Ensemble: The Young Emperors

A picture from "The Emperor's Club" (2002), a movie I loved when it came out. Of course, none of the young actors in it were recognizable or known at the time. My recent interest in Eisenberg led me to re-discover this the other day, and I couldn't believe that I knew three of the young leads so well. Apologies to the dude on the far left, (who was great in the movie and though probably as talented as his co-stars, will never get a fair chance due to his ethnicity), but the photo is all about the young Emile Hirsch, Jesse Eisenberg, and Paul Dano.

Then and Now: At the time of shooting, they would have been around 16, 18, and 17, respectively. This sort of picture just gives me tingles, thinking, "oh, little did they know!" There's always at least one star who emerges from youth ensembles, but it's so much fun knowing that within a few years, all three of their careers would have a star-making turn; that would be "Into the Wild" for Hirsch, "The Social Network", of course, for Eisenberg. Paul Dano is the one most likely never to reach leading-man status, but he's compensated for this by appearing in great vehicles, such as "Little Miss Sunshine" and "There Will Be Blood". None of them have been nominated for any Oscars yet, with Hirsch coming the closest after earning great notices for his Christopher McCandless and his adorable character in "Milk", and buzz starting for Eisenberg for "The Social Network".

What's Up Next: Hirsch will star in "The Darkest Hour", a Russian sci-fi thriller with Olivia Thirlby and Max Minghella (from "The Social Network"!), Paul Dano in the indie movie "Ellen" and then John Favreau's "Cowboys and Indians" along with Daniel Craig, and Jesse Eisenberg, arguably the last of the three to hit his stride, is currently filming the comedy "30 Minutes Or Less" with Danny McBride, though of course with this new movie, he's going to be receiving a lot of interesting film offers.