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Jennifer Garner’s film repertoire speaks for itself. From 13 Going on 30 to Daredevil, Love, Simon and Juno, she has cemented herself as one of the most cherished actors of all time.
In 2006, she starred in one of her most heart-wrenching films called Catch and Release, about a woman called Gray who suffers the sudden loss of her fiancé, Grady.
Following her fiancé’s death, Gray finds unexpected solace with Grady’s close friend Fritz (Timothy Olyphant), when their initial friction eventually develops into love.
Now, 20 years later, Jennifer and Timothy have reunited in their new TV show The Five-Star Weekend, a reunion that she told Metro felt ‘very comfortable’, despite the love scenes making her feel ‘nervous’.
The Five-Star Weekend follows food influencer Hollis (Jennifer) after she suffers the shock death of her husband, Matthew (Josh Hamilton).
Hollis arranges a weekend away on Nantucket with four women who mean a lot to her from different stages of her life – internet friend Gigi (Gemma Chan), childhood best friend Tatum (Chloë Sevigny), college best friend Dru-Ann (Regina Hall) and Brooke (D’Arcy Carden), whom she met through their children.
But the four women aren’t the only people she reunites with. She also rekindles a spark with Jack (Timothy), her first boyfriend from when she was a teenager.
We couldn’t help but point out the parallels between Catch and Release and The Five-Star Weekend when we spoke to Jennifer in London, especially considering her reunion with Timothy.
‘I know! Isn’t it crazy? Yeah, I kept waiting, “Does anyone get that this is what we played before?”’ Jennifer responded, a signature smile spread from ear to ear.
‘It was so nice to already have that comfort level, especially in a romantic role, because it’s squidgy as you get older, especially. I just feel much more nervous about romantic scenes than I used to.
‘But I already know Timothy’s wife, and I love Alexis so much. He and I trust each other, we like each other, we know that we work well together, and he has no problem making fun of me from the jump, so it was very comfortable and easy. I was very, very happy it was Tim.’
As well as being a beautiful exploration of female friendship, The Five-Star Weekend delves into the complexities of grief in a sensitively nuanced way.
Being a public figure, Hollis’ grief is on display for everyone to see, and she tries her best to bottle it up and soldier on.
In Gigi’s case, she’s also grieving in the series, but she’s forced to keep her true feelings a secret for reasons that viewers will find out. While the other women on the weekend away all have histories with one another, Gigi is an outsider who’s never even met Hollis in person before.
‘Gigi. She’s very much trying to cover and put on a front in this setting with these women that she doesn’t know. But they’re both grieving inside, and they’ve both got a lot to process. And secrets, Gigi has quite a few secrets,’ Gemma explained to Metro.
Before filming, none of the women had ever met before – but you wouldn’t know it. They had an ‘easy chemistry from the start’, Gemma revealed, and that carried across to when they were off-camera too.
‘The ADs [assistant directors] would come back and say, “Okay, set is ready,” and we would be like, “But we’re talking! We’re busy!”’Jennifer recalled. ‘We all complemented each other’s working styles and personalities so easily.’
The Five-Star Weekend is based on the book of the same name by Elin Hilderbrand, a novelist whom Jennifer praised for giving every character ‘something to chew on’.
‘You have five lead characters, and it’s an ensemble, and everyone has an arc, a beginning, a middle and an end. Everyone has specific relationships with every other person. It’s not like four people are there to serve one,’ she outlined.
Having seen The Five-Star Weekend myself, I know it will have an emotional impact on audiences. So how do Jennifer and Gemma hope that viewers – especially girls and women – feel when they watch the show?
‘I hope they feel seen. I hope they call somebody, maybe [who] they haven’t spoken to in a long time, and reach back out and just let go of any weird thing that was hanging because of distance or time,’ Jennifer replied.
‘Definitely. Hopefully they can reconnect,’ Gemma chimed in.
Jennifer continued: ‘Have a laugh. Just call a friend and watch it together and have a laugh, because there’s so much that happens in every episode. If you have all of these characters to service, a lot of plot goes down, a lot of character stuff goes down, and it’s so funny.
‘Regina Hall, I’m sorry, D’Arcy Carden, are you kidding me? They’re the funniest. Chloe, they’re the funniest, funniest. It’s the best. I can’t wait for people to see it. I’m so excited.’
The Five-Star Weekend is available to watch on Sky and NOW.
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