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ReelTalk Movie Reviews
Bening Goes Back To Work
by Betty Jo Tucker

"I consider myself lucky to be in a career where I can stop working for awhile and then start again, " Annette Bening declared in an interview right before her Oscar nomination for American Beauty. She said she usually takes a year and a half off when she has a baby.

"Warren (Beatty) is a wonderful father," Bening stated. "Still, it’s the mother who has to take care of the nuts and bolts of child-rearing. I don’t mind. I always wanted to have children and a big family, and I also like to work."

True to her word, Bening accepted no acting assignments after What Planet Are You From? because she was pregnant with her fourth child. After Ella Corinne turned  2 years old, Bening accepted a role in Open Range and shared the screen with Robert Duvall, Michael Gambon, and Kevin Costner (who also directed).

Before getting back to work that year, Bening stopped off at San Diego Mesa College to deliver a commencement address. "It’s imperative that you follow what you love in life," the college’s most famous alum told the graduating students. 

After recognizing her former Mesa drama instructors, Art Noll and Milt Woodruff, she thanked them for their inspiration and expertise. "I came away with what I needed," she said. On a more somber note, she also encouraged graduates to deal with their fears, especially in light of the 9/11 tragedy.

Bening’s parents, Shirley and Grant, live in San Diego and attended the Mesa graduation ceremony. According to Mrs. Bening, "It was elegant. Mesa really knows how to stage a graduation. We were well taken care of, with Annette in the car with us. We were ushered into Golden Hall from the loading dock and taken up to a room with all the dignitaries, where there was lovely food."

Mr. Bening agrees. "It was a great day," he reports.

This was the second time Bening came back to Mesa College. Right before her first Oscar nomination for The Grifters (and during my tenure as Mesa's Dean of Humanities), she returned to receive a Humanities Award and conducted a workshop for drama students. Her enthusiasm for acting delighted everyone. "My goal is to become an old woman playing all sorts of character parts," she told the students. Expressing a desire to do Hamlet, Bening reminded the group that Dame Judith Anderson successfully portrayed that traditionally male leading role many years ago.

Who knows? Maybe a Bening Hamlet isn’t so farfetched after all.

(NOTE added 1/20/2008: Annette Bening has four films scheduled to be released this year: The WomenDirty Tricks, The Villa Golitsyn, and A Woman of No Importance. My favorite Bening performance to date?  Her scintillating portrayal of a legendary actress out for revenge in Being Julia.)


                                                                                                                                                                               
 
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