In “Widow Clicquot,” Haley Bennett stars as Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, who was only 27 years old when she took over her husband’s (Tom Sturridge) vineyard after his untimely death in the late 1700s. She went on to become known as the Grande Dame of Champagne for her bubbly innovations, including creating the first vintage champagne in 1810.
All the while, Barbe-Nicole faced pushback as her father-in-law (Ben Miles) tried to take over the business.
The Thoms Napper-directed film — based on Tilar J. Mazzeo’sNew York Times bestseller“The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It” — has been in development in various stages over many years. Bennett, who also serves as a producer, was set to start shooting when their budget was suddenly cut in half after an investor expectedly pulled out. They quickly tweaked the script to keep the entire film based at the family estate instead of different locations, including Paris.
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“Sometimes getting the film made felt impossible,” Bennett says on a phone call from Montreal, where she is filming her television series debut, Apple TV+’s “The Last Frontier.” “But in the end it was actually this parallel journey. It’s those obstacles that kind of created tension and suspense for me as producer and the actor who would embody the widow.”
It also highlighted how Barbe-Nicole never left the vineyard. “She was afraid that it would be taken from her if she left,” Bennett explains. “She was afraid that they would never left her come back. It was a logic that I understood. It was about putting her feet into the ground and growing roots.”
Bennett reveals that some questioned why she was so passionate about this story. “They would say, ‘Why now? Why do you want to tell this so badly?’” she recalls. “But that’s the fuel for me. It empowers me. Oppression of any kind has become fuel for me. Male domination is very much alive. To tell these stories about women who are ambitious and successful is what I want to do.”
Bennett says a period piece about a woman fighting for her own lane should resonate more than ever as Kamala Harris prepares to lead the Democratic Party in the election. (Bennett, who played JD Vance’s sister Lindsay in the movie adaptation of his memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” declines to comment on the Trump-Vance ticket: “I understand why you’re asking but I just want to celebrate ‘Madame Clicquot’!”)
“Madame Clicquot was wily and intelligent and she had talent and technique and she understood her craft,” Bennett says. “She was innovative and forward thinking. And what set her apart and what made her a success is that she had good instinct, and she had grit. She stood on her own because she didn’t have a choice. That is what women do – we get on with it. I hope Kamala gets on with it, too. I think she will.”
Bennett takes a much different turn in “The Last Frontier.” She stars in the Apple TV+ series as a CIA agent opposite Jason Clarke and Dominic Cooper. The show has been shooting for about seven months. “The CIA jargon,” Bennett says. “It’s like Shakespeare but it doesn’t have any connection to the heart. We’ve gotten very creative in how to memorize all of this incredible dialogue. It’s like dialogue Olympics and physical ‘Gladiator’ training at the same time. I’m trying to do as much of my own stunt work as possible. I basically channeled Tom Cruise.”
Asked if any said stunt work has left her injured, Bennett laughs. “I did get a concussion but it’s a very funny story,” she says. “What took me down was a hair and makeup chair. I sat down and I lost my balance. I hit my head on the concrete floor. Next thing I know I was on a gurney on my way to the hospital. But then when we got to the hospital and it went into lockdown because there was a crazy stabber on the loose.”
