In The Widow Clicquot, Haley Bennett plays Barbe Nicole Clicquot-Ponsardin, who was just 27 when she took over her husband's (Tom Sturridge) vineyard after his untimely death in the late 18th century. She became known as the Grand Dame of Champagne for her innovations in sparkling champagne, including creating the first champagne in 1810.
Meanwhile, Barbie Nicole faced stiff resistance from her father-in-law (Ben Miles) who tried to take over the business.
The film, directed by Tom Napper—based on Teilhard J. Mazzeo’s New York Times bestseller The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It—had been in development at various stages for several years. Bennett, who also serves as producer, was about to begin shooting when their budget was suddenly cut in half after an investor pulled out, as expected. They quickly tweaked the script to keep the entire film set on the family estate rather than in various locations, including Paris.
“At times, making the film seemed impossible,” Bennett says by phone from Montreal, where she is filming the first episode of her Apple TV+ series, “The Last Frontier.” “But in the end, it was a parallel journey. It was these obstacles that created a kind of tension and suspense for me as a producer and the actress who would play the widow.”
It also highlighted the fact that Barbie Nicole never left the vineyard. “She was afraid that if she left, the vineyard would be taken away from her,” Bennett explains. “She was afraid that they would never let her come back. It was a logic I understood. It was about putting her feet in the ground and growing roots.”
Bennett reveals that some have questioned why she is so passionate about this story. “They’d say, ‘Why now? Why do you want to tell this story so intensely?’” she recalls. “But this is fuel for me. It gives me strength. Oppression of any kind has become fuel for me. Male dominance is very much alive. Telling these stories of ambitious, successful women is what I want to do.”
Bennett says a film about a woman struggling to find her own path should resonate more than ever as Kamala Harris prepares to lead the Democratic Party into the election. (Bennett, who played J.D. Vance’s sister Lindsay in the film adaptation of his memoir “A Country Elegy,” declined to comment on the Trump-Vance ticket: “I understand why you’re asking, but I just want to celebrate Madame Clicquot!”)
“Mrs. Clicquot was cunning, smart, talented, artistic, and she understood her craft,” Bennett says. “She was innovative and forward-thinking. What made her successful was that she had good instincts and courage. She stood up for herself because she had no choice. That’s what women do — we deal with it. I hope Kamala can deal with it, too. I think she’ll succeed.”
Bennett takes a very 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 was shot for about seven months. “The CIA terminology, it’s like Shakespeare but it’s not heartfelt,” Bennett says. “We got really creative with how we memorized all this amazing dialogue. It’s like the Olympics of dialogue and the physical training for ‘Gladiator’ at the same time. I try to do as much of my own stunts as possible. I basically imitated Tom Cruise.”
Asked if any of the stunts caused her injury, Bennett laughed and said: “I got a concussion, but it’s a very funny story. I fell into the hair and makeup chair. I sat down and lost my balance. My head hit the concrete floor. The next thing I know, I was on a stretcher on my way to the hospital. But then when we got to the hospital it was locked down because there was a crazy person stabbing me.”
