hen Kaitlyn Dever filmed Booksmart last
summer, she and costar Beanie Feldstein
were siloed into a friendship bubble of their
own making—living together in a high-rise apartment
on Sunset Boulevard, indulging in Kacey Musgraves
ballads and Gilmore Girls reruns. Upon its release this
past May, their buddy comedy was hailed by countless
media outlets (including this one). NPR called the duo
“sublime.” The New York Times anointed them the
comedic heirs to Lucy and Ethel, and Abbi and Ilana.
But before all that, near the end of filming, Dever re-
ceived a script for a new Netflix show, Unbelievable.
She devoured it—and the ProPublica article the mini-
series was based on. She wanted in. And after just one
audition, the lead role was hers.
Unbelievable (premiering this month) tracks the
story of Marie, a steely 18-year-old who’s been lobbed
between foster homes in Washington State her whole
life. Just when she’s finally found her footing in a
transitional-housing complex for young adults, she’s
raped at knifepoint. But according to the cops, some
details in her story don’t add up. Marie then recants
the entire event, is charged with a misdemeanor for
lying, and agrees to a plea deal, hoping to put the
whole episode behind her. Fast-forward three years,
and two small-town Colorado detectives (played
spectacularly by Toni Collette and Merritt Wever) are
coming to realize there’s a serial rapist in their midst.
The victims’ stories match Marie’s. “[Playing Marie]was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done in my life,”
says Dever, 22. “I’ve never been so involved in a char-
acter before, so emotionally connected. I just wanted
to get it right. I wanted to give this girl justice and the
voice she never had.”
Born in Phoenix, Dever moved to Dallas as a tod-
dler when her dad secured the voice role of Barney,
PBS Kids’ beloved purple dinosaur. At age nine, she
persuaded her parents, both former professional
figure skaters, to let her try acting. She landed a job
on her first-ever audition: a Barbie commercial.
Later, Dever joined the cinematic world of Ameri-
can Girl dolls and played Tim Allen’s daughter on
the ABC sitcom Last Man Standing. Off-camera,
she and her younger sister Mady, 20, perform in a
stripped-back folk-pop band, Beulahbelle, whose
bewitching, hazy harmonies were featured on last
year’s Tully soundtrack.
But for now, Dever’s main focus is acting, and
she’s been nailing memorable roles in a string of
wide-ranging films, including last month’s Appala-
chian drama Them That Follow, in which she plays
a naïve teen in a fringe religious cult that practices
snake handling, alongside Olivia Colman and Thom-
as Mann. The material was heavy, so the cast ended
up frequenting a nearby bar in small-town Ohio to
unwind. “It was the craziest place,” Dever says. “It
had an island theme, with lava, karaoke, and a kids’
jeep you could drive around.”—BKHOLLYWOOD RISING: KAITLYN DEVERJoachim Rønning’s life path
was set the day his family got
a video camera. “I decided
when I was 10 years old that
I wanted to be a filmmaker,”
says the now 47-year-old
director of Maleficent:
Mistress of Evil (October
18). While shooting the
sequel to Disney’s 2014 hit,
which reimagines Sleeping
Beauty from the evil fairy’s
perspective, there were many
“pinch-my-arm moments,”
Rønning says, especially
when the film’s three
leads—Angelina Jolie,
Elle Fanning, and Michelle
Pfeiffer—shared scenes.
“Those were my favorite
days,” he says. “You point the
camera at them, and you’re
at the movies, basically.”
Pfeiffer joins the cast as
Queen Ingrith, a paragon of
rehearsed civility who’s hiding
a dark secret. “She did all her
own stunts,” Rønning says
of Pfeiffer. “That blew me
away.” Ultimately, though, the
film’s emotional crux mirrors
the original’s. The newly
engaged Aurora (Fanning)
is settling into a rebellious
stage, and Maleficent is afraid
of losing her. “Any parent
can relate to that,” says the
Norwegian director, who has
two daughters, ages 13 and- “That day will come when
they move out.” Rønning,
who lives in L.A. with fiancée
Amanda Hearst, is joining
his second Disney franchise,
having also cohelmed 2017’s
Pirates of the Caribbean:
Dead Men Tell No Tales.
He made his first splash,
however, with 2013’s Kon-
Tiki, his biopic of Norwegian
explorer Thor Heyerdahl,
which was nominated for a
best foreign language Oscar.
“That’s when all the doors
opened,” he says.—BK
Director
Spotlight:
Joachim
RønningTVW
MOVIESDEVER: CLIFF WATTS/NETFLIX.