Summary

Apples Never Fall
is a new Peacock series based on the Liane Moriarty (
Big Little Lies
) book, and stars Annette Bening, Alison Brie, Sam Neil, Jake Lacy, and more.
The cast of
Apples Never Fall
discussed the theme of privacy, acknowledging the importance of maintaining privacy in their personal lives while simultaneously exposing themselves in their work as actors.
Annette Bening detailed the way that acting is completely vulnerable and should be truthful; she says that the mask has to come off when acting.

A major discussion in this age of social media is the idea of privacy, whether we share too much of ourselves online, and how these issues may come back to bite us in the end. The topic was raised during a panel at this week’s TCA Winter Tour, where the next adaptation of a book by the author of Big Little Lies’, Lindsay Moriarty, premiered its first footage. In attendance were stars Annette Bening, Alison Brie, Jake Lacy, and showrunner Melanie Marnich.

Apples Never Fall is the story of the Delaney family, whose lives are thrown into turmoil when the matriarch of the family, portrayed by Annette Bening, vanishes. With the eyes of the world on them, and their every move and phrase picked apart by the media, the Delaney children are forced to take a deeper look into their parent’s supposed perfect marriage, and their own relationships, as they attempt to discover the truth of what happened to their mother. Bening is joined in the cast by Brie, Lacy, Sam Neill, Conor Merrigan-Turner, and Essie Randles.

The question of privacy and how much to keep under wraps is a theme of Apples Never Fall. It is especially important for celebrities, who often become such a big part of the public’s lives through their art that it can at times be difficult to keep a distance and separation from an audience who sometimes begins to feel some ownership over their every movement. See the continued obsession over the lineup of relationships of celebrities like Taylor Swift, who sometimes struggles to maintain privacy while dating a string of high-profile men, and mining her own life for lyrics. We are truly in the parasocial age.

When the cast of Apples Never Fall were asked about the theme of the show, secrets, and what the public might not know about them, Lacy originally tried to lighten the subject by admitting that if he were not an actor he would be a landscape architect. Bening, however, decided to address the broader subject of privacy in Hollywood.

“Well, it’s just such a great question. My basically rant to young actors starting out is to maintain your privacy. It’s so important right now, especially with social media and there’s just this culture of every event in your life you have to make public. And maybe the pendulum will swing the other way because, of course, it used to be the opposite. It used to be that everybody was dying to maintain their privacy. Not in the work.”

“In the work, we have to expose ourselves,” continued Bening. “That’s our job. And to try to do that as truthfully as possible, which is interesting because even when you choose to be an actor, and you are putting yourself out there, there’s part of the psyche when you’re working that says, ‘Protect yourself.’ And you have to say, no, no. This is about taking the mask off and exposing yourself. So, in the work, that’s the job. But in our private lives, we have to have some privacy. I think it’s important, but it’s not only people in the public eye like we are, but even regular folks. Like, having some privacy, I think is just — that’s my secret. What about you? What’s your biggest secret?”

To which Brie responded, sharing a bit of advice she once received:

A great actor once told me to maintain my privacy. And that’s what I’m going to do today.

Related: Apples Never Fall Trailer Stars Alison Brie, Jake Lacy, Annette Benning, and Sam Neill

Brie Maintains Privacy Regarding Brother-in-Law James Franco

One instance that shows just how far Brie goes to maintain her privacy was when she was confronted with the sexual misconduct allegations against her brother-in-law, actor James Franco.

Brie is married to Dave Franco, the younger brother of actor James Franco. In 2018, at the height of the Me Too movement, and during an awards season that saw James Franco nominated for several awards for his work on The Disaster Artist, five women accused Franco of sexual misconduct. At the time, Brie was confronted by Vanity Fair about the allegations against her brother-in-law on the Oscars Red Carpet, and she chose to play the situation very close to the vest, responding only with a clearly prepared statement.

“I think that, above all, what we’ve always said is it remains vital that anyone who feels victimized does have the right to speak out. I obviously support my family and not everything reported has been fully accurate. But, of course, now is a time for listening and that’s what we’re all trying to do.”

In a world where the minutiae of every statement or tweet is picked apart word by word for its context, and many celebrities have found themselves ostracized for a misplaced word, Brie may have been wise to keep her distance from the topic. Her career has not suffered because of her support of her family, and even Franco himself appears to be on a comeback trajectory with the announcement that he will play Fidel Castro in a future film, and will star opposite Vincent Gallo in the controversial new film, The Policeman.

Perhaps the best approach for any celebrity now is to maintain a distance from the public. If you’re an Alison Brie fan, check out our interview with her for Somebody I Used to Know, which was directed by her husband, Dave Franco.