ET got down with the actress, who has been nominated for five Academy Awards, to discuss her new series, titled “Apples Never Fall.”
The actress Annette Bening claims that one of the most memorable moments from the film American Beauty is really one that she improvised throughout the film.
The 65-year-old actress discussed the 25th anniversary of the controversial and highly acclaimed film Apples Never Fall in an interview with Denny Directo of Entertainment Tonight. She also discussed which sequences continue to resonate with her to this day. The interview was conducted in advance of the new Peacock series that she will be starring in.
“I guess my favorite memory would be one of the little moments after he’s passed away — Kevin Spacey’s character — I take the gun…” she remarked before being humorously interrupted by her on-screen daughter, Alison Brie. “I assume that my favorite memory would be one of those moments.”
Brie, who is 41 years old, added, “Spoiler alert,” as she was laughing with her fellow cast members and other members of the fictitious Delaney family.
“Oh, I shouldn’t say that?” Bening reacted from a confused state. “Oh my god, see I’m not very good at that.”
After she had calmed down, the actress, who is presently being considered for an Academy Award for her work in the Netflix original film Nyad, stated that some of her favorite sequences from the 1999 film were those in which her character, Carolyn Burnham, is left grieving after the loss of her husband, who was portrayed by Spacey. After the murder of her husband, the character played by Bening is shown folding the laundry items and smelling the garments that her spouse had worn.
“Very rarely do they have time to say, ‘OK, you know, improvise, do what you want,’ but I do remember that moment and I remember thinking I needed that,” the contender for the Academy Award said. I wanted that moment for her to be missing her spouse, and I needed it to happen right then and there. In spite of the fact that she is so cruel, it was an essential point to make. That, in addition, she loved him deeply and without reservation.”
“We all remember it — it was iconic,” Brie chipped in.
Bening gives Sam Mendes, the director of the film, a lot of credit for those extremely volatile moments. She also stated that it was his extended leash that allowed her and the other actors in the film to swing for the fences. This decision culminated in eight nominations for the Academy Awards and five wins, including the award for Best Picture.
“I can remember him coming in and saying — Sam Mendes, our director, wonderful director — coming in and saying, ‘Hey, you know, now just do it again, say whatever you want,” she told me of a different moment from the film. “In the moment, you know, when you literally don’t know what you’re going to say, it’s very exciting.”
She also said that, despite the fact that Carolyn’s mental condition may not be as solid as it might be, she still has a certain affinity for her, despite the fact that she has played a number of roles over her career.
In a humorous tone, the actress said, “I just loved playing her,” before adding, “she was a little psychotic.”
As for what drew her to the role in her new show, Bening says that she found a certain appeal in the book written by Liane Moriarty that the show is based on, as well as in her character, Joy Delaney, who is a wife and mother of four who vanishes without a trace one day, leaving her children and the community to wonder what happened to her.
“There’s a kind of deliciousness in her writing,” the actress said in an interviews with ET. “The manner in which she [Moriarty] tackles the characters and the story is a tremendously engaging experience. She raises the stakes very high. For some reason, she is able to accomplish it. Additionally, she is on the verge of experiencing something that is very painful, strange, and dark, as well as something that is hilariously humorous. I think that is excellent writing. Sometimes, you know, when you just play the reality of the moment, some people find it humorous, other people find it heartbreaking, and sometimes it’s sort of both. And sometimes, you just play the truth of the moment.