The Bikeriders’ All-Star Lineup—Plus Films That Also Boast Great Ensemble Casts

Inspired by Danny Lyon’s photo book of the same name, Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders tells the story of a motorcycle gang in the ‘60s and ‘70s, the Vandals. While the story is centered on relationships between Kathy (Jodie Comer), the biker she marries (Austin Butler), and the gang’s leader (Tom Hardy), the supporting cast—including Michael Shannon, Mike Faist, Norman Reedus, Boyd Holbrook, Emory Cohen, and more—gives this world the depth and energy it deserves. “There's not a performance here that isn't admirable for its sheer chutzpah,” writes Entertainment Weekly. “Nichols has assembled an estimable ensemble, and they bring to life the antics and erratic violence of their characters with great authenticity.”

To pay tribute to ensemble performances, we’re showcasing some of our favorite movies with extraordinary casts that give their stories an added richness and resonance.

The Bikeriders is now playing in theaters, so get your tickets!

Burn After Reading

For their zany spy spoof, Burn After Reading, the Coen Brothers gathered a stellar cast to play out all the absurdity and ambition of national politics. For George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, Richard Jenkins, and J.K. Simmons, Washington, D.C. is a world fueled by political intrigue, personal secrets, and plastic surgery. “It’s an A-list group, and every member brings his or her A game,” The Atlantic writes about the actors, many of whom have worked with the Coens before. Indeed, the film was written with the cast in mind, because, as Ethan Coen tells Uncut, “We just wanted to do something with these specific people.” The filmmakers got a film, as Newsweek writes, “populated with a cast of delusional dunces who are a wonder to behold.”

Watch Burn After Reading on Apple TV or Amazon.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

In Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Tomas Alfredson’s adaption of John le Carré’s masterpiece, Gary Oldman was nominated for an Academy Award® for playing George Smiley, the master spy bent on uncovering a mole deep inside British intelligence. His supporting cast—which included Tom Hardy, Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch, John Hurt, Mark Strong, Ciarán Hinds, Kathy Burke, and more—made his Cold War world of deception and betrayal terrifyingly real. Variety writes, “Casting is one of the pic’s strongest suits, with an ensemble that reps some of the finest talent working.” Moving from London to Budapest to Istanbul, the film spotlights the human tragedy of espionage through its subtle performances. In a world where “a nod or a smile reveals far more than an explosion or a judo kick, Tinker Tailor is a masterwork of psychological warfare,” writes PopMatters.

Watch Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy on Apple TV or Amazon.

Dazed and Confused

Set in 1976, on the last day of classes at Lee High School in Austin, Texas, Richard Linklater’s American classic Dazed and Confused snapshots a generation. Entertainment Weekly wrote, “Once every decade or so, a movie captures the hormone-drenched, fashion-crazed, pop-song-driven rituals of American youth culture with such loving authenticity that it comes to seem a kind of anthem, as innocently giddy and spirited as the teenagers it’s about.” The film brings together a remarkable cast—including Matthew McConaughey, Ben Affleck, Parker Posey, Renee Zellweger, Adam Goldberg, and Jason London—to capture the intertwining lives of teenagers on the brink of adulthood. Ironically, many of the cast, relatively unknown at the time, were also on the precipice of becoming stars. The film helped “to discover and elevate a large group of young actors to fame and fortune, in some cases reaching A-List status and Oscar-winning careers as their profiles skyrocketed,” writes MovieWeb.

Watch Dazed and Confused on Apple TV or Amazon.

Asteroid City

In Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, an extraordinary group of characters—played by Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jason Schwartzman, Bryan Cranston, Jeffrey Wright, Steve Carell, Hope Davis, Maya Hawke, and more—gather in a desert whistle stop for the Junior Stargazer/Space Cadet convention and share an unexpected yet miraculous experience together. In this isolated town, each character discovers in the process that they have a role to play in the miraculous drama unfolding before their and our eyes. “Much of the pleasure here comes from the perfectly calibrated and very deadpan performances from his actors, even those in the minor parts,” writes the Independent. “Asteroid City evokes the memory of what it was to first see a Wes Anderson film, surprised and delighted by its singular vision of life on Earth,” Vanity Fair writes.

Watch Asteroid City on Apple TV or Amazon.

Housekeeping for Beginners

In Housekeeping for Beginners, writer-director Goran Stolevski shows us the complex, often comic work it takes to keep a family together. When Dita (Anamaria Marinca) must take on the job of raising her girlfriend’s two children—a troublemaking little girl (Dzada Selim) and a rebellious teen (Mia Mustafi)—everyone in her crowded home—from local friends to her roommate (Vladimir Tintor) and his new boyfriend (Samson Selim)—pitch in. “A superb ensemble is fully alive to the funny, fractious possibilities of Stolevski’s writing, sometimes playing at different pitches but always believably in the same claustrophobic space,” writes Variety. In the end, as Screen Daily writes, “The churning tensions and layers of anxiety, the riotous humor, and the hostility, the individual stories that play out simultaneously in every family: it’s all superbly captured.”

Watch Housekeeping for Beginners on Apple TV or Amazon.