There are multiple tools an actor can use to seamlessly slip into their character's mindset—dutiful research, the feeling of fitting into a wardrobe, an airtight script breakdown. But nothing quite compares to the physical feel of a great prop, which can illuminate and elevate the world a character lives in.
Here are our favorite character talismans from 2022, all of which served a vital role in the best film and TV of the year.
“Bridgerton” - The Queen’s 10-Pound Wigs
Courtesy Netflix
One of the defining characteristics of Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel) on “Bridgerton” is her stiffness. She’s royalty, after all, so she can’t afford to show vulnerability. The queen manifests this quality in her rigid posture, which also serves a practical purpose: holding up the elaborate wigs she wears, which weigh 10 pounds or more. Without these headpieces, Rosheuvel’s performance might seem looser. And that wouldn’t feel right, because even with all her social power, the queen is just as hemmed in by the rules of the ton as everybody else in the series.
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” - The Googly Eyes
Courtesy A24
At the start of Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s genre-defying A24 hit, the no-nonsense Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) has zero patience for the googly eyes her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan) jokingly places around their home and laundromat. By the end, she’s embraced their absurdity, having been transformed by the chaos of the multiverse. The moment when Yeoh places a single googly eye between her eyebrows while preparing for battle is iconic, and the seriousness with which she performs the action encapsulates the film’s peerless tone.
“Pearl”& “X” - Pearl's Pitchfork
Courtesy A24
These A24 slashers, the first two of Ti West’s horror trilogy starring Mia Goth, are steeped in the former’s inventive storytelling and the latter’s richly demented performances. It begins with “X,” a film in which Goth plays two roles: porn actor Maxine, and Pearl, the unhinged old woman who’s trying to murder her. The elderly murderer wields a variety of weapons, but none are as unnerving as her pitchfork. The curve of the tines matches the curve of her spine, and the weapon’s slenderness compliments her wispy, patchy hair, elevating Goth’s haunting performance. The prequel, "Pearl," gives us the character's tragic backstory—and shows exactly how she learned to wickedly wield her farming tools.
“Stranger Things” - Max’s Headphones
Courtesy Netflix
Music is Max Mayfield’s (Sadie Sink) bedrock in the face of danger—specifically Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God),” a song she listens to when she needs to access her inner strength. Since she’s a teen in the 1980s, she listens to tunes on her Walkman, giving Sink the opportunity to use Max’s Realistic Nova 45 headphones as an expressive object. Her hands tense as she places them on her ears, and she plays with the cable when she’s nervous. The headphones are an ever-present reminder of the tools we arm ourselves with in order to make it through.
‘Stranger Things’ Star Sadie Sink Is Pushing Her Career to New Heights With ‘The Whale’ “Bullet Train” - The Briefcase
Courtesy Sony Pictures
In David Leitch’s action comedy, the film’s coveted briefcase is basically its own character. It’s the object that Brad Pitt’s assassin, Ladybug, must locate and secure; but he also uses it as his primary weapon. Stunt coordinator Greg Rementer devised fights specifically around the briefcase—throughout the film, Pitt has the singular challenge of making sure viewers’ eyes are drawn to the prop. Sometimes it feels like an extension of his arm, and sometimes it seems comically cumbersome; but it’s always a major part of the show.
“The Woman King” - Nanisca's Machete
Courtesy Sony Pictures
Over the course of her storied career, six-time SAG Award winner Viola Davis has played many roles: a maid, a law professor, a blues singer—and now in Gina Prince-Bythewood’s African historical epic, an action hero. As General Nanisca, the leader of an all-female military unit called the Agojie, Davis delivers lines with the controlled intensity we’ve seen from her before—only this time, she speaks while wielding a fearsome machete. The way she swings the blade by her side or through the air to cut down her foes mirrors the big emotional swings she takes with her character.
“The Fabelmans” - Sammy's Model Train Set
Courtesy Universal Pictures
Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical opus earned the People’s Choice award at the Toronto International Film Festival, in no small part thanks to extraordinary performances from Gabriel LaBelle as the teenage Sammy Fabelman and Michelle Williams and Paul Dano as his parents. But there’s something special about Mateo Zoryon Francis-DeFord’s turn as the younger Sammy and the way his eyes light up when he plays with his train set. The toy becomes an obsession after he watches the famous locomotive collision in Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Greatest Show on Earth.” He soon starts filming his own version in miniature, opening a gateway to the passion that will guide the rest of his life.