Annette Bening Explains Why Her ‘Lucky’ Character Is Even Worse Than ‘Dutton Ranch’s Beulah Jackson

Editor’s note: The below interview contains light spoilers for Lucky Episode 5.

Viewers might not have expected that they’d be getting a double dose of Annette Bening on television this year, but the Oscar-nominated actress has joined some of the most star-studded casts on streaming. Technically, she stepped into the intimidating shoes of Lucky‘s mob boss Priscilla Masterson long before she ever donned the boots of Beulah Jackson in Paramount+’s Yellowstone spin-off Dutton Ranch, but it’s hard not to draw comparisons between the two characters — especially since they’re both powerful women who are willing to resort to just about any means necessary to handle certain threats.

Yet, as far as Bening is concerned, Dutton Ranch‘s Beulah Jackson is in possession of something that Lucky‘s Priscilla Masterson doesn’t — “a moral core” — and that made the antagonist of Anya Taylor-Joy‘s Apple TV crime thriller even more fun to play. Below the show’s premiere, the actress spoke with Collider about why she hopes the experience of watching her Lucky character is at least “entertaining,” what she enjoyed about working with co-star Timothy Olyphant, how Priscilla’s unique connection to Wayne (William Fichtner) complicates their dynamic, and more.

COLLIDER: When we spoke previously, it was in celebration of another show that is currently airing on TV right now, which is Dutton Ranch. In watching both shows, it does feel like there are some similarities between these two women, but for actors, every role is different. You obviously want to approach this from a different perspective, but in your mind, have you picked up on similarities between Beulah and Priscilla? Do you feel like there’s something that kind of bonds them? In the same vein, what do you feel are the biggest differences between Beulah and Priscilla?

ANNETTE BENING: I played Priscilla first, and I didn’t know I was going to play Beulah. I think Beulah has a moral center. She may be a bit off the rails, but I think she does have a moral core that’s… basically, she’s trying to do the right thing. Priscilla is trying to do the right thing, but I think she’s really sociopathic. I don’t know if that resonates with you, but that’s what I see, and there was also something extremely enjoyable about playing Priscilla because of that.

I don’t want to give stuff away for the viewers, but I knew where it was going, and so there’s something really… almost like living in a dream, where you’re doing things that you would never do in life, and Priscilla does make the choices. They’re not good choices. I’m not recommending people behave the way she does, but it is entertaining to watch, I hope, and satisfying to imagine as a person. Like, “Okay, if I felt this way about someone and I actually did that, what would that feel like,” versus how those of us who are relatively healthy live.

Annette Bening Discusses Her Layered Dynamic With Timothy Olyphant in ‘Lucky’

“She’s kind of, I think, in love with him…”

Image via Apple TV

Talking about entertaining, I love your scenes with Timothy Olyphant. They’ve met before, but as viewers, we see them in prison, and I feel like sparring is the right word for it. They’re just trading blows. She has that great parting line of, “Don’t embarrass yourself at this point.” What was it like to find the layers of that dynamic with Timothy?

BENING: It’s all in the moment. I guess what it is is, as you walk in the room, you’re thinking about all these things, and you hope that all of those layers come across. She’s kind of, I think, in love with him, but then she’s also like, “You screwed me over, but I kind of admire you for it. But now I’m going to fuck you over for it.” It’s that game. And I think it’s probably [that] she’s lived a lot of her life, and in the end, it’s not served her well, but that’s kind of where she is, living on this knife-edge.

So, she’s actually extremely angry at him, but then he’s sort of irresistible. And Tim is like that in life. He’s very smart and very effortless in his approach to things, but yet there’s something underneath it which is kind of steely and quite tough.

I feel like we could just spend this entire interview talking about Priscilla’s various relationships, including with Wayne. That first scene that you and William [Fichtner] have, where it feels like a bit of a check-in, but again, it’s like she’s sitting in a room with a coiled snake. You don’t know when he’s going to strike, and then he does. There’s that moment where he wraps his hands around her throat. The revelation of exactly what their connection is to each other — how does that add even more complexity to their relationship?

BENING: Well, it’s everything. It’s everything, and the fact that she was and is vulnerable to him on a financial level, on just a life survival level, but also on an emotional level, that she’s still seeking from him the things she can never get. She is an abused woman, even though she’s turned into the abuser, too. It’s like she started as the abused, and she started as somebody who felt she had no power in the relationship, and [was] betrayed by him, and then, as time goes on, she tries to gain the upper hand, but she kind of never gets there, even at this point in her life.

I found that really interesting in the writing, and I think this is true in life — hopefully not in too many people’s lives — that this exists. He humiliates her, and she, at this point in her life, has so few options. And he does have her by the throat, literally. And her son. Part of her, she loves her son, and she wants to do right by him, and she wants him to be okay, but she’s also someone who is probably willing to sell out her own child if she has to. So, those stakes I found very intriguing, and to actually do what she does is kind of liberating to play.

Annette Bening Explains Why Priscilla Actually Has a Lot of Respect for Anya Taylor-Joy’s Lucky

“I think that Priscilla admires her and finds her completely intriguing.”

Image via Apple TV

I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask you about working with Anya [Taylor-Joy], as well, who does such a fabulous job in this show. As much as this woman does really seem to be a bit of a thorn in [Priscilla’s] side, do you feel like there is a bit of respect here for [Lucky] and her ingenuity, and the fact that she always really seems to be one step ahead of everybody that’s licking at her heels at this point?

BENING: No, absolutely. I think that Priscilla admires her and finds her completely intriguing. She still wants from her what she wants, but she also respects her. And I think she’s intimidated by her, too. She feels like, “Wait, this girl is ahead of me. How am I going to get what I want from her?” She is impenetrable and so much more clever in a way. So, all of those things are true, and yet I do think that, in the moment, Priscilla still is just trying to crack that facade, trying to get inside of her, and that’s not going to happen. So, maybe that’s intriguing.

New episodes of Lucky premiere Wednesdays on Apple TV.