The Next Big Action Stars Predicted by Steven C. Miller

There are only two young actors that director Steven C. Miller (Silent Night, Line of Duty) truly sees as emerging into great action heroes in the near future: Dylan Sprouse and Mason Gooding. Miller, whose action-horror film Werewolves debuts Dec. 6, directs Sprouse & Gooding in Under Fire, an upcoming film that tracks two very different men undercover — a DEA agent named Abbott (Sprouse) and an FBI agent called Griff (Gooding). They pose as rival drug dealers at the Mexico border. Miller, who recently spoke to MovieWeb about his new film, is confident Sprouse and Gooding will surprise audiences and be breakout stars in the action genre, noting:

“You kind of get those vibes with certain actors that you’re like, ‘Okay, these guys have that potential to be action stars.’ And they do. They just… their vibe, their presence on screen… when you put the camera onto them and how they look on camera… there’s just something about it that you can sort of see… ‘Hey, these guys got it.’ And I really hope they get to expand on that.”

Fans do, too. Sprouse made a dent in The Suite Life of Zack & Cody before heading into big films like Beautiful Wedding and Aftermath. Mason Gooding was the hunk everybody loved in 2022’s Scream then Scream VI. He also starred alongside Sprouse in Aftermath, an intense action thriller that may have paved the way for more action films to follow for the duo. Miller is trusting his instincts on these two stars, practically predicting they’ll take off as our next great action heroes, following the likes of Bruce Willis, Tom Cruise, Dwayne Johnson, and Jason Momoa.

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Dylan Sprouse & Mason Gooding Could be the Next Bad Boys

Voltage Pictures is at the helm of Under Fire. Plot points are slim, but we do know that the two agents are unaware of each other’s identities at first. Then a by-the-book drug deal goes south, and the agents must join forces if they’re going to survive. The cast includes Odette Annable (Cloverfield), Emilio Rivera (Mayans M.C., Sons Of Anarchy), and Sprouse’s costar from Beautiful Wedding and Beautiful Disaster, Declan Laird. The script was penned by Adrian Speckert and Cory Todd Hughes (The Omega Project).

Meanwhile, Miller has been working with other sought-after talent lately, too. Frank Grillo headlines Werewolves, a blood-drenched horror film filled with practical effects. The plot chronicles the freaky side effects of a truly bizarre supermoon. Grillo nails his tough guy role, trying to fend off werewolves in the action-packed drama. Sprouse and Gooding are set to do something similar in Under Fire.

“Look, I’ve been working with a lot of really great action heroes… so to work with some upcoming action guys that were ready to break out was really cool for me,” Miller says of Sprouse ad Gooding. “I love movies like Bad Boys. I mean, Bad Boys is probably my go-to buddy movie when it comes to action, so when I talked to Mason and Dylan, that’s what we kind of studied.” He added:

“We were like, ‘Look, how do we make our movie as fun as
Bad Boys
? How do we make people really engage with these characters?’ We just really went that route and leaned wholeheartedly into this sort of action comedy, fun movie about two guys who get into a situation they shouldn’t be in, and how do they get out? We had a lot of fun making that movie.”

Under Fire will be released in 2025. Look for Werewolves in theaters December 6. Watch the trailer below.

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