Donna Mills, the quintessential 1980s villainess from the cul-de-sac of Knots Landing, returns to television as an even more malevolent antagonist in a four-part Lifetime movie series adapted from Flowers in the Attic author V.C. Andrews’ Dawn Cutler book series, premiering Saturday, July 8, at 8pm ET/PT on Lifetime.
Starring Brec Bassinger as Dawn, all four films revolve around the wealthy Cutler family, one that is as secretive as it is powerful. Secrets of the Morning, Twilight’s Child and Midnight Whispers will follow Dawn, though only the first three include Mills as the wicked grandmother and hotel heiress Lillian Cutler.
Asked about the experience of playing another villain, Mills told us it was a lot of fun. “To play your character in three movies is a lot better than having just one. You have a lot of time to develop it,” she gushed. “I liked the thought of her from the very beginning. She is very hard on Dawn, but she’s interesting. You wonder why she’s as mean as she is.”
This is very true; one does wonder, while watching Dawn, what makes Lillian so evil. When Dawn first shows up at the massive Cutler estate, Lillian forces her to work as a maid before even introducing her to her real parents.
“The thing is, as an actor, you don’t think of your character as being mean. You know what I mean? Because a person doesn’t think of themselves as being mean; it’s just the way they are,” Mills explained. “So, when you prepare to play a role like this, you just find her motivations, whether they’re right or wrong, or whether they’re evil or not. You just have to find those things. And you don’t think of them as good or bad because she doesn’t think of them as good or bad. They’re just her motivations.”
As is often the case, Lillian’s hostility has to do with her past. “There’s a fifth book called Darkest Hour, which they’re not doing, but it explains Lillian and why she is the way she is,” Mills explained. “And so having that in my tool chest, to know all that, made it really much easier and better to play her.”
Mills enjoys playing these types of twisted, complicated characters; she told us her favorite two roles during her career were Abby from Knots Landing and then her most recent role as Lillian Cutler. “Lillian had a horrible upbringing. There were some sick things that happened. If you know V.C. Andrews’ mind and how twisted it is, you can imagine. But that makes it really interesting to play. I loved it. I hope they adapt the fifth novel so that the audience can get to know why she is the way she is.”
Dawn, the titular character of the film series, is a direct antithesis to Lillian: sweet, optimistic and innocent to the point of naive. In the first 30 minutes of the film, she has her entire life thrown upside down when she discovers she was kidnapped as a child and that she is actually related to the Cutlers, after which she is sent to live with them.
“Yeah, she’s young and she is innocent. She’s had a life with a loving, lovely family who she thinks is her family and they aren’t. So it’s a very interesting situation that she finds herself in,” Mills said. “She’s pretty strong when all is said and done, but boy, she goes through a lot.”
Be the first to comment