstream moviemaking came through her appearance alongside Asa Butterfield in Martin Scorsese's Hugo (although some might say it was in Kick-Ass the year before), in which her energy comes through her youthful, sparkling, big, blue eyes, really bringing alive her character, Isabelle and basically steals the screen every time the camera turns to her. The film itself is a charming watch, with gorgeous visuals, an interesting subject matter and that uplifting children's film feel that comes with these sorts of part animated flicks. However, amongst all the Oscar nominations this one got, and the critical praise given to everyone else, Chloe remained largely ignored, which is an injustice considering her character really gets us through the duller moments on John Logan's script. In the same year of 2011, she also appears in the comedy-drama Hick, which is an sublime and very underrated/underseen movie starring "before the fame" Eddie Redmayne as you've never seen him before, a very game Alec Baldwin and an excellent performance by Blake Lively. However, Chloe's performance as the titular character who runs away from home really encapsulates the anxiety, emotion and instability of coming from a precarious family situation and going on the run and (spoiler alert!) when held captive in the film's third act, her physical and facial expressions convey every single emotion/feeling/thought going through her character's head to the audience - truly exceptional, and although hard to find, well worth a watch folks. But, so are most of her films though.
After Hugo, she scores more high profile roles in Tim Burton's Dark Shadows and returns for Kick-Ass 2. Then in 2013, one of her most prolific roles came through the door, playing the titular villain in Carrie alongside Juliane Moore (who Chloe claims out of all the high-profile actors she's worked with taught her the most about acting and life in general). Here, Chloe shows her abilities to be sinister and delivers an incredibly chilling and unnerving effect on anyone watching this horror based on Stephen King's novel.
After Hugo, she scores more high profile roles in Tim Burton's Dark Shadows and returns for Kick-Ass 2. Then in 2013, one of her most prolific roles came through the door, playing the titular villain in Carrie alongside Juliane Moore (who Chloe claims out of all the high-profile actors she's worked with taught her the most about acting and life in general). Here, Chloe shows her abilities to be sinister and delivers an incredibly chilling and unnerving effect on anyone watching this horror based on Stephen King's novel.
One thing to note about Chloe is this. She always give a performance of such a high-standard every time that she never seems to have an off-day (although she'll probably tell you differently) and unlike most actors (especially the most famous ones) who only seem to only turn up every now and then, Chloe will always give a performance worthy of an award. This means that a film is never, ever bad because of her - it's always the others around her or the film itself. Added to this, she rarely stars in a "bad" film anyway as she's got an eye for good stories and characters, despite the hundreds of screenplays her agent must receive annually, often elevating a poor movie into being "Okay, I guess" or surface-level entertaining due to her performance. How rare is that you go into every movie an actor stars in and know they will always deliver, even if the film doesn't? To answer that, it's very rare. Lets jump forward in time to 2016's Nicholas Stoller's Neighbours 2: Sorority Rising (the sequel to Neighbours) and although providing surface-level entertainment on it's own merit, Chloe's performance in this as a young girl who leads a sorority against Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne (who live next door) is what elevates this film quality wise. As usual, she plays her character with the same detailed and emotional portrayal as she does anyone else, and her "expressionist" style (so to speak) is well adapted into comedy. It's just one of many examples where Chloe can actually "save" a movie.
Jumping back in time slightly, after Carrie, we get three excellent performances in 2014 in the romantic-drama If I Stay (a really moving and intimate performance here; one of her most intricate yet), The Clouds of Sills Maria and alongside Denzel Washington in The Equalizer (although The Equalizer 2 is a better movie, Chloe again is a crucial/added value element into watching the original over the sequel). You can already see that her filmography is incredibly diverse, covering all genres from the comedy to the horror, all different types of film (animation - she's voicing a character in the upcoming The Addams Family movie soon - to live-action) and from the tentpole to the indie budgeted movies. This diverse range of films showcase how versatile she is because Chloe can continuously give her a-game even if the movie is a different genre/form/budget to what she's done before. That's why you know your guaranteed quality if her name is attached to the film.
Jumping into 2016, alongside Neighbours 2: Sorority Rising, she also appears in one of my favourite films of all time in the big-budget dystopian epic that is The 5th Wave. This J. Blakeson directorial debut is truly the finest example of how to make a good movie, and not just any good movie, but one with money invested into it. For a debut, Blakeson's direction is incredible, Henry Jackman's score completes the film by creating 2-hrs of tension and immersing us into the world and the narrative (although based on a novel) is one of the best written for a blockbuster movie. Not only does the film have this going for it already, but Chloe's performance as our "strong but vulnerable" protagonist is as usual sublime. Not only does she bring her usual emotion, integrity, depth, relatability and "expressionist" style to the table, but the film's demands for her to be involved in action scenes and stunt work ask Chloe to do something relatively new for her. Indeed, she handles the physical demands of the role brilliantly and completes her own stunt work too, really showing herself to have handled the final genre. Think Julianne Hough or Alicia Vikander who've successfully adapted themselves into the action genre, but Chloe with the The 5th Wave truly delivers something exceptional here, and although she's done some caulking movies, it's brilliant to see her in a quality of film that matches her performance for once. Not many people saw this movie, so now is your chance folks. This is definitely worth it.
As we round off, we have another three of her best movies/performances in the 2018 The Miseducation of Cameron Post (which after taking a two year break - her first one in her whole career - was the first movie she agreed to do after conconsidering her career), Netflix's Brain on Fire and the recent thriller Greta that came into cinemas in April and most of you missed. Out of the three, The Miseducation of Cameron Post garnered the most critical praise/media coverage and deservedly so as it's anti-conversion therapy for those who identify as gay political theme, and as ever Chloe is on top of her game here, and the break gives her a sense of freshness here too. Like all her films, this is well worth the watch and its social importance demands you see it anyway. However, lets also not forget Brain on Fire which you can all watch on Netflix right now, which is based on a true story of (no spoilers) but a young journalist who comes down with some bizarre and unexplainable symptoms - the movie is so well written that writer/director Gerard Barret structures it in a thriller-like narrative where the answer of what's actually wrong with her is saved until the end. If ever you were to choose a movie where her performance is awards-level worthy, this has to be the one. And, most recently, her performance alongside Isabela Huppert in Neil Jordan's psychological-thriller Greta is breath-taking too. When someone is such a great actor as Chloe, you run out of adjectives to sum up who spell-binding their performance is, but seriously folks watch any of these movies and you'll understand what words cannot possibly describe for you.
An honourable mention I've forgotten is November Criminals in which she stars alongside Ansel Elgort from 2017, and again this film is a very entertaining, solidly-made flick which meets the standard of Chloe's usual performance and it's complete lack of coverage makes it a hidden gem that no one really knows about.
So, when we study the career of Chloe Grace Moretz it's clear that her "normal" performance is always what most actors would accomplish in their best movies, whilst when she truly "excels" words cannot do justice to how she encapsulates her characters and conveys the largest of emotions in the smallest of physical/verbal gestures. To repeatedly bring your best every time and to only choose stories/characters to tell that are well-told on the page to start with shows a great sense of maturity for such a young person, but also that artistic integrity/love of acting weighs heavier for her than a juicy pay-check. Considering how underrated Chloe and her movies are, go check them out and share a little gem that will enrich your film-watching lives. I'd recommend the best of the bunch being Carrie, The 5th Wave, If I Stay, November Criminals, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Greta, Hick and Brain on Fire.
She's graced our screens for years and I can't wait to see what she'll do next. As ever folks, we'll see.
Jumping back in time slightly, after Carrie, we get three excellent performances in 2014 in the romantic-drama If I Stay (a really moving and intimate performance here; one of her most intricate yet), The Clouds of Sills Maria and alongside Denzel Washington in The Equalizer (although The Equalizer 2 is a better movie, Chloe again is a crucial/added value element into watching the original over the sequel). You can already see that her filmography is incredibly diverse, covering all genres from the comedy to the horror, all different types of film (animation - she's voicing a character in the upcoming The Addams Family movie soon - to live-action) and from the tentpole to the indie budgeted movies. This diverse range of films showcase how versatile she is because Chloe can continuously give her a-game even if the movie is a different genre/form/budget to what she's done before. That's why you know your guaranteed quality if her name is attached to the film.
Jumping into 2016, alongside Neighbours 2: Sorority Rising, she also appears in one of my favourite films of all time in the big-budget dystopian epic that is The 5th Wave. This J. Blakeson directorial debut is truly the finest example of how to make a good movie, and not just any good movie, but one with money invested into it. For a debut, Blakeson's direction is incredible, Henry Jackman's score completes the film by creating 2-hrs of tension and immersing us into the world and the narrative (although based on a novel) is one of the best written for a blockbuster movie. Not only does the film have this going for it already, but Chloe's performance as our "strong but vulnerable" protagonist is as usual sublime. Not only does she bring her usual emotion, integrity, depth, relatability and "expressionist" style to the table, but the film's demands for her to be involved in action scenes and stunt work ask Chloe to do something relatively new for her. Indeed, she handles the physical demands of the role brilliantly and completes her own stunt work too, really showing herself to have handled the final genre. Think Julianne Hough or Alicia Vikander who've successfully adapted themselves into the action genre, but Chloe with the The 5th Wave truly delivers something exceptional here, and although she's done some caulking movies, it's brilliant to see her in a quality of film that matches her performance for once. Not many people saw this movie, so now is your chance folks. This is definitely worth it.
As we round off, we have another three of her best movies/performances in the 2018 The Miseducation of Cameron Post (which after taking a two year break - her first one in her whole career - was the first movie she agreed to do after conconsidering her career), Netflix's Brain on Fire and the recent thriller Greta that came into cinemas in April and most of you missed. Out of the three, The Miseducation of Cameron Post garnered the most critical praise/media coverage and deservedly so as it's anti-conversion therapy for those who identify as gay political theme, and as ever Chloe is on top of her game here, and the break gives her a sense of freshness here too. Like all her films, this is well worth the watch and its social importance demands you see it anyway. However, lets also not forget Brain on Fire which you can all watch on Netflix right now, which is based on a true story of (no spoilers) but a young journalist who comes down with some bizarre and unexplainable symptoms - the movie is so well written that writer/director Gerard Barret structures it in a thriller-like narrative where the answer of what's actually wrong with her is saved until the end. If ever you were to choose a movie where her performance is awards-level worthy, this has to be the one. And, most recently, her performance alongside Isabela Huppert in Neil Jordan's psychological-thriller Greta is breath-taking too. When someone is such a great actor as Chloe, you run out of adjectives to sum up who spell-binding their performance is, but seriously folks watch any of these movies and you'll understand what words cannot possibly describe for you.
An honourable mention I've forgotten is November Criminals in which she stars alongside Ansel Elgort from 2017, and again this film is a very entertaining, solidly-made flick which meets the standard of Chloe's usual performance and it's complete lack of coverage makes it a hidden gem that no one really knows about.
So, when we study the career of Chloe Grace Moretz it's clear that her "normal" performance is always what most actors would accomplish in their best movies, whilst when she truly "excels" words cannot do justice to how she encapsulates her characters and conveys the largest of emotions in the smallest of physical/verbal gestures. To repeatedly bring your best every time and to only choose stories/characters to tell that are well-told on the page to start with shows a great sense of maturity for such a young person, but also that artistic integrity/love of acting weighs heavier for her than a juicy pay-check. Considering how underrated Chloe and her movies are, go check them out and share a little gem that will enrich your film-watching lives. I'd recommend the best of the bunch being Carrie, The 5th Wave, If I Stay, November Criminals, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Greta, Hick and Brain on Fire.
She's graced our screens for years and I can't wait to see what she'll do next. As ever folks, we'll see.
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