+ A
A -
CINDY PEARLMAN
NYT Syndicate
"I'm having a very 'Rear Window' moment right now," Haley Bennett whispered.
The Ohio native is one of Hollywood's hottest young stars, with five major films in theatres or about to open, and she doesn't have time to waste on non-essentials. But someone left a pair of binoculars in her room at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York, and that was it.
"I don't see anything across the way," the 28-year-old actress reported, binoculars glued to her face."But if I did see anything out of the ordinary ... Oh my gosh. I'd talk about it. I'd tell everyone. Wait! I do see a couple swimming in a pool.
"It's so interesting," she said, turning away from the window regretfully."I'm going to have to get a pair of binoculars now, because there's no better place than New York City to observe people."
These days, of course, Bennett is more often watched than watching. She's already in the multiplexes opposite Chris Pratt and Denzel Washington in Antoine Fuqua's The Magnificent Seven, which would be most actors' biggest 2016 movie. For Bennett, however, it's only a warm-up.
The young actress co-stars in one of the year's most anticipated films, Tate Taylor's adaptation of Paula Hawkins' voyeuristic best-selling novel, The Girl on the Train, set to open on October 6.
The psychological thriller revolves around a 32-year-old alcoholic named Rachael Watson (Emily Blunt), who is in free fall after a divorce. Prone to blackouts, she has lost her job, but still takes a commuter train into New York each day. She notices a house along the way and, on each ride in and out of the city, obsessively watches the attractive couple that lives there. Bennett and Luke Evans play that couple, Scott and Megan Hipwell.
"The book was such a phenomenon," said Bennett, who was shooting The Magnificent Seven when she wandered into a bookstore one day to find something to occupy her free hours.
"I was immediately attracted to the cover and to the fact that this title had the word 'Girl' in it," she recalled, laughing."I was working with seven male actors at the time. I began to leaf through the book and recognised that there were actually three female narrators, which sounded wonderful. A story told from the perspective of three women imagine!
"I was transfixed," Bennett continued."I bought the book and couldn't put it down. I think I read it in two days, and had no knowledge at the time that it was being made into a film."
The theme of voyeurism struck a nerve, the actress added.
"It's something we all do and indulge in," she said."Some people get lost in it. What made the book and the script so interesting is that the voyeur here is a blackout drunk. Still, Rachel thinks that my character Megan has the life she always dreamed of having. She imagines that Megan has love and adoration from her husband. This is what Rachel feels she has lost in her divorce.
"The funny thing is that what Rachel imagines is a stark contrast to Megan's actual loneliness," she said."In reality Megan is just as flawed, lonely and broken as Rachel."
Bennett's next film is one of the year's most talked-about, Rules Don't Apply. Set in 1960s Hollywood, the drama was written and directed by Warren Beatty, his first in 18 years. Beatty also stars as eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes.
The chance to work with Beatty was a dream come true, Bennett said.
"It was a wonder," she said."I've always thought he was one of our greatest storytellers, and I've loved his films from Shampoo (1975) to Splendor in the Grass (1961) to Reds (1981). The list goes on and on."
One day her agent called and told Bennett that Beatty wanted a meeting with her.
"We had just an ordinary, general meeting," the actress said, and then paused."Well, the truth was, it was far from ordinary.
"First of all, it lasted five hours," Bennett said,"because Warren really likes to talk. I thought, 'Regardless of the outcome, he's a legend and I'm thrilled to talk to him.' I didn't really expect anything. We didn't really talk about the film."
Three months later, though, she got another call.
"It was from a private number," Bennett recalled."I didn't even say hello before I heard Warren's distinctive voice say, 'Haley! Haley! I need you to sing an Ethel Merman number!' I said, 'I know who Ethel Merman is, and absolutely I can sing an Ethel Merman number for you, Warren. I love Ethel!'
"Then Warren Beatty said, 'Haley, I need you to be really tough in this movie. I know you have it in you,'" she continued."I said, 'Yes, Warren! Tough Ethel Merman, I got it!'"
Bennett got the role, and the rare chance to be in a Warren Beatty film.
"There were the infamous 100 takes," she said."It was quite a wonderful experience."
It's all part of the ride for Bennett, who started out life as Haley Loraine Keeling in Fort Myers, Florida, where her mother was an artist.
"She could transform anything into something beautiful," Bennett said.
Soon the family moved to tiny Stow, Ohio, where Bennett grew up as a tomboy, hanging out in the woods and dreaming of a future as an actress.
"Acting to me was like needing to sleep, eat or breathe," she said."There was just no other choice."
After high school Bennett moved to Los Angeles ” on a whim, but not without a plan.
"I never imagined my current life for myself or thought it was even possible," she said."All I knew, at age 18, is that I wouldn't stay in Ohio. I moved to California on impulse and with no real plans. My only plan was that I'd stay for three months and explore.
"After that, I figured that I'd go home and reconfigure," Bennett said."I just never had the opportunity to go home."
Indeed. Within that three-month span, Bennett booked her first film, playing a spacey teen pop star in Music and Lyrics (2007) and co-starring with Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant. She went on to The Haunting of Molly Hartley (2008), Marley & Me (2008) and Kaboom (2010). The Equalizer (2014) was particularly rewarding ” not only did it let her work with Denzel Washington, but it led to him suggesting her to play the widow Emma in The Magnificent Seven.
That's not all for 2016, either: Still to come is a supporting role in Thank You for Your Service, a drama about American soldiers coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan that stars Miles Teller.
As to the future, Bennett couldn't contain her excitement when the conversation turned to Terrence Malick's upcoming Weightless, starring Christian Bale and Michael Fassbender and set amid the music scene in Austin, Texas. The film came along at a point in which the first buzz of her career had abated and she felt at loose ends.
"I was straddling the idea of quitting acting at that time," Bennett admitted."It was about four years ago, and things weren't going as planned, but I was so excited just to have the opportunities to just audition."
As usual with him, Malick requested a series of taped auditions.
"That movie is all I ever wanted," Bennett said."When I finally made it through the several stages of the Malick auditioning process and stood before Terrence himself, it was like making it to Oz."
As it transpired, she said, it was all worth it.
"I was standing in a room in Austin, Texas, blurting out to Terrence Malick, 'If I don't get this, then I'm probably going to quit acting and work in a bookshop in New York City,'" Bennett recalled."By the end of it, he looked me in the eyes and said, 'You don't quit. Ever. Don't give up on your dreams.'"
A publicist interrupted before Bennett could say any more, announcing that she was needed downstairs to join Blunt for an international press conference.
"This is beyond my wildest dreams," Bennett said."I guess I should put down my binoculars. I don't have time to do any people watching now ” but there's always lunch!"
