Canadian actress Alison Pill broke through as a child performer on stage and in television. She’s since built a wide-ranging film and TV career with roles in Milk (2008), Pillars of the Earth (2010), and Hail, Caesar! (2016), to name a few that I’ve enjoyed over the years. Today we’re going to take a look at the historical flicks she’s appeared in over the years.
Degas and the Dancer (1998)
What Katy Did (1999)
Dear America: A Journey to the New World (1999)
Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows (2001)
Milk (2008)
The Pillars of the Earth (2010)
Midnight in Paris (2011)
Hail, Caesar! (2011)
Them (2021)
Hello Tomorrow! (2023)
What’s your favorite film or TV show starring Alison Pill? Tell us in the comments!
Oh wow – her name didn’t ring a bell, but Midnight in Paris is my favorite Woody Allen movie, and she was great as Zelda – exactly as Gil described her, all over the place. That’s the only one of her films I’ve seen, and I’ll have to look out for more. She’s got a young Reece Witherspoon vibe going, which makes her face work for period films. I honestly didn’t recognize the first headshot in this post.
I think I first became aware of Alison Pill in Scott Pilgrim Versus the World, but she’s been around as a child actor since the 90s. Always have enjoyed the roles she plays but I’ve never consciously sought her out as an actor until I watched Pillars of the Earth. She’s so great in the role of Empress Maud! The rest of the series is fine, I enjoyed it for what it was, but she stole the whole thing for me. And you’re spot on about the Reese Witherspoon vibe!
I was not a fan of Them season 1. I only caught an episode or two before giving up on it. It felt too much like Lovecraft Country, but with more trauma porn.
I do have happy memories of Degas and the Dancer. This movie even inspired me to dress as the flower dancer for one Halloween.
Trauma porn is exactly why I am not rushing to watch it, lol.
I am, however, inspired to check out Degas and the Dancer now!
I really wanted to like Hello Tomorrow! because it checks off so many boxes for me, I love retrofuturism and it had a great cast. But it really didn’t grab me, and I think I dropped off after the third episode.
Yup, that’s about when I fell off watching it, too. I love mid century and retrofuturism is a huge passion of mine, and the show looked amazing from the costumes to the sets. It just couldn’t keep me interested, though.
The stuff with Pill as Queen was the best part of Pillars of the Earth despite (of maybe because of) none of it existing in the book. I felt the same about the other miniseries set in the same Ken Follett universe, where Blake Ritson played Edward III.
Agreed! I wanted to watch an entire series about Maud and Stephen going toe to toe over England. I did enjoy Pillars, but the Maud v. Stephen segments were by far the best thing in the series.
Well it’s got Allison Pill on one side and Mr Tony Curran on the other, Of Course it’s entertaining!
That photograph of a very young Miss Alison Pill* as a ballerina is Adorable – it’s pressing every single ‘Older brother’ button in my soul and quite possibly threw the ‘Future Dad’ lever too.
Also, I remain sad that Hollywood gave us ‘Glamorous 1920s Tom Hiddleston with extra Alison Pill’ and has nevertheless completely failed to give us at least one spin-off in which the two of them get slightly buzzed and even more glam as they solve Mysteries in a sequence of glamourous locales.
*Much to my disappointment they didn’t go ‘Allison’ with two Ls to balance the ‘Pill’.