Jennifer Connelly Seems to be Again on the ‘Actually Intense’ Requiem for a Dream

Abstract

• Requiem for a Dream
  was a pivotal challenge for Jennifer Connelly, and one which she fought for.
• The movie’s artistic ambiance, modern cinematography, and highly effective music made it an electrical and groundbreaking expertise for Connelly.
• In Apple TV+’s
  Darkish Matter
  , Connelly portrays completely different variations of herself in a reality-hopping romance with Joel Edgerton, from author Blake Crouch.

We spoke with Oscar-winner Jennifer Connelly about her new Apple TV+ sequence with Joel Edgerton and Alice Braga, Darkish Matter, which proposes the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics to create a reality-hopping romantic epic. On this actuality, nonetheless, we’re quick approaching the twenty fifth anniversary of Requiem for a Dream, one in every of Connelly’s most affecting performances (in a profession of many, from Darkish Metropolis and Little Youngsters to A Stunning Thoughts and High Gun: Maverick). The Darren Aronofsky movie is well-known for being probably the most harrowing and upsetting of all time, however Connelly seems to be again on it with palpable pleasure. (Watch our interview beneath.)

“It was an incredible expertise,” mentioned Connelly when pondering of filming Requiem for a Dream. “For me. I bear in mind feeling like I fought so arduous to get that job. I auditioned so many instances, and I used to be so excited. I simply felt like, what an incredible position and alternative. And although the content material was actually intense, I felt so — there was a lot to consider and do, and I felt so form of excited by it and fulfilled by it.” She continued:

“And there have been so many individuals on that job who had been form of like,
simply exploding with creativity
. I feel that Darren had so many superb concepts, and [cinematographer] Matthew Libatique, you understand, the best way he was taking pictures,
it felt actually pioneering
. And the music! So it was a very thrilling challenge to be concerned with at the moment.
It felt like folks had been making actually courageous selections, and it was like, it was form of electrical on that set
.”

If you have not seen Requiem for a Dream, the movie was the large breakthrough of Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan, The Wrestler, The Whale) after his masterful indie image, Pi. The film starred Connelly alongside Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, and Marlon Wayans, and centered on the ramifications of drug use on each a leisure and pharmaceutical degree (and its relationship to real happiness), the tragedy of loneliness and desperation, and the methods we let ourselves get exploited in pursuit of connection or consolation.

Connelly performs Marion Silver, who’s in a heroin-addled romantic relationship with Harry (Leto), and is ultimately satisfied to do intercourse work to fund their addictions. In the meantime, Harry’s mom (Burstyn) descends into amphetamine psychosis after making an attempt to reduce weight and seem on a recreation present. Requiem for a Dream is understandably thought-about probably the most miserable movies to look at, the apotheosis of Aronofsky’s obsession with ache and distress.

Jennifer Connelly Performs A number of Variations of Herself in Darkish Matter

Practically 25 years later, Jennifer Connelly is enjoying a lady concerned in a really completely different relationship, in Darkish Matter. Nonetheless, that is additionally a challenge that meditates on romance, albeit in a really completely different means. She performs an artwork gallery curator and long-time spouse to physics professor Jason, performed by Joel Edgerton. When Jason is thrust out of his personal actuality and despatched into one the place he is not married and is as a substitute a well-known wealthy scientist, the confused man embarks on an typically terrifying quest to return residence to his authentic actuality.

We get to see a number of completely different variations of Connelly alongside the best way, and it is enjoyable and engaging to see her as a long-time mom and spouse, a single and famend artist with sultry confidence, an artwork gallery proprietor decked out in platinum blonde hair, and even an contaminated survivor of a lethal pandemic. It is an incredible performing train for Connelly, however on the finish of the day, it is her essential position within the present that’s tenderly and subtly portrayed.

The sequence will premiere globally on Apple TV+ with the primary two episodes on Wednesday, Might 8, 2024, adopted by one new episode weekly via June 26, 2024. You’ll be able to watch it via the hyperlink beneath:

Watch Darkish Matter