Kristen Wiig & Annette Bening in "Imogene"
Friday, August 19, 2011 at 10:31AM The Bening and freshly Bridesmaids minted Kristen Wiig are filming the comedy Imogene (2013) just 20 plus miles from where I type this. I absolutely cannot wait and my impatience demands that I assume this will get pushed up to 2012 calendar before long since they're already filming in summer 2011.
Everyone knows Wiig is funny after years on Saturday Night Live and the Bridesmaids smash but people always seem to forget how hilarious The Bening is whenever her characters are called on for comic moments, even within heavy dramas. I'm guessing her status as Hollywood Royalty and Serious Actress obscures this.
In fact, one could argue that ALL of her best performances are comedic in nature, even if they're within dark, brooding or angsty films, The Grifters and American Beauty being two obvious examples.
⇐ Annette Bening's Imogene character, who is Wiig's gambling addict mama, looks like a cross between Carolyn Burnham and Arlene from True Blood, right?
The film, directed by the American Splendor (2003) and Cinema Verite (2011) team of Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini , is about a woman (Wiig) forced to move back in with her mother after a staged suicide attempt to win back her ex-boyfriend fails. In the most eye-brow raising bit of casting Glee sensation Darren Criss -- also recently spotted on set -- will play Wiig's love interest, though we assume he's not the ex in question. Wiig turns 38 next week, Criss is just 23. That age difference is absolutely normal for movies when the genders are reversed but it's still surprising and usually a large discussion point in the script (and may well be here) if the woman is older.
It sounds like a fun movie, right?
Reader Comments (13)
OMG, Annette Bening looks so white trash here. I LOVE IT.
I think after being bitchy and snobbish in 'The Kids are All Right', a comedy where she plays an eccentric, over-the-top, larger-than-life character is just what she needs to reminds us what a great underappreciated gem she is.
I hope a nomination is in the cards for her. And a win in Supporting Actress, maybe.
My absolute favorite line from Bening's oeuvre is when she's lying under the obese landlord in "The Grifters"—she's fucking him to pay the rent—and she says that the lunch special for the day was "broiled hothouse tomato under generous slice of ripe cheese."
In fact, she has a gift for comic sex scenes, as in the scene where her legs are straight in the air in "American Beauty" or the cunnilingus scene in "The Kids Are All Right." No wonder Warren Beatty settled down with her!
Owen--- You are so dead on correct about that line in The Grifters! Too good!
Annette's brand of comedic timing is favourite because she doesn't eschew the darker undertones, so when she's funny she's being oddly serious at the same time. I actually that this was some re-imagining of Shakespeare's CYMBELINE where the main character is Imogene...but this sounds way more interesting even if I am far from loving Wiig as effusively as most seem to.
If Kristen and Annette weren't enough to draw me in (which they were), Darren Criss's sexiness won me over......*drool
This is Bening's Oscar. Of course she'll forever be a [b]Best Actress: Martyr[/b]. The lesson for older actresses is that Supporting Actress is your friend.
The Wiig age difference won't likely fit into the script -- my assumption. She seems to be the kind of co-writer, co-producer that ignores conventional Hollywood attitudes about women. I love that Maya Rudolph's bi-racial background was acknowledged but then placed in the background.
This is getting me really excited, it's such an unexpected but perfect pair. I'm especially looking forward to this after recently catching snippets of the SNL episode where Annette Bening hosted.
I'm out of the loop on this film so this may be completely obvious or well-known or even 100% wrong, but the shirt that Bening is wearing -- Mack and Manco's Pizza -- may indicate that Bening is playing some Jersey Shore-type mother as the pizza joint is the hot ticket in Ocean City, NJ (which is a town that doesn't really have that "Jersey Shore" type vibe at all, so maybe she's just playing a normal New Jersey mom). I have no idea if the film even takes place in Jersey...maybe it's just the filmmaker's love for the pizza place. Seriously, though...best pizza around and a staple of the area.
She was funny in Running with Scissors...actually the best thing about it. She's good at playing clueless, delusional, hot messes.
Jeff -- i believe she is playing a Jersey-Shore type mother, yes.
andrew k -- you're spot on about her balance between modes in the same moment.
I laughed a LOT in the theater when Annette had her legs in the air in American Beauty. "F*&$ Me Your Majesty!" is still one of my favorite lines to quote, usually when something bad is happening to me. ;-)
I'm keeping my expectations low for this one but it's Bening, so I care.
Kristen Wiig needs to write all her own film TBH. Or maybe when Tina Fey is FINALLY done with 30 Rock next year, she can write them for her. Throw Jon Hamm in there too somehow.
Either way, Shari Springer Berman + Robert Pulcini are hit and miss for me so we'll see.