Jennifer Garner: Hollywood actress on her new Hayu project, Five Star Weekend

Hollywood actress Jennifer Garner's made a name for herself in iconic roles like Alias, 30 Going on 30, Daredevil and Juno, and she's attached herself to a new, star-studded Hayu project.

Five Star Weekend is based on the Elin Hilderbrand novel, and also stars Chloë Sevigny, Regina Hall, D’Arcy Carden and Gemma Chan as a group of friends brought together by a grieving food influencer.

Garner says the 'complexities and layers' of female friendship are hard to find on screen, but this project has more depth than it appears.

"It just so happens that we have this great source material from Elin Hilderbrand, this beautiful book that surprises you on every turn. You think - oh, it's a beach read, and then you read it and you just go - there's a reason this is an all-time best-seller." 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks atb Hollywood.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Actress Jennifer Garner has long been referred to as America's
sweetheart for her approachable, relatable nature and girl nextdoor charm,
which is also one heck of an actor, having appeared
in the likes of Alias thirty, Going On Thirty, Daredevil,
and Juno. Jennifer's latest show is out now on Hey You,
based on the best selling novel by Alan the Hildebrand.
It's a drama series following grieving food influencer Hollis, who

(00:37):
hosts friends from different stages of her life for a
weekend away in Nantucket. It's called five Star Weekend.

Speaker 3 (00:44):
So I'm planning on having a girl's weekend to Vantucket
with a friend from each phase of life.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
What are you scared of? I'm at a three day
dinner party with a bunch of women I've never met.

Speaker 4 (00:56):
Yeah, this is surving.

Speaker 3 (00:58):
I really need this weekend.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Your husband just died and met us on this mask.

Speaker 4 (01:03):
This is how I doal We are all dealing with
the life.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
If I have the results of your biopsy, what if.

Speaker 4 (01:09):
I'm not brave enough to be myself. So what's your deal?

Speaker 2 (01:12):
Were you not telling us this weekend's going to be
a who? The cast is absolutely fantastic and hoo doesn't
love a Nantucket's setting. I'm absolutely delighted to have Jennifer
Gannah with me now. Jennifer, good morning, Good morning, Francesca.

Speaker 4 (01:28):
How are you?

Speaker 2 (01:29):
I'm very good. It's lovely to have this opportunity to
talk to you. Thank you so much for your time.

Speaker 3 (01:33):
Can I tell you my kids had a nanny from
a Kiwi nanny and they all they to hear you speak.
It just cracks me up because they all have a
really good ear. But they can do the New Zealand accent,
not Australia New Zealand perfectly.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
Which is really hard. That's a talent. Yeah, yeah, well look,
if you ever play in New Zealander, you sort it,
aren't you. You've got you know, you've got some good
coaches on board. Jennifer. You've said that the decision to
play Hollis was a clear guest for you. Why was that?

Speaker 4 (02:06):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (02:06):
Well, because my gosh, even so many roles you know
that come your way, there might be an aspect you
would like or something that's attractive to you.

Speaker 4 (02:16):
There was nothing, There were no red flags. It was
like a group.

Speaker 3 (02:19):
Of women and they're all so well written that they're
going to attract like real actresses.

Speaker 4 (02:24):
Little did I know we would get the super star
cast we got. So that's a yes, she gets to cook.
I love to cook. That's a yes.

Speaker 3 (02:31):
Female directors, producers, Yes, shoot on Nantucket, Yes, shoot in
La Yes done. Love the scripts, love Beckett love, Ellen
Hildebrand love this show.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
Did you see yourself in the character?

Speaker 4 (02:47):
I mean not really.

Speaker 3 (02:48):
I think that people think I'm more put together, in
more type A than I am, and my cooking is
definitely like I could never make a cookie box with
little uniform cookies.

Speaker 4 (02:58):
I just don't. I don't have that skill set.

Speaker 3 (03:00):
My cookies will be delicious, although I might do a
few that are burned, but mostly they'll be delicious, but
they're not going to be perfectly sized and even and pretty.
So yes, I saw bits aspects of Hollis and myself,
but mostly no.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
It's really interesting you use that term put together because
this show is about friendship, it's about women's identity, and
it's about the challenges we face in midlife, of which
there can be many, but we kind of expected to
be put together. And what I loved about this film
is that you're probably sharing stories that a lot of
women are keeping to themselves.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
Yeah, yes, I agree, and I love that in the
middle of the of an episode, we're suddenly talking about
which estrogen patch you use.

Speaker 4 (03:48):
And it's not like it's a big thing.

Speaker 3 (03:50):
It's not pointed at like, oh, we're going to go
into a parent meenopause conversation.

Speaker 4 (03:55):
It's just this is life. This is what it is
to be a woman in midlife. And I don't think
i'd ever seen that, seen that talked about on screen before.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
I wanted to talk to you that as well, because
it does feel like stories of midlife female friendships are
relatively rare on screen. Why do you think that is?
It's quite a few of us.

Speaker 3 (04:16):
I think it's really hard to get right. I think
women are way more complex than men. So sorry emotionally,
and that's not nice to me to say, but I
think it's hard to write the complexities and layers in
history of female friendship.

Speaker 4 (04:32):
Well, and it just.

Speaker 3 (04:33):
So happens that we have this great source material from
Ellen Hildebrand, this beautiful book, and that surprises you on
every turn. You think, oh, it's a beat read, and
then you read it and you just go like, there's
a reason this is an all time bestseller because.

Speaker 4 (04:48):
Wow is it surprising? Wow is it deeper than you
expect it to be?

Speaker 3 (04:52):
And every character has some huge turn at the end
that is like, what, I.

Speaker 4 (04:57):
Didn't see that coming.

Speaker 3 (05:00):
But also we have this great showrunner, Becca Brunstetter, who
gets women and gets how we talk to each each other.

Speaker 2 (05:07):
I think there's very much sort of a change in
the air though, when it comes to sort of seeing
these sort of stories on screen. I mean, you only
have to look at your industry. Once upon a time,
you know, female actresses were told that their careers would
be over when they were forty.

Speaker 3 (05:20):
Oh, of course when I was starting out. Chloe and
I have talked about this. We had no reason to
believe when we were starting out that we would be
doing our favorite job ever at the ages we are now,
I'm fifty four and this is as.

Speaker 4 (05:35):
Good as it gets.

Speaker 3 (05:36):
I'm completely and totally thrilled. And do I look over
my shoulder and think, oh.

Speaker 4 (05:41):
Is that the last one? Yes?

Speaker 3 (05:42):
But then I think, oh, I did that when I
was twenty two as well, So it doesn't matter.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
You've got a lot of balls in the air. You're producing,
your executive producing, you're a business owner. Are you at
a point in your career where you can decide how
much is enough to juggle or are you just loving
taking opportunities.

Speaker 3 (06:01):
I think my kids have grown up quite a bit,
and I have one who's out of the house, one
who's going to be a high school senior, and it's
a different kind of needing me, you know what I mean.
I just feel emotionally like I have the space to
devote to work as selfish as my job is that

(06:22):
maybe I didn't have when they were younger. I have
a real co parent in Ben, And yeah, I'm just
really really enjoying this phase of motherhood.

Speaker 4 (06:33):
I'm really enjoying this phase of life.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
Fantastic. Look, you mentioned the cast, and I can't believe
that you haven't worked with any of these women before.
I know, it's an incredible cast.

Speaker 3 (06:44):
Yeah, it's an incredible cast, and we've all bumbled around forever,
especially Chloe and me. And you know, she's just so
cool and she is everything. She's iconic for her fashion.
She is a gay icon she's a New York icon,
she's an indie film icon, all things that I am not,
even though you know, maybe I have my you know,

(07:08):
maybe I have bits of those in my career and
in my persona or whatever you would call it. But
I never thought I would be in anything with Chloe,
And boy, what a revelation to get to do scenes
with her and know her.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
Oh absolutely fantastic. Hey, thank you so much for your
time today. Thank you really appreciate it. Thank you, thank
you for the show. Can you can you do any
Kiwi accent? Can you remember anything?

Speaker 4 (07:32):
Yeah? I'm just awful.

Speaker 3 (07:33):
I won't I won't do that to you, but just
know that there are three Affleck kids who have got
it down.

Speaker 2 (07:38):
Thank you, Jennifer, appreciate it.

Speaker 4 (07:40):
You're welcome.

Speaker 2 (07:41):
I just love that. I would never have I mentioned
the kids of Jennifer, Ghanna and Ben Affleck could perfect
Kiwi accents. But look you goo uh. The show that
Jennifer and I were talking about is called Five Star Weekend.
It's out on Hey you now.

Speaker 1 (07:53):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudken, listen
live to News Talks. It'd be from nine am Sunday
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio