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Amanda Peet

March 22, 2012 by · Comments Off on Amanda Peet 

Amanda Peet, After last starring on television in the short-lived series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Amanda Peet (The Whole Nine Yards, Syriana) returns to television once again in the new comedy Bent, which premiered Wednesday night on NBC.

The 40-year-old actress plays a newly divorced, high-strung lawyer and single mom looking for a fresh start by renovating a new home. She hires a reckless, womanizing, recovering addicted gambler as her contractor, and finds herself attracted to his charming ways even though he is everything she cannot stand.

Peet, who is married to Hollywood screenwriter David Benioff, with whom she has two daughters, Frances, 5 and Molly, 2, sat down with Reuters to talk about her new show, being a mother and how married life has changed her.

Q: What made you return to television?

A: “I like the idea that she’s a single mom trying to keep it all together. I think most working moms have this sinking feeling that they’re failing, so I related to that. And I like the idea of an adult dating show that’s sexy and not just for gags — that kind of romantic suspense where you’re like, ‘Are they going to have sex or not?’ I love that she despises the fact that she’s attracted to (her womanizing contractor).”

Q: Is the show meant to be realistic or a fantasy?

A: “I’m not sure yet, actually. We definitely want to make people laugh. We have J.B. Smoove and Jeffrey Tambor so we want everyone to escape and laugh. But hopefully it’s more on the realistic side.”

Q: Later this year, you will star with Ben Affleck and Jessica Chastain in a new Terrence Malick movie. How do you figure in to the plot?

A: “I don’t know what I’m allowed to say, but I’m a love interest of Ben’s. We shot it in Ohio. I was breastfeeding at the time, so my memory of it is very, very foggy. I didn’t have the normal amount of brain cells.”

Q: Your husband is the executive producer of the HBO hit series Game of Thrones which shoots in Europe. How do you guys make it work?

A: “Everyone packs up and goes. For the last three summers we lived over there. In season one I came back with the girls and did a play in New York. This past year I shot Bent, so David commuted from Belfast to L.A. He’d make little videos for (daughter Frances) so at breakfast she’d see David on a glacier in Iceland and all the actors were in costume saying Good morning Frankie!”

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