What Annette Bening & Warren Beatty Told Daughter Ella About Acting

Sep 11, 2026 - 04:08
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What Annette Bening & Warren Beatty Told Daughter Ella About Acting

'Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story' Unveils Bloody First Look at Ella Beatty as the Accused Murderer

Ella Beatty knows she comes from a monstrous family legacy. 

The daughter of Warren Beatty and Annette Bening revealed the most important piece of advice she got from the iconic stars as she embarked on her role as acquitted killer Lizzie Borden in the upcoming Netflix series Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story.

“Listening,” Ella exclusively shared with E! News’ Will Mafuggi. “As an actor in a scene—always being more curious about what the other person is doing.”

“Get interested rather than be interesting, but also to listen and observe and watch more generally,” she added of their advice. “You never want to be the smartest person in the room. Just really listening is what I learned most from them.”

And when it came to her famous folks, Ella knew she was very lucky to have learned from two actors like Warren, 89, and Annette, 68. 

“They're such incredible artists, and also so different from one another,” Ella raved. “And also have such different careers from each other.”

Of course, being the daughter of Hollywood royalty also means that she and her mother are always looking for a way to work together. 

“What a dream! She's my favorite actress in the world and my hero and my best friend,” the 26-year-old exclaimed. “We kind of dream about it all the time. That would be a dream come true.”

And so far for Ella, every part of her acting journey has been a total and utter dream. 

Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for Audi

“The whole thing has been really surreal, and I've just tried to meet every moment,” she confessed. “I come from a really collaborative environment in theater so this was a super different experience for me. I hope I can meet it.”

Despite the differences between acting on the stage and acting on the small screen, the Broadway star knew that taking on the role of Lizzie Borden—who was accused of killing both her father (Charlie Hunnam) and stepmother (Rebecca Hall) in 1892—was a chance she could not pass up. 

“I read the audition sides and had a very instinctive connection to them, which doesn't happen all the time,” she explained. “Sometimes you get auditions and you think, ‘I don't know how to connect to this.' I felt so connected to it right away.”

Bruce Glikas/WireImage

The role also gave the opportunity to “create a person” based on what was in the script and what is known about the real-life Lizzie Borden, an experience that was amplified by the fact that she was playing the first female lead in Ryan Murphy’s Monsters franchise. 

“Even by nature of her being the first female monster, I felt the difference there,” she explained. “I was so excited by that opportunity to interrogate that theme.”

Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story premieres on Netflix Sept. 17. 

For more shows hitting the small screen this year, keep reading.

Oxygen

The Hooters Murders: Deadly Shift (Oxygen) - Sept. 7

Between 2001 and 2010, separated by thousands of miles, the victims shared one connection: they were all associated with Hooters. The Hooters Murders: Deadly Shift is a two-hour documentary that unravels these tragic murders, exposing how young women who were linked to the iconic restaurant chain were preyed upon. What once was viewed as a golden ticket of opportunity led to dangerous dynamics, the abuse and demise of multiple women in the workplace.

Investigation Discovery/YouTube/Warner Bros.

O.J. Unseen: Exploitation of Evil (Investigation Discovery) - Sept. 7

Investigation Discovery unlocks never-before-seen footage from the making of Juiced - the ill-fated hidden-camera prank show featuring O.J. Simpson. An extreme experiment in the reality TV genre during a time that fused shock value and celebrity culture at any cost, for Simpson, the show was a misguided and desperate attempt to rehabilitate his public image. But just as producers were about to launch this ill-fated attempt to blend reality television with the crime of century, a mystery saboteur brought the whole thing crashing down from within. 

O.J. Unseen: Exploitation of Evil is an explosive four-part documentary event that examines the behind-the-scenes ethical and production challenges that derailed the project before it ever reached audiences. 

Bravo

The Real Housewives of New York City (Bravo) - Sept. 8

The city that never sleeps lights up when this ambitious group of Housewives takes on another unforgettable season. From the concrete jungle to the sandy beaches of a private island, they work hard and play even harder as some friendships grow stronger, new ones form, and others take unexpected turns. When pieces of the past resurface and new tensions emerge, the women find themselves navigating shifting loyalties and fractured friendships.

FX/Disney

The Drop: A Snowfall Saga (FX) - Sept. 8

The series follows Snowfall characters Wanda Bell (Gail Bean) and Leon Simmons (Isaiah John) as they fight to reinvent themselves in ’90s Los Angeles, where the fallout from the crack epidemic is fueling a new game: the rise of West Coast rap.

Peacock/NBCUniversal

The Paper (Peacock) - Sept. 9

In season two, after sweeping the Ohio Journalism Awards, Ned searches for a journalistic crusade, coming for a local private club and jeopardizing the paper, while he and Mare try to figure out their attraction, Esmeralda struggles to find her place, and the staff gradually mature as reporters.

Apple TV

Last Seen (Apple TV) - Sept. 9

Police detective Ian Ridley's (Patrick Brammall) life fell apart 11 years ago when his young daughter Maggie disappeared without a trace. Now working as a police dispatcher, the only thing that has kept him going is his implacable refusal to accept that she might be gone forever. When he receives a distress call from a teenage girl he is certain is Maggie, he will stop at nothing to find her and reunite his broken family, whatever the cost.

Disney

Made in Korea (Hulu) - Sept. 9

Season two follows Baek Kitae as he continues his rise to power after framing prosecutor Jang Geonyoung. Now the Deputy Director of the Korean CIA (KCIA), Kitae continues to grow his wealth and influence, expanding his drug operations across the region. But with political turmoil and discontent spreading, Kitae’s old foe Geonyoung will step out from the shadows to exact his revenge nine years in the making. With more at stake than ever before, Geonyoung and Kitae will break every rule and cross every line to eliminate the other once and for all in this fast-paced second installment. 

Hulu/Disney

The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives (Hulu) - Sept. 10

After two wild years, #MomTok is hotter than hell, but will friendships and dreams go up in flames? Taylor returns from The Bachelorette with unfinished business, an old temptation, and the pressure of life in the public eye. Whitney debuts on Broadway in New York City as tensions back home chase her. Back in Utah, the limits of loyalty are tested as fame, secrets and backlash threaten #MomTok — with every blowup making headlines. As the heat threatens to burn the sisterhood, have they finally flown too close to the sun? With rumors spiraling and the public demanding answers, the sisterhood starts to crack, and #MomTok must decide what — and who — it’s willing to sacrifice.

Netflix

Crew Girl (Netflix) - Sept. 10

Sixteen-year-old Teagan Tao (Miku Martineau) was a rising star in single sculls rowing until a family scandal capsized her future. Forced to relocate with her mom (Jessica Paré) to the East Coast, Teagan starts over at the prestigious Easton Prep, where she’s not just an outcast but stuck aground - there’s no girls' rowing team. Her only way to the water is to take the helm of the school's notoriously dysfunctional boys' varsity crew as their coxswain.

Thrust into a world of old money and brutal competition, Teagan must find a way to lead a team that doesn't want her and somehow bring them together. As she juggles her own rowing ambitions, the demands of the boys' crew, and her family’s escalating complications, she also finds herself unexpectedly caught in the orbit of the team’s two most competitive rivals: the arrogant team captain, Josh Regis (Sam Braun), and the quiet but intensely driven underdog, Cam Dillinger (Kyle Clark).

Paramount+

Colin From Accounts (Paramount+) - Sept. 10

Season three of Colin From Accounts reveals the aftermath of the ill-fated proposal, but while Gordon and Ashley are determined to move on from past embarrassments, they can’t seem to shake their collective baggage. And even as life moves on, with challenges at work, ongoing family battles and new friendship dramas, something keeps pulling this flawed, funny pair back into each other’s orbits. Do Gordon and Ashley belong together – or is their beloved dog Colin the only thing keeping their futures intertwined?

TNT/Warner Bros. Discovery

High Value Target: The Hunt for Saddam (TNT) - Sept. 13

For the first time, TNT brings to television screens the story of John Nixon (Joel Kinnaman), the first CIA officer to interrogate Saddam Hussein (Waleed Zuaiter) following his capture in December 2003. Set against the backdrop of one of the most consequential military operations in recent history, the pulse-pounding series explores the high-stakes exchanges between Nixon and Hussein. As Nixon seeks answers from the former Iraqi leader in his search for weapons of mass destruction, he is forced to confront the far-reaching consequences of the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the ramifications that would reverberate around the world for decades to come.

Warner Bros. Television Group

The Jennifer Hudson Show (Check Local Listings) - Sept. 14

Jennifer Hudson kicks off season five of her daytime talk show with guests including Tom Cruise, Doja Cat, Jamie Foxx and more.

Disney/Eric McCandless

Dancing With the Stars (ABC) - Sept. 15

Ciara Miller, Maura Higgins and more famous faces will compete for the Mirrorball Trophy when season 35 debuts.

Disney

R.J. Decker (ABC) - Sept. 15

The ABC drama starring Scott Speedman returns to investigate more mysterious cases in season two.

Investigation Discovery/Warner Bros. Discovery

Toxic (Investigation Discovery) - Sept. 15

Toxic will continue to follow Elizabeth Chambers as she speaks with survivors of toxic relationships, domestic abuse, and intimate partner violence and explores cases from all over the country. Featuring powerful, first-hand accounts from the survivors, as well as their family members and loved ones, Toxic offers a holistic look at the many faces of domestic abuse and intimate partner violence, offering a deeper understanding of how toxic love can devolve into something far more dangerous – and sometimes deadly.

BritBox

Agatha Christie’s Tommy & Tuppence (BritBox) - Sept. 15

In the first contemporary English language television adaptation of Agatha Christie’s stories, Tommy and Tuppence are a detective duo for the ages. They fall in love, fall out of it, and tumble back in, all while solving some thrilling, entertaining mysteries along the way.

Koury Angelo/Bravo

The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City (Bravo) - Sept. 16

This season the ladies of SLC celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in San Francisco and get some much-needed sunshine in Hawaii. Though they agree to set aside their differences and come together, nothing in Salt Lake City lasts forever as enduring bonds are tested and surprising new relationships are formed. 

Returning for season seven are housewives Lisa Barlow, Mary Cosby, Heather Gay, Angie Katsanevas, Meredith Marks, Bronwyn Newport, Whitney Rose and friend Britani Bateman. Friend Ashley Quai also enters the mix. 

Apple TV

Slow Horses (Apple TV) - Sept. 16

Slow Horses is a darkly humorous espionage drama that follows a dysfunctional team of British intelligence agents who serve in a dumping ground department of MI5 known un-affectionately as Slough House. Gary Oldman stars as Jackson Lamb, the brilliant but cantankerous leader of the spies who end up in Slough House due to their career-ending mistakes and who frequently find themselves blundering around the smoke and mirrors of the espionage world.

Season six sees the Slow Horses on the run as Diana Taverner embroils them all in a fatally high-stakes game of retaliation and revenge.

Shane Mahood/Prime Video

Neagley (Prime Video) - Sept. 16

Featuring Maria Sten as the fan-favorite title character, Neagley invites fans of the Reacher series and Lee Child's best-selling novels deeper into the world they love—delivering a gripping new mystery packed with unexpected twists.

Frances Neagley is a private investigator in Chicago and former military protege of Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson) in the Army’s 110th Special Investigations Unit. When she learns that a beloved friend from her past has been killed in a suspicious accident, she becomes hell-bent on justice. Using everything she’s learned from Jack Reacher and her time as a member of the 110 Special Investigators, Neagley puts herself on a dangerous path to uncover a menacing evil.

Paramount+

Golden Axe (Paramount+) - Sept. 16

In a hilarious homage to Sega’s iconic 1989 video game, Golden Axe follows legendary warriors Ax Battler, Tyris Flare, and Gilius Thunderhead as they reunite to save Yuria from the evil giant Death Adder, who just won’t seem to stay dead. Their quest is complicated by Hampton Squib, an inexperienced and wildly underprepared adventurer whose dream of heroism far exceeds his abilities.

As they journey through a dangerous fantasy world, the group faces formidable enemies, unexpected allies, and mounting chaos driven by their clashing personalities. Forced to work together despite their flaws, they must find a way to stop Death Adder once and for all.

NBCUniversal

The Traitors: New Blood (NBC/Peacock) - Sept. 17

No celebrities. No socialites. Emmy-winning host Alan Cumming is opening the doors to his now-infamous castle in the Scottish Highlands to 22 everyday Americans, hand-selected from a nationwide search resulting in over 80,000 hopeful applicants.

Netflix

Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story (Netflix) - Sept. 17

When the repressed daughter of a wealthy New England family and her rebellious maid find themselves trapped in a house built on humiliation and cruelty, they escape into a fantasy of sex, power, and revenge. The gruesome unsolved murders that follow don’t just shock the world—they give birth to an icon who refuses to live imprisoned in a cage, choosing instead to forge her own legend: shocking, monstrous, and gloriously free.

Starz

Outlander: Blood of My Blood (Starz) - Sept. 18

After an unexpected journey back in time left Henry (Jeremy Irvine) and Julia (Hermione Corfield) Beauchamp lost and separated in the sweeping highlands of 18th century Scotland, season one culminated with the two finally reuniting at the standing stones of Craigh na Dun, hoping to return to their own time and their young daughter, Claire. The first glimpse at Season Two picks up at that moment and reveals a distraught Julia alone with their baby. Separated from his love and hope, Henry must grapple with his mental health, as he fights to find his way back to her.

Meanwhile, the forbidden relationship between Brian Fraser (Jamie Roy) and Ellen MacKenzie (Harriet Slater) seemed to conquer all odds, but their romantic escape was cut short as fiery crosses were lit and the 1715 Jacobite Rising began, thrusting the clans into war. In season one, they chose each other over their families, but now they must prioritize their clan loyalties, as Brian fulfills his obligation to fight and Ellen seeks to make things right with her family.

HBO

Jay-Z in 8 (HBO) - Sept. 18

30 years after his landmark debut album Reasonable Doubt, artist, icon, philanthropist, entrepreneur JAŸ-Z sits down with longtime friend, producer, and director Rick Rubin for an intimate reflection on his storied career, revisiting the music together and unpacking his work and life through a shared listening and illuminating conversation. Featuring many of JAŸ-Z’s iconic tracks and album cuts, including “99 Problems,” “Brooklyn’s Finest,” and “4:44,” the eight-episode series offers a deeply revealing portrait of the artist and his work, exploring the influences and inspiration that shaped both the man and his music.

Jason Bell/Paramount+

MobLand (Paramount+) - Sept. 18

In season two, “the Harrigans struggle to show a unified front as rising rivals threaten their fractured criminal empire and Harry Da Souza, their street-smart and formidable ‘fixer,’ must walk a dangerous tightrope when tensions within the family intensify," reads the network logline. “As violence spills into every corner of their lives, loyalties snap, safety proves temporary, and the battle for power leaves no room for mercy."

HGTV/Warner Bros. Discovery

Scariest House in America (HGTV) - Sept. 18

Retta continues her search for the country's most spine-tingling properties in a new season of the popular spinoff Scariest House in America. The actress, comedian and home design enthusiast will brave 20 tours of petrifyingly paranormal or horrifically hideous houses whose owners say are haunted by scary stories and hair-raising sights.

Steven Ackerman/MGM+/Sony Pictures Television

American Hostage (MGM+) - Sept. 20

Based on the acclaimed first season of the scripted podcast of the same name, American Hostage is a psychological thriller set in the 1970’s that tells the harrowing true story of Fred Heckman, a beloved Indianapolis radio reporter who is thrust into the middle of a life-or- death crisis when hostage-taker Tony Kiritsis demands to be interviewed on his popular radio news program.

Netflix

Kevin Hart's Cold as Balls (Netflix) - Sept. 20

Cold As Balls is the sports comedy franchise hosted by Kevin Hart, bringing together world-class athletes and faces for unforgettable conversations in ice tubs filled with humor, heart, and unexpected moments. The series has become a fan favorite by redefining the sports interview format and has become one of the most recognizable sports interview series to date.

(Photo by: Trae Patton/NBC via Getty Images)

The Voice (NBC) - Sept. 21

Veteran coaches Adam Levine and Kelly Clarkson will be joined by newcomers Riley Green and Queen Latifah for the singing competition series' milestone 30th season.

Scott Gries/NBC

Line of Fire (NBC) - Sept. 21

Peter Krause returns to TV in NBC's new drama.

"When a U.S. Marshal falls in the line of duty," reads the show's description, "a seemingly cut-and-dry case turns into a deadly conspiracy as a family of law enforcement agents become the target of a mysterious assassin."

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