Anyone sensing a pattern here? Toni Collette is!
The Australian star understands why her latest role as Laura in Netflix's Pieces of Her reminds us of her gripping performance in Hereditary. Like Annie, Laura is struggling to shake the habits her parents passed on to her.
When E! News pointed out the parallels between the two projects, Toni laughed as she said, "You're not the first person to ask me this today!"
"Look, I think I do gravitate towards themes about generational trauma, people trying to break those cycles and not quite doing it successfully," she continued. "Also, in both of those stories, I'm playing a mother who appears to be quite cold and mean, when actually they're really trying to keep their child safe—so yeah, there may be similarities."
Throughout the series, which is based on the book of the same title, Toni's character, Laura, oscillates between being an overbearing mother and downright cruel to her daughter, Andy, played by Bella Heathcote. During one tense conversation, Laura tells Andy that she wishes she would just get lost.
In these scenes, it's hard not to think of Hereditary's Annie yelling at Peter (Alex Wolff), "I wish I could shield you from the knowledge that you did what you did... But I can't forgive."
Yet Toni insists that Laura and Annie aren't trying to cause irreparable damage, saying, "There are lots of moments of pushing away and it's about saving, but it's misconstrued."
The only difference between Annie and Laura, Toni says, is that Annie is aware of the trauma that she's inflicting, whereas Laura thinks she's genuinely doing the right thing. In reality, "She's repeating the pattern of what her father did to her," says Toni. "She's completely manipulating her daughter and controlling everything and lying to her—just in a different way with a different intention. She's actually making the same mistakes."
But the series is not all doom and gloom. There's even a reference to one of Toni's more comedic roles: Little Miss Sunshine. See for yourself when all eight episodes of Pieces of Her hit Netflix on Friday, Mar. 4.