The best thing coming out of the virtual press junket tour for “The Estate” (currently in US theaters, just skip the reviews) is Yahoo! Entertainment’s Roll Call interviw with Toni Collette, in which she not only talks about her iconic roles in “Muriel’s Wedding”, “The Sixth Sense” and “Hereditary”, but also about the roles she wanted to play or declined, including Martin Scorcese’s “Bringing Out The Dead” and “Bridget Jones’s Diary”. The video can be watched above and in the video archive. Here are the best takeaways:

On losing out “Bringing Out The Dead” while being offered “The Sixth Sense”:

I was actually in New York meeting Martin Scorsese for a film called Bringing Out the Dead. And I was so enamored by Marty and obviously wanted to [work with him]. I knew about him. I didn’t know who Night was. So I was kind of focused on trying to work with Scorsese. Who wouldn’t be? I still wanna work with him. … [Finally I called my agent back] and my agent said, “You’ve been offered…” and I screamed before he got it out. I thought he was saying “You’ve been offered Bringing Out the Dead,” and he said, “You’ve been offered The Sixth Sense.” And I was like, [disappointedly], “Aw.”

On turning down “Bridget Jones’s Diary”:

I really couldn’t make the decision. I was busy doing a musical on Broadway called The Wild Party and I wasn’t available. But sometimes I think about that and I think, ‘I don’t know, that character’s so similar to Muriel.’ It might have been too close. And I try not to repeat myself.

On her infamous last scene in “Hereditary”:

Well, the story to me is just a really sad story about a family grieving. And so when it came to doing that, which is an overtly horrific moment, it felt ridiculous. I was hanging up in the attic, and Ari Aster, the brilliant writer-director, had a very specific idea of the rhythm of how I use the piano string to saw my own head off. So I literally was watching him and he was moving how he wanted me to move until it got faster and faster. So it was kind of technical in terms of just pleasing him in the rhythm of how that movement was. And it was fun, actually. It was fun putting all the prosthetics on and getting all the blood lined up. But it just felt like a complete departure from what the film actually meant to me.

“The Estate” is receiving quite some buzz this week for its November 4 release. Anna Faris and Toni Collette have both participated in a virtual press junket for the film. So far, E! Insider and Entertainment Tonight have aired their segments in which the actresses talk about bonding on set to play sisters without any rehearsal time, if they would let their children watch their work. Toni also talked about this year’s 20th anniversary of “About a Boy” and if she keeps up with her co-stars Hugh Grant, Rachel Weisz and Nicholas Hoult. Screencaptures from both videos have been added, too. Edit: A 10-minute b-roll has been added as well.

…well, coverage might be too big of a word since Toni Collette didn’t attend the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards and didn’t win as Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for “The Staircase”. The award went to Amanda Seyfried’s portrayal of Elizabeth Holmes in “The Dropout”. Still, you can catch 2 seconds of Toni in the Lead Actress segment above and in the video archive. Thanks to the Emmys Youtube channel for posting full segments of the award categories and not only the winners. Much appreciated.

A day after the announcement of its BFI London Film Festival premiere, “The Estate” has received a first look trailer and a theatrical release date for the US – November 4, 2022. You can watch it above and in the video archive. Screencaptures have been added to the photo gallery.

HBO Max’s “The Staircase” miniseries retells one of true crime’s most notorious cases: the death of Kathleen Peterson, through a fall from a staircase in her home. “We felt a lot of pressure,” series creator, showrunner and executive producer Antonio Campos told Variety. “I remember, when something wasn’t right, we’d be like ‘it’s called the Staircase! We just need to get this right.’” Campos was joined by executive producer and writer Maggie Cohn and actor Toni Collette, who portrayed Kathleen, for Variety’s “Making a Scene,” presented by HBO. In a conversation with Variety deputy editor Meredith Woerner, the three discussed the three depictions of Kathleen’s death that are seen over the course of the miniseries, and broke down how the sequences were staged and shot. The complete article and video can be found over at Variety.

Collette’s intentionally, hard-to-watch portrayal of Kathleen’s death was always going to be silent Cohn revealed. There were never going to rely on past Hollywood antics to hype up the moment. The brutality of this real woman’s passing was to be laid care with just Collette’s breathing marking her passing. “I remember being surprised and affected by what she was doing, I mean it,” Campos said. “It was very shocking to see because you can kind of suggest the sound or what kind of movement would be, but when you see an actor as good as Toni commit to an idea 150% and go for it, it’s shocking.” The crew actually had to pad the staircase to protect Collette and the stunt actor from injuring themselves on the green screen staircase. As for Collette, her intent was to give Kathleen a voice beyond what the public already knew from previous conversations. “The documentary doesn’t really see her as much more than a victim, she’s quite objectified, so it was a bit of a responsibility to kind of create her from not very much,” Collette said, referring to the 2004 documentary series the miniseries depicts the filming of. “It’s a lot to have to do that three times. But the reality of it is worse, so I just hope I did her justice.”

Lots of additional behind-the-scenes videos to promote the weekly episode’s of “The Staircase” have been added, including an “Inside the Episode” featurette including interviews with Colin Firth and Toni Collette, featurettes on the production sites and television spots. Screencaptures from the promotional interviews have been added as well. Among the many positive reviews for the HBO series, this one might be my favorite:

In just two measly minutes, Toni Collette’s staggering work in The Staircase managed to blow her petrifying performances in Hereditary and The Sixth Sense out of the water. Her characters in those films became standouts in her career because Collette has always been disturbingly good at portraying how the challenges of motherhood and the instinct to protect your children war with the interference of the supernatural. But in The Staircase, she manages to say even more with less screen time. (The Daily Beast, Coleman Spide, May 11, 2022)