If you’ve spent any time watching TV over the past few months, you’ve probably noticed something impossible to ignore: Annette Bening is everywhere, and she looks like she’s having the absolute time of her life.
At 68, the five-time Oscar nominee isn’t easing into cute and cuddly supporting roles or playing the sweet grandmother. Nope! Instead, she’s currently running two of the biggest shows on television, playing complicated, sharp-edged, high-fashion women who steal every single scene they’re in.
© Paramount+From the dusty, high-stakes family drama of Paramount+'s Dutton Ranch to the cold, calculating underworld of Apple TV’s Lucky, Annette is giving us a prime-time reminder that you can still be a bad ass as you get older. Let's put it this way, if she's not wearing a stetson, she's carrying a gun.
Bling, grit, and high drama on the ranch
We were expecting to be obsessed with Beth Dutton on Paramount's Dutton's Ranch, but it turns out that Beulah Jackson was just as captivating. Maybe even more so! While Western dramas usually focus on the rugged blokes protecting their town, Annette struts around Rio Paloma wearing bedazzled rhinestone suits, diamonds, and sky-high heels, playing a Texas ranch titan.
In an interview with The Wrap, Annette said: “I think Beulah is a woman who enjoys her bling – the diamonds, the turquoise, the fringe, the sequins, all of it. She’s into that. It’s very much a part of the culture in a beautiful way. And I enjoyed this part of the character.”
© Paramount+Fans of the show will remember that Beth calls Beulah a "grizzly in Gucci" early in the season and every outfit is as sharp as her tongue. But it's not just her fashion we love, Beulah owns the boardroom with an iron fist, but she's got heart, too.
“Don’t you love Beulah? Don’t you think she has a good heart underneath all of that? Underneath all the bling?” Annette asked a reporter in an interview with Entertainment Tonight.
I couldn't agree more.
A cold-blooded crime queen in Lucky
Then you flip over to Lucky on AppleTV, and Annette pulls off an entirely different trick. Playing Priscilla Masterson, a quiet, terrifying mob matriarch trading blows with Anya Taylor-Joy who plays a con artist.
Priscilla is terrifying and wears high-end suits, edgy glasses, patent leather coats and basically has as much swagger as Beth and Beulah combined. She's one powerful woman, and you wouldn't want to get on her bad side.
"We're taking over the world now," Annette said on camera for the show's press launch. "We're done with the patriarchy. I mean, you guys have been in charge for so long, we're over it. We need to take over. I think with me and Lucky running the world, it would be a safer place."
A self-identified feminist, Annette once told the Guardian: “There’s so much pressure on women now to be sexy, to become educated, to have a fulfilling relationship. And – oh yes! – you also have to have children, and you’re supposed to be very happy when you’re doing all of this. It’s impossible. You don’t have to do everything. Just do a little bit at a time. It’s not like we have to be happy all the time. Who wants that? The real thing we all search for is meaning.”
© AppleTVIs this Annette's second act?
It’s tempting to label this a "second act," but that implies she went somewhere. In reality, Annette has been working non-stop since 1986, building a legacy with powerhouse films like The Grifters, American Beauty, and The Kids Are All Right. She never left - she just upped the ante. These two latest characters have unlocked a fresh audience that simply can't get enough of her, on camera or off.
What’s so infectious about Annette’s current streak is just how close to home it hits for the rest of us. Despite all our progress, society still secretly expects women over a certain age to dim their light and become softer. Watching Annette turn the volume all the way up is pure joy.
