Jennifer Garner can do it all on screen.
Equal parts sugar and spice, the beloved Hollywood star has played master assassin Elektra in the Marvel films, while also portraying loveable teen-turned-mag-editor Jenna Rink in the classic rom-com “13 Going on 30.”
But the actress says she’s never identified more with a character than the one she plays in the upcoming miniseries, “The Five-Star Weekend,” which premieres locally on BINGE on July 9.
The full-length trailer for the Peacock series was released on Tuesday, and it shows Garner in her element.
The real-life star we’ve all come to know and love through her endearing social media cooking and gardening videos appears to be embodied in her new on-screen character, Hollis Shaw – a famed cook and best-selling author who has impeccable taste and a warm demeanor.
“The more I read, the more it surprised me, and the more it resonated with me, and all of the ways that Hollis and I are alike were kind of shocking to me,” Garner told Hello! magazine of the script, which is based on author Elin Hilderbrand’s 2023 novel of the same name.
“All of the ways we are different were really fun for me. And I have found that cooking in front of a camera, this is the first time I’ve ever used something that I love, which is cooking and baking, on camera as a character. And I found it to be, like Hollis does, really calming, really settling,” she added.
“Acting for me is always like, ‘Do I know what I’m doing?’ And in that [setting] I was like, ‘Oh no, I know how to do this. I am perfectly at home here. I know this character.’ It’s really been a blast.”
In the series, Hollis’ picture-perfect life is soon turned upside down when she suffers the devastating loss of her husband.
Unable to move on, the grieving widow invites four friends from different chapters of her life to a coastal getaway. But it doesn’t exactly go to plan as tensions rise and secrets are uncovered over the course of the weekend.
“The death starts to expose the cracks in Hollis’s picture-perfect life – her strained marriage, her complicated relationship with her daughter, and her growing pursuit of validation from her fans,” reads the logline for the series.
“In an effort to overcome grief and find herself again, Hollis gets the idea to host a weekend away at her house on Nantucket with three friends from different stages in her life: her childhood, her twenties, her thirties, and one surprise fifth star.
“Set against a luxurious and coastal backdrop, the stars will mature in ways they could never imagine as boundaries are pushed and secrets are exposed.”
Hollis’ friends are played by Chloë Sevigny (“American Horror Story”), Regina Hall (“One Battle After Another”), Gemma Chan (“Crazy Rich Asians”) and D’Arcy Carden (“The Good Place”).
Rising star Harlow Jane – the daughter of Hollywood stars Patricia Arquette and Thomas Jane – will play Garner’s on-screen daughter, Caroline, with whom she shares a complicated relationship.
“I think this is a role about friendship. It’s a role about growing at this stage in your life,” Garner told Hello!.
“It’s women who are in the middle of this – what is their next chapter going to be? What’s their next story going to be? Their story is not done.
“I just can’t think of anything I’ve enjoyed more than being with this group and doing this role this summer.”
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