Patricia Arquette’s kids didn’t want her to take on The Act

Patricia Arquette’s children pleaded with the actress not to take on true crime drama The Act after learning all about the chilling family murder at the centre of season one.
The new anthology series features the Boyhood star as Dee Dee Blanchard, an overbearing Missouri mother who battled mental disorder Munchausen syndrome by proxy, and spent years convincing her daughter, Gypsy Rose Blanchard, that she was seriously ill.
Gypsy ended up brutally killing her mum in June, 2015, and the story of their toxic relationship became the subject of journalist Michelle Dean’s 2016 Buzzfeed article, titled, Dee Dee Wanted Her Daughter To Be Sick, Gypsy Wanted Her Mom To Be Murdered.
The case was also examined in the 2017 documentary Mommy Dead and Dearest, and the footage was enough for Patricia’s two kids, Enzo, 30, and Harlow, 16, to urge the 50 year old to pass on the job.
“They’d seen the documentary about this family and I was like, ‘Hey, I’m thinking of taking this part. This mum has Munchausen by proxy,'” she recalled on U.S. breakfast show Today. “(They said), ‘Don’t do it! We know that story! Don’t do it!'”
However, the Oscar winner brushed off their concerns: “I was like, ‘Guys, after all these years, I’m just going to remind you, I’m an actor! It’s pretend!'”
Former child star Joey King portrays young Gypsy in the new TV series, and Patricia admits they were regularly freaked out by the kinds of scenes they had to act out.
She shared, “There were definitely times when it felt creepy, but we’d talk about it too, like, we’d be playing a scene and be like, ‘This is so creepy, oh my gosh!'”
The Act isn’t Arquette’s first dark role – she also tackled another true crime story in critically-acclaimed mini-series Escape at Dannemora, and the actress admits she has to take some time in between projects to recover from the intense emotional gigs.
“I get really run down (after each tough role),” she said. “I just need to be in a little bit of joy and light. No mean people within 30 yards!”
The Act premieres on streaming service Hulu on Wednesday (20Mar19).