Why Andrew From Knock At The Cabin Looks So Familiar
M. Night Shyamalan is one of the most well-known directors in Hollywood. He is known for his installments into the horror genre and the inevitable twist endings we, as fans, have come to expect. Whether Bruce Willis is dead the whole time in "The Sixth Sense" or "The Village" actually takes place in modern times, nothing is what it seems when Shyamalan is at the helm.
Shyamalan released a trailer for his new movie, "Knock at the Cabin," which sees a family taking a vacation to a cabin in remote New Hampshire. During their stay, four people invade their home and declare that one of them must be killed by the others to avoid an impending apocalypse. The group is led by Dave Bautista and includes Rupert Grint of "Harry Potter" fame in what seems to be a cult-like mentality. The film is based on the novel "The Cabin at the End of the World" by Paul Trembley, which won the Horror Writer's Association's Bram Stoker Award in 2019.
The cast is diverse and precisely what you can come to expect from Shyamalan; there are some faces you know, some you don't, and then at least one you should know. One of the parents of the little girl (Kristen Cui) has a face you have likely seen all over the industry, but if you have a hard time placing him, here is where you laid eyes on him before.
He led Vocal Adrenaline in Glee
"Glee" gave the world a lot of things: a newfound love for musical television, for one, a slew of incredibly talented musicians/actors, and most importantly, it ushered in a new era of inclusivity. As told by Louis Staples for the Independent, the series subverted the heteronormative high school model and made coming out more comfortable. The series followed high school kids that elected to join a Glee club to escape the harsh realities of life.
Jonathan Groff appeared as Jesse St. James, a senior at Carmel High School. He served as the leader of Vocal Adrenaline, the rich show choir that acted as the rivals of the show's protagonist group, New Directions. St. James left Vocal Adrenaline to join New Directions after he transferred to the school. After his ruse was complete, he ditched them and returned to his villainous ways. He returned in Season 2 with Vocal Adrenaline and then in Season 3 as their coach.
Groff portrayed him as brash, arrogant, and driven to succeed in the music business. However, upon closer inspection, he is very similar to the series' main protagonist, Rachel Berry (Lea Michelle). When asked by Entertainment Tonight if fans will ever see St. James before the end of the series in 2015 again, Groff joked, "Oh gosh. I don't, I mean there's still time. Jesse St. James might still pop up. You never know. It's not over yet!" He showed up later that year in the sixth and final season.
He studied serial killers in Mindhunter
Nobody knows crime on the screen like David Fincher, and nobody knows crime in the real world like the FBI. In 2017, those two came together for the Netflix historical thriller "Mindhunter." The series lasted for two seasons and is based on the book "Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit" by John Douglas, whom the main series character, Holden Ford, is based. Much like J. Edgar Hoover pioneered the use of fingerprints in criminal investigation, "Mindunter" follows the founding of the unit that pioneered criminal profiling. "Mindhunter" followed Ford's deep dive into the most disturbing cases in the 1970s.
Jonathan Groff leads the cast as Ford, along with Holt McCallany ("Blue Bloods," "Lights Out") and Anna Torv ("Fringe," "The Newsreader"). Groff spoke with NPR about his approach to his character, "I started by reading the book "Mindhunter," written by John Douglas, who my character is inspired by. And he really lays it all out in that book, just sort of specifically his journey but also emotionally the kind of toll that talking to the serial killers — and he even says more so talking to the victims — had on him in his life." The actor went on to remind everyone of what happens when emotional pain goes untreated, "He did have a total mental and physical breakdown."
It is difficult not to draw parallels when watching the series between "Mindhunter" and "Criminal Minds," as if Groff's Holden Ford paved the way for Shemar Moore's Derek Morgan.
He stole the show in Hamilton
Few productions have had a more considerable impact on culture and their industries than Lin-Manuel Miranda's smash Broadway hit, "Hamilton." It hit the Richard Rogers Theater in August of 2015 and opened to rave reviews in The Economist. The play, rumored to have taken star Miranda seven years to write, follows the story of Alexander Hamilton's life from immigrant to forgotten founding father.
The use of a diverse cast telling the story through hip hop, jazz, pop, and soul endeared the production to audiences. Marisol Adame, contributing to The Prospector, wrote, "'Hamilton' has a significant cultural impact because it is the story of how America looked years ago, represented by how America looks like today. 'Hamilton' introduces an immigrant narrative, which I had not seen in a Broadway show before, much less in this very distinctive way with a very inclusive cast."
Jonathan Groff appeared as King George III in what is arguably the best role in the cast. Groff earned his second Tony nomination (according to the awards show's website) in only nine minutes on the stage. The Hollywood Reporter asked him what the best thing about playing the king was, and he answered, "Playing the king, you get to speak directly to the audience, and you can do anything you want. I didn't get to have a lot of stage time with my fellow castmates, but I got to build a relationship with the audience every night." When "Hamilton" hit Disney+ in 2020, it took the actor to a new level of stardom with his performance landing in front of vastly more people than the Broadway show ever could.
He was plugged in for The Matrix Resurrections
Just like "Hamilton," "The Matrix" changed the face of its industry when it turned reality on its head with the concept that humans were living in a simulation. The trilogy followed Neo (Keanu Reeves) as the savior of humanity against the machines. Nearly two full decades after the trilogy ended, Reeves and director Lana Wachowski returned fans to the world of two realities with 2021's "The Matrix Resurrections."
Jonathan Groff appeared as the new version of Agent Smith. He brought a younger and more upgraded portrayal of the character made famous by the iconic Hugo Weaving ("V for Vendetta," "The Lord of the Rings"). In an interview with GQ, Groff talked about how it felt taking over the role, saying that it helped that Lana Wachowski wasn't looking for an imitation but rather "new programming." Allowing him to be himself. He also spoke about the surreal feeling of being in a movie of a franchise he grew up with. "I was like, I'm not really gonna fight with Keanu Reeves — like, this is f****** insane," he says. "So I had to compartmentalize a little bit and just commit. That was the only way to overcome the disbelief that I would even be able to do it — my instinctual way of dealing with the insanity of what was happening."
The GQ article also covers his coming out story after his first four years in New York. Now, he will be playing one half of a gay couple in Shyamalan's new film, bringing his career and personal life full circle.