Make way for our new favorite scream queen as we look back at through the last few years of Maika Monroe movies!
Two years ago, Maika Monroe had her breakthrough role in the horror film It Follows, and she’s become a one of our favorite scream queens. Even though she’s transitioning to more dramatic roles, she’s already fighting off two cinematic alien invasions this year! That’s not bad for someone who has only been acting professionally for only the last four years.
Next week, Monroe will get major exposure in Independence Day: Resurgence, as Patricia Whitmore, the grown-up daughter of former President Whitmore. This time, Patricia has a much bigger role to play in the story as one of the leading characters. But we wouldn’t be surprised at all if Monroe’s onscreen alter ego lives to fight the aliens in another Independence Day sequel.
Ahead of the June 24th opening for Independence Day: Resurgence, ComingSoon.net is looking back at Monroe’s relatively brief film career, which includes to more major movies that are slated to come out this year!
Maika Monroe Movies Spotlight: At Any Price (2012)
Monroe made her big screen debut in At Any Price, a movie in which she played Cadence Farrow, the girlfriend of Zac Efron’s Dean Whipple. While Monroe appeared throughout the film, the focus was on Dean’s contentious relationship with his father, Henry, as played by Dennis Quaid. Dean wanted to be a professional race driver, while Henry wanted to force his son into the family business just as a scandal loomed that could cost the Whipples everything.
Thanks to her role in this film, Monroe clearly turned some heads. But it took another two years before her next major part.
Maika Monroe Movies Spotlight: The Bling Ring (2013)
Monroe’s next role was little more than a cameo in director Sofia Coppola’s The Bling Ring. Monroe played a “Beach Girl” in a film that adapted the real story of a group of young women known as “the Bling Ring” who stole from celebrities. Emma Watson, Taissa Farmiga, and Claire Julien were the primary stars in this movie.
Maika Monroe Movies Spotlight: The Guest (2014)
The Guest was the first film to place Monroe as one of the primary leading characters. She played Anna Peterson, a young woman who becomes suspicious of David (Dan Stevens), a recently-returned soldier who claims to be the best friend of her recently deceased brother. Of course, it turned out that David was much more dangerous than he seemed, and it gave Monroe her first “Scream Queen” experience, even though the threat she faced wasn’t supernatural or a slasher.
Maika Monroe Movies Spotlight: It Follows (2014)
Imagine if your one night stand cursed you for the rest of your life. That was essentially the premise of It Follows, which cast Monroe in the lead as Jay. Within the film, Jay had the misfortune of hooking up with Hugh (Jake Weary), who only slept with her to pass on a very specific sexually transmitted curse. Essentially, a supernatural entity would pursue Jay (very slowly) until she passed it on to someone else… and even then, it would still come back to haunt her if it caught its next victim!
It Follows was an unexpected success, and it catapulted Monroe to even greater heights.
Maika Monroe Movies Spotlight: Echoes of War (2015)
For her next movie, Monroe had a supporting role in the post-Civil War drama, Echoes of War. She played Abigail Riley, the daughter of Ethan Embry’s Seamus Riley, who reluctantly welcomed their brother-in-law, Wade (James Badge Dale) into their home during the family’s struggle with Randolph McCluskey (William Forsythe), a corrupt rancher. Technically, Monroe is the female lead in this film, but she was overshadowed by her male co-stars.
Maika Monroe Movies Spotlight: The 5th Wave (2016)
Earlier this year, Chloë Grace Moretz headlined The 5th Wave, a YA alien invasion film. Monroe had a small part in the movie as Ringer, a young woman who had the courage to remove her implant and inspire her companions to do the same. She even gets to make it through to the end of the movie despite not being one of the leads!
Maika Monroe Movies Spotlight: Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)
Although Mae Whitman played the President’s daughter in the first ID4, Monroe will play Patricia Whitmore as an adult in the sequel. Within Independence Day: Resurgence, Patricia will be working in the White House for the current President, Elizabeth Lanford (Sela Ward) and she will also be the love interest of the film’s new hero, Jake Morrison (Liam Hemsworth).
The film does try to create some tension about who will survive. But it’s a Roland Emmerich movie, which means that most of the leads will live to
possibly return for another sequel.
Maika Monroes Movie Spotlight: Hot Summer Nights (2016)
Monroe’s next movie is also tentatively set for this year. The former Blacklist script Hot Summer Nights has cast Monroe in the female lead as McKayla Strawberry. The story is set in 1991, and it’s said to be a coming of age story as “a teenager’s life spiral out of control when he befriends the town’s rebel, falls in love, and gets entangled in selling drugs over one summer in Cape Cod.”
The 5th Wave’s Alex Roe will reunite with Monroe in this film and play her onscreen brother, Hunter.
Maika Monroe Movies Spotlight: The Scent of Rain & Lightning
The Scent of Rain & Lightning once again places Monroe in the leading role. Based upon Nancy Pickard’s novel of the same name, Monroe plays Jody Linder, a young woman who is alarmed to discover that the man who murdered her parents has been released from jail. Along the way, she’ll have to deal with some potentially lethal family secrets that come to the surface.
(Photo Credit: FayesVision / WENN.com)
