HBO: The "B" Stands For Bening
Monday, July 29, 2013 at 3:41PM 
JA from MNPP here - while it's still quite a ways off from being a thing sitting in front of our eyeballs, if indeed it ever does, I figure this is the sort of news that the TFE readership wouldn't want to miss: Annette Bening might be headlining a series for HBO. Deadline's reporting that The Bening, as she's known round these parts, is looking at a series called The Third Coast, about "a larger than life casting director in New Mexico," that would be directed by Jay Roach and was written by Paul Rudnick.
Roach got his start with the Austin Powers movies before moving on to the Fockers series and then more recently making that memorable back-to-back pair of political powerhouses for HBO, Recount and Game Change. Meanwhile Paul Rudnick wrote Addams Family Values, and that is everything. (Seriously though, Rudnick's "Libby Gelman-Waxner" character for Premiere Magazine back in the Nineties was formative for this writer.)
If we're not already past the tipping point in mourning the flight of serious actors to the smaller screen I think we ought to be - an opportunity to check in with The Bening on a weekly basis, doing her thing, doesn't sound too shabby to these ears.
HBO, The Bening
Reader Comments (9)
I think HBO could be a good home for La Bening. She's very vocal about ladies of a certain age going where the great roles are. I think she makes really sensible choices in her career without a lot of vanity. Which is funny considering how no one plays vain better than she can.
I've met her a few times at my old yoga studio. She's a lovely woman.
oh, libby gelman-waxner - her insistence that the romance in titanic was akin to giving anne frank a kooky friend in the attic to make the story more audience friendly is my favourite film criticism ever
Man, there are like 60 million TV shows I'm having a hard time keeping up with now! Although, I am loving The Bridge with Diane Kruger and Demian Bechir.
JA-- how could I forget Libby! Thanks and thanks to par3182 for the brilliant reminders!
If TV seems to be a better venue for older actresses, then so be it. A well-written series keyed to her talents would interest me far more than a ridiculous, unfunny big screen comedy (talking to you, Diane Keaton and Susan Sarandon for the junky "Big Wedding").
I think that Annette Bening should consider returning to her theater roots. Her style of acting is often much too big for the screen ('The Kids Are All Right' is a beautiful exception).
It makes me sad that she has to resort to this. I wish she was playing Violet Weston instead of Streep...
"Libby" started a column in EW in 2012. Still the same Libby. ;-)
Thanks Paul! I had no idea Libby was back!