Annette Bening Joins the next "American Crime Story"
Tuesday, February 7, 2017 at 8:00AM Chris here. Like many of you, I'm still bemoaning Annette Bening's 20th Century Women Oscar miss - but her next role might lighten the sting depending on where your television alliances lie. The actress is the first cast member to join Ryan Murphy's Katrina: American Crime Story as Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco. With Feud just a few weeks away, Ryan Murphy is giving us all actresses all the time, even on projects yet to film.
If this seems something of a surprising casting coup for Murphy, you have probably forgotten that they had already worked together on Murphy's Running With Scissors adaptation. Funny how loyal his actors are even on his outright misfires. Murphy promises that other recognized figures like Blanco will factor into his Katrina narrative, so start speculating (or shuddering) away at who he could get to play the likes of Sean Penn and George W. Bush.
And let's not be too quick to lament that yet another one of our greats is heading to the small screen. If Ryan Murphy can give Bening as much to work with as he did for Sarah Paulson in The People vs. OJ Simpson, perhaps she'll have an equally unstoppable awards path. Even if Oscar remains elusive, Emmy could be the first step to EGOT.