Annette Bening Joins Dan Fogelman's New Film

Get your tissues boxes at the ready, because according to Deadline Annette Bening just joined the cast of Life Itself, an upcoming film written and to be directed by This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman, the man behind all of our sobs. When it was announced Bening would be playing Kathleen Blanco in Katrina: American Crime Story it seemed sort of wonderful, strange, and unprecedented; the actress has a wide filmography that's mainly but not exclusively contained to, well, films. However, this movie is an interesting pick, because the film does sound like it's going to borrow from television, specifically Fogelman's current NBC-residing mega-success series.

For one thing, it's going to include a mix of big name stars and a handful of relatively unknowns... at least to an American audience. Bening is going to be joined by Oscar Isaac, Olivia Wilde, and Antonio Banderas, which sounds like a wildly sexy and amazing time. But what's really intriguing is the actual plot of Life Itself, which has a similar story-telling method to what we've come to expect from Fogelman, who also gave us Crazy, Stupid, Love.

Life Itself is slated to be a love story that spans multiple generations. It connects the lives of several people from the New York streets to the Spanish countryside and back again, showing how their tales are interwoven. How will they all know each other? We'll have to wait and see.

Co-producer FilmNation seems to certainly trust Fogelman's vision, though. “Dan Fogelman has this incredible gift when it comes to telling stories that audiences can connect with on a deeply human level,” said FilmNation Entertainment CEO Glen Basner, according to Deadline. “This cast is exceptional, and we are thrilled to begin shooting here in our home city of New York.”

So what else can we possibly expect from Life Itself? Will there be more than a few epic twists thrown into the mix? Perhaps a handful, the film can't be supersaturated with shocking reveals in the same way This Is Us gets away with it via weekly surprises. But more importantly, will it touch our souls and make us cry? Probably, and probably really, really hard. Also, realistically, I'm sure someone could be related to someone else here.

Life Itself is still very much in production, so your heart is probably safe for now. But keep your eye out for Bening in the future, on TV, with two more upcoming films, or otherwise. She's certainly not showing any signs of slowing down.