WOMAN with a PAST

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It's quite likely you've seen Sarah Gadon on-screen at least once or twice in the past few years. In addition to roles in this year's The Amazing SpiderMan 2 and Belle, Gadon has appeared in three David Cronenberg films: 2011's A Dangerous Method, 201 2's Cosmopolis, and most recently Maps to the Stars, which premiered at Cannes in May. In that film, Gadon plays Clarice Taggart, a late movie star whose ghost is now haunting her living daughter, portrayed by julianne Moore.

In many ways, the 27-year-old actor—who stars in this fall's Dracula Untold—is very much of her generation: she takes a strong stance on social-media etiquette, confessing, "I judge people who post a lot of selfies," and adores Tilda Swinton. However, at other moments, Gadon seems more like a mid-20th-century cinephile who ventured through a time portal, Midnight in Paris—style, and improbably ended up in 2014. She gushes about old movies like Brief Encounter and The Country Girl, and she discusses the virtues of Mary Pickford as if the classic film heroine were Beyonce ("She was just a boss woman," Gadon proclaims). She references Douglas Sirkas readily as she does Rachel McAdams.

Atone point, Gadon grabs her iPhone to look up the name of a Brooklyn restaurant, and as she momentarily gets lost in thought while she scrolls, it suddenly makes astounding sense that this Deborah Kerr fan with an avowed obsession with Instagram "food porn" would be cast the youthful ghost of an Old Hollywood icon. JOSH DUBOFF