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Annette Bening channels a complicated crime boss in Apple TV’s Lucky
The decorated actress tells PEOPLE what intrigued her about the character of Priscilla Masterson and working alongside costar Anya Taylor-Joy
“”It feels new to me to play a woman of my age, 68, who’s in this dilemma,” she says
Annette Bening has never embodied a character quite like Priscilla Masterson before.
The Lucky star, who plays crime boss Priscilla in the new Apple TV thriller, tells PEOPLE that her latest gig feels fresh for good reason — even after four decades of performances that have earned her Oscar nominations, Golden Globes and Emmys.
“It feels new to me to play a woman of my age, 68, who’s in this dilemma, who still feels under the thumb of this guy who she has felt under the thumb of her entire life almost,” Bening says of her character’s dynamic with fellow criminal Wayne Whittaker (William Fichtner). “She’s made so many bad choices and she’s also been … Bad things have happened to her.”
Annette Bening in ‘Lucky’Credit: Apple TV
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Lucky is based on author Marissa Stapley’s bestseller of the same name and follows Anya Taylor-Joy‘s titular character as her “multi-million-dollar heist goes sideways,” leaving her to fight off both the FBI and a “ruthless crime boss,” per a synopsis from Apple TV. It also stars Timothy Olyphant, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Clifton Collins Jr. and Drew Starkey, who plays Priscilla’s son and Lucky’s love interest, Cary.
As Bening puts it, Priscilla — who wants a piece of the on-the-run Lucky just as much as the authorities do — “borders on sociopathic.” It’s all “very interesting” to show on screen, she says. “I hope you see there’s [other] parts of her. She loves her son. She wants the best for him, but then, she’s also someone who’s willing to do really horrible things to him and use him in a way,” she explains. “I found all of those contradictions really interesting and fun to play.”
Despite her hard shell, and her desire to make Lucky pay for how she’s been wronged, Priscilla is ultimately “terrified,” Bening adds.
“It’s like she wants everything from Lucky, but she also really admires her and kind of feels intimidated by her,” she says of their characters’ dynamic. “I guess the more intimidated she feels, the more she tries to lash out and get what she needs. In some ways, she feels like Lucky has something that she always wanted that she never actually had — that she’s successful in a way that Priscilla envies.”
Anya Taylor-Joy in Apple TV’s ‘Lucky’Credit: Jessica Brooks/Apple TV
After wrapping her role as ranch owner Beulah Jackson in season 1 of Dutton Ranch, Lucky left Bening “really intrigued” when she first learned of the story.
“It sounded like it was going to have a very stylish bent,” she says. “So much of it, when you’re in a story, it’s like, what’s around you? How is it going to be fashioned around you? I knew it was Anya Taylor-Joy, and she’s so incredible. I mean, what a presence on screen, and Aunjanue Ellis and Tim Olyphant. I mean, it’s all about the people really… It just sounded kind of intriguing, and it was.”
Taylor-Joy, 30, tells PEOPLE that working alongside Bening allowed her to pick up some “little actor things” from her, too. “Anytime we did a scene together, I was always just reminded, oh yeah, Annette Bening, the GOAT,” she says.
Lucky‘s first two episodes premiere on Wednesday, July 15, on Apple TV. New episodes follow every Wednesday through Aug. 19.
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