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If you didn’t already know that Annette Bening is one of Hollywood’s great legends for good reason, Alison Brie and co-star Essie Randles just confirmed it. The stars of Peacock’s latest offering, Apples Never Fall, join a talented cast including Jake Lacey and Sam Neill for a captivating whodunnit that we wouldn’t be surprised to see in the Emmy lineup later this year.
Apples Never Fall adapts the best-selling novel by Liane Moriarty and easily finds it’s place among the other critically-acclaimed adaptations of the Australian author’s work, like Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers. It follows the seemingly picture-perfect, high-achieving Delaney family who are thrown into a tailspin when the matriarch, Joy (Bening), disappears after befriending a mysterious stranger, played by Georgia Flood.
Brie and Randles play two out of four of Stan (Neill) and Joy’s adult children — they are joined by Conor Merrigan Turner and White Lotus’s Lacey who all perfectly embody the complicated dynamics of being an adult still vying for parent’s approval while also seeking to forge your own path.
“We definitely fell into a sibling dynamic,” Brie said of her offscreen relationship with her cast mates. “Just in terms of closeness and shorthand with one another. I feel like you can really feel that when you’re watching the show.” Randles agreed, admitting that she adopted her character’s youngest child energy in the group.
Bening return to screen in the drama series is a fast follow-up to her phenomenal work in Nyad, which earned her an Oscar nomination. The veteran actress stuns in this new role and clearly had some admirers on set too!
“It was so incredible [to be] working with Annette on this. I have admired her for as long as I could remember so it really felt like a bucket list moment to be working with her,” Brie praised. “And she’s just extraordinary.
“Watching the way she moved through a set and the way that she worked, and the way that she communicated and collaborated,” Brie continued. “She has such a quiet strength and like a sense of authority, but also joy, playfulness. It was like a masterclass in how to behave on set and be successful.”
Brie recalled one particularly captivating scene in which Bening’s character faces off with her onscreen husband, Neill, that left Brie and Randles in awe. “We were just holding each other watching Annette and Sam acting. Chills, tears in our eyes,” she remembered. “Just really moved by the work.”
Randles, who is relatively new to the Hollywood scene, feels ready for viewers to watch the series, particularly those who were fans on the book. “I think it adds excitement that there are people out there who already know who these characters are, in a way, and already have an excitement to meet them,” she says.
The seven-part series was written and produced by Melanie Marnich, known for her work on The Big C, The Affair and The OA. Moriarty also had a hand in the show’s creation, acting as an executive producer along with Bening. The gripping show is a must for anyone feeling starved of a Liane Moriarty binge while we eagerly await a third season of Big Little Lies.
Before you go, click here to see actresses over 50 who are more successful now than ever.
