Matters of the Heart
Jennifer Connelly explains why her new sci-fi series is a love story — and why fans still adore ‘Labyrinth’
➔ The new Apple TV+ series “Dark Matter” centers on a man who discovers alternate universes populated by other versions of himself. In other words, it’s a twisty sci-fi mind-bender. But not if you’re its star, Jennifer Connelly, who saw the show as a love story.
“It was kind of an ode to a marriage,” she says. “It’s told through this device of alternate realities, which is a fun idea, but it’s really an exploration of a couple. And I enjoyed that.”
In the nine-part series, debuting May 8, Connelly portrays Daniela Dessen, a once-promising artist who chose instead to start a family with her husband, Jason (Joel Edgerton). What Daniela doesn’t know is that her Jason has been replaced by a Jason from another reality who regrets putting work before love years earlier. Connelly also plays versions of her character in parallel dimensions — where the two made different choices and faced distinctive challenges that put them on divergent paths.
Blake Crouch adapted the series from his own bestselling book and serves as showrunner. Connelly says that despite his involvement in so many facets of the production, he encouraged collaboration. One time, when she mentioned missing a scene from the book in which Jason Prime meets a Daniela in a plague-ridden world, Crouch put it back in. “It happens at a point when we’ve left Daniela behind for a bit, so it served as an anchor to this relationship,” Connelly says. “I thought it was really impactful and worth fighting for.”
Connelly was only 11 when she made her acting debut in 1984’s “Once Upon a Time in America,” and she’s been famous for decades. Yet she still marvels that she gets to act for a living. “I am so aware of what an amazing opportunity it is to do what I do every day,” she says. Though she doesn’t go back and watch her films, she is often approached by people who remember her performances with a deep fondness. Take her Oscar-winning turn in “A Beautiful Mind” or her gutting role in Darren Aronofsky’s “Requiem for a Dream.” And then there’s the 1986 cult classic “Labyrinth,” which has a passionate fandom; Connelly appears in Ron Howard’s upcoming Apple TV+ documentary “Jim Henson Idea Man” to speak about her experience making the film.
While “Labyrinth” was considered a financial disappointment, Connelly says she was too young to be aware of that. “I remember hearing rumblings,” she says. “But people’s affection has grown over the years. People talk to me about it in a way that seems outsized to the response when it was first released.”
Connelly thinks she knows why “Labyrinth” exerts such a cultural hold. “Jim was a genius. And we don’t really make movies like that anymore,” she says. “All those practical, wonderful puppets working together on those beautifully crafted sets. It feels different than the way we make a lot of films now; it feels kind of special.”
She looks back less fondly on other early outings, such as the 1991 John Hughes-scripted “Career Opportunities.” Connelly recalls feeling uncomfortable making the film: “I think that I had a different expectation. I didn’t necessarily feel aligned with what was happening creatively.” Even more disappointing was the sexualized marketing for the romcom. “There was me on some kind of mechanical horse or something, and they had like a cut-out of me, life-size, that rocked back and forth. I just remember feeling really embarrassed.”
Lately, Connelly has alternated between TV and film — appearing on TNT’S “Snowpiercer” and in 2022’s “Top Gun: Maverick” — and she’d like to mix in a play at some point. “I’ve never done [theater] and I think about it a lot,” she says. However, “I definitely don’t think I should be in a musical. I don’t think anybody wants to see that.”
“We don’t make movies like that anymore. All those practical, wonderful puppets working together on those beautifully crafted sets.”
Jennifer Connelly on “Labyrinth”