If Jonathan Majors hadn’t derailed his career with domestic abuse charges, and Magazine Dreams had been released as originally planned, where might he be right now? Majors’ star was set to take off like a rocket after the film debuted at Sundance 2023, with many proclaiming him a future Best Actor winner at the Oscars. He had a key role in the MCU, starred in Ant-Man 3, and also had a showy role in Creed III. But things did not go as intended, and Majors has largely been written off by Hollywood. In just over a month, Magazine Dreams will finally hit theaters, but will that be enough to change his career trajectory?
As seen in the new trailer for Magazine Dreams, Majors stars as Killian Maddox, a man driven by an obsession to be the best bodybuilder in the world, with little care to the damage his extreme workouts and steroid use are having on him and the body he’s attempting to perfect.
Haley Bennett, Taylour Paige and Mike O’Hearn co-star. The film was written and directed by Elijah Bynum.
Majors underwent an insane physical transformation, working out for hours a day and changing his diet, to bulk up and get shredded at a pro level. The film was showered with accolades, many of them aimed at Majors who is extraordinary. There was some controversy surrounding the story and the toxicity of Majors’s character, but that won’t be what holds this film back, if anything.
I think it’s telling that Briarcliff Entertainment has chosen a March 21st release date. That will likely keep it out of the Academy’s line of sight, so any hope of it being an awards season factor is slim.
You can find my review of Magazine Dreams here.
SYNOPSIS: Killian Maddox lives with his ailing veteran grandfather, obsessively working out between court-mandated therapy appointments and part-time shifts at a grocery store where he harbors a crush on a friendly cashier. Though Killian’s struggles to read social cues and maintain control of his volatile temper amplify his sense of disconnection amid a hostile world, nothing deters him from his fiercely protected dream of bodybuilding superstardom, not even the doctors who warn that he’s causing permanent damage to his body with his quest.
