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Video: Getting Spooky with Laura Benanti
Oct 1, 2024
In this video, Laura Benanti stops by The Roundtable to talk about her new role as a mother in the creepy, spooky, thriller The Shade! The Shade, an award-winning independent horror film starring Chris Galust, will have an exclusive theatrical release on several hundred screens in the U.S. and Canada on September 20, ahead of its release across all digital platforms.
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Are you ready
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It's the Roundtable with me, Robert Bannon. Hi, friends. Welcome to The Roundtable
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My name is Robert Bannon, and you are watching us on Broadway World. It is a Friday edition
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And sometimes, you know, I get a break at work from my survival job, from my real job
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And I take a moment to talk to some famous people. And sometimes I don't have the room or the space to talk to them
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So sometimes you're just in an abandoned hallway. That's what happened. How many times have you talked to Laura Benanti in an abandoned hallway
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For me, it's one. But do I know Laura Benanti? I sure do. She is my Jersey sister
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She is my Jersey brethren, if you can be a brethren and a sister. I don't really know
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But what I do know is I love her so much. She's in a new horror movie. She plays Melania Trump
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Her Laura Benanti, nobody cares, is out on Audible, and she is a superstar who's going on the road
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and on tour with her mom playing 54 below and around this country. Laura Benanti's mother, Linda, was my first music teacher
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Small world, all roads late to New Jersey. So it's a great honor and privilege to be with my buddy
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Laura Benanti in an abandoned hallway, her in Jersey and me in Detroit
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And I'm here with my fellow Jersey in, Laura Bonanti, Tony winning superstar
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Ravaganza. Thank you. That's a really nice intro. I'm so happy to see you
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I'm so happy to see you too. New Jersey misses you. You know, and I miss New Jersey
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And people don't understand us crazy jerseans. You know, Laura, I'm proud of you
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Can I tell you? Yeah. Because you're at Broadway, Nista. You have conquered the stages
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We love your voice. We love you and all the things that you've done. but you are out here being funny on late-night TV, doing sitcoms
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and then in your spare time, besides being a mother, a wife, a Tony winning Broadway superstar
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you're making thrillers and horror, like feature films. Thank you. When was the moment when you said
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I think I'm going to give film a shot and I'm going to make a movie? You know, I had made like small movies in the past or it had like
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tiny parts and big movies. And then no hard feelings with Jennifer Lawrence
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That was like really fun to do. Very fun movie. Very fun
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And you know, this, I'm not like a horror person. I'm not like a jump scare person
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But this particular movie, to me, the metaphor of mental health and the sort of like cinematic, slow, not slow, but like the cinematic taking its timeness of this film felt
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different. You know what I mean? It felt different to me than it lives in between worlds in a way that I think is
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interesting. Well, we're talking about the movie is called The Shade. It's a supernatural
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supernatural horror film. You playing a mother of an interesting son. Can you tell us a little
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how do you describe the movie You know it is a like I said a metaphor on mental health You know you have this sort of monster that you have like the shade
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You know, you have this weird, creepy, horrible spider thing. That, you know, seems that it's outside, but it's really from within, you know
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So the idea that this is, you know, generational, that the father dealt with this
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and then the older son and then the two younger sons, you know
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about sort of like conquering that thing that lives in all of us
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but lives in some of us more. I think, and it's also just like entertaining and scary
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and all the things people want from a film like this. Isn't it the time
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Like, I mean, everybody out here. Like, this is, we're about to hit October. It is going to be Halloween season
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You're going to be out at the Spirit Halloween at some abandoned Best Buy somewhere, you're going to buy in your Halloween costumes
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This is the time. That is so specific and true. That is so specific and 100% true
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So that's exactly right. The perfect film. It's going to be in release in a couple hundred theaters and then it's going to be on demand
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So you could get some popcorn and watch it on your couch pretty soon. Yeah
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Absolutely. I mean, I think seeing it in a movie theater, it's a different experience
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But for those people who don't like to leave their house like me, you can watch it as many times as you want on your couch
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Absolutely. So what this was written, it's like the first feature that was written
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like writer, director Tyler's future debut. What was it like to work
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You know, you're an old, you've been around the block. Yeah, baby
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So what was it like working with him on this set to get the performances he got out of you all
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He's such a lovely human being. I mean, to have like a very dramatic film like this run by someone who's just like a delight was really nice
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And I love that he, you know, he co-wrote it and he directed it
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So there was none of that interpretive like the director's going to talk to the writer and then they're going to tell them and then they're going to tell you and then maybe something got lost in translation
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He knew exactly what he wanted. And he was able to very clearly express that to us
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And he saw the different ways in which everyone worked and figured out their separate process, their processes
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What would we call it? Yeah, sure. Her cross eye and tailor it so that he was able to get the performances he wanted from, you know, these very specific people
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And your co-star in this Chris Gales, who is playing a 20-year-old Ryan, who he loses his dad and he's working
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me at a tattoo shop, trying to take care of his brother and you're his mother and you all just
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come to chaos together. Tale as old as time. It sounds exactly right
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It sounds like an entertaining evening for sure. That's what I want people to know is that it's definitely going to be an entertaining evening
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A tattoo. I thought about it when I was reading the press release. I was like, I want to, maybe I need a tattoo
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Maybe I need It my face Laura Benanti Add it up Tatted up I have a tattoo that says my older daughter name on it I was going to ask you do you have one
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It says Ella Rose. My two-year-old is not on my body yet
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I got to get her on there. It feels not good. It's classic second child
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That's how you. No generational trauma in the future. We got to make sure we don't have
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So how do you balance your career? Like you have your team and you get asked
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to do concerts. You perform around this country. You perform in New York City. You put on symphony shows and all of that
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You get Broadway offers. You get theater offers. And then you have these feature films and television films
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So how do you pick and choose what is next on your bucket list
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That is a really lovely interpretation of what my career is. That sounds great
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Wait, you just described. No, I am so lucky. that I've had the career that I've had on Broadway
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And we'll hopefully continue to have that Angela Lansberry style, you know
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And in terms of TV and film, I feel like I have really sort of clawed my way
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Like I've had to work super hard, commit to fighting for it, helping people
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Because I'm a character actress and I do play so many different parts, you know, like the
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like the tragic mom in the shade and then Melania Trump. It is confusing for people
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And so I think sometimes they're like, what are you? What are you
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And I, you know, I'm a character actress. That's what I am
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And I'm happy to be it. But like, so for me, sometimes it gets offers for things like the shade or like, you know
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Elspeth, which I, that CBS television show I did recently. And then there are other jobs where I'm like, I'm being asked to put myself on tape for something
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I don't even want to do. But guess what? I'm going to do it. And then I don't get it
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And I'm like, this is not a party I wanted to go to, but I wanted to be invited
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So you know what I mean? So, you know, and somebody else, somebody's super famous the other day talked about auditioning for something
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And I was like, look, I guess there's a world in which you keep having to prove
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yourself over and over again. And fine. Like, I've made peace with that
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And then you really know that the part you're in is the part that's meant for you
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And everybody has agreed upon it. But, yeah, I feel really lucky that I get to do theater
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I get to do TV. I get to do film and writing. You know, I get to, now I wrote my own comedy show
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Laura Benanti, nobody cares. Thank you. And the PR for it, Laura
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was so good. Like Laura Benanti was in the middle of Times Square at stage doors, just asking people
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And the reality, Laura, is we all really do care very, very much. And we really do thank you
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because your career has given us so much joy. And if you've ever seen her dualized or if you've
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ever seen, she loves me or if you ever seen the work that she's done, you know that she's been
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I mean she is Melania Trump more than Melania Trump I am her alter ego if she hadn like given her soul away
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So if you watch Stephen Colbert, then you'll know that that, so you have so multifaceted
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and I know before I let you go, and I've told you this on the red carpet recently
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your mother was one of my first voice teachers. Your mother, Linda Benanti, is a genius vocal coach out there in New Jersey and Broadway
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star in her own right. the work ethic that you got her work ethic is bananas her technique is insane do you take a lot of those
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skills that you learned as growing up with her and and still apply them to this day yeah all of it
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not just singing but how she moves through the world with so much kindness and so much empathy
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and humor you know my i wasn't born with the sense of humor that i now see the world
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through. Like the lens that I now see the world through is not how I was born. My nature
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was darker than that. And my mom, her nature is lightness. Now, she's had a lot of challenges
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in her life. So she chooses kindness and empathy and love and joy. She chooses it every day
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and she taught me to do that. And so, you know, everything that is funny in me
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all of the pieces in me that I'm most proud of are from my mom
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So when you see Lauren Linden Mani on the road or playing in New York City
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make sure you grab a ticket and go see them because they're bananas good
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And we all do care. And we can see your show that you wrote
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And I hope it continues to tour and travel and be everywhere because we love it. Thank you. You can listen to it on Audible right now. It's on Audible. Go get it. Go get it. The shade. The shade in
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theaters. You better go get a ticket because I like popcorn. I like a little AMC moment. I like a little
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gober. I don't what's your go-to movie theater snack? I like a junior mint. Oh, I like that
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Like a junior man. It's classic. Be like the winner. Get a junior. That's all
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It doesn't get better. Happy fall, happy everything. Congratulations. I'm so happy to see you
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I'm so happy to see you. And I'll be looking forward to you when I'm back in New York. And I'll be looking forward to see you on record
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And thank you for all you do. We love, love, love, love the Laura Bonanthianxia. And love to your mother
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Yes, for sure. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope for looking for something scary and spooky this Halloween season
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You know what the doctor ordered. That's right. We told you all about it
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Next week, more great stars of Broadway, film, television, movies, drag, cabaret. I don't know who else. Maybe a professional chess
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player, a professional bowler. Who knows what I'm going to pull out of my magical hat and send
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on my way to Broadway World? I thank you so much for being here. If you liked what you saw
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today, make sure you follow me at Robert and Bannon and say hello. Join us every Friday
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You can head over to the Broadway Podcast Network where the Roundtable has a new episode every
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single day or join us live on Thursdays on YouTube. Go to Robert Bannon or The Roundtable
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with Robert Bannon on YouTube and make sure you like comment and subscribe until next time
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everybody god bless you thanks for being here and the best is yet to come bye bye
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