Maria Bello has been in our filmic peripheral vision for quite sometime. She’s been in some winners: A History of Violence (oh, Viggo Mortenson, how we love thee), The Cooler (if you haven’t seen it, rent the shit out of it), Coyote Ugly (thank god for cowboy boots and country pop tunes). But Maria is always the stunning supporting player: the hot wife, the boozy love interest, the slutty bar-owner with a heart of gold. While we love her, these flicks always leave us wanting more (see above photo).
So we’re happy to hear Maria will be front and center in her new project with HBO. Even if it sounds crazy as hell. Crazy. As. Hell.
In the yet-to-be-titled series, written by Gary Lennon of The Shield, Maria will follow in Mary Louise Parker’s footsteps as a hot widow who turns to crime to support her family. Instead of dealing drugs, Maria will employ her three sons as “henchmen.” Although the term “henchmen” makes us think of Spy vs. Spy á la Mountain Dew, we’ll assume that it has more to do with mob collections and protections á la Tony Soprano (nymag.com).
Honestly, we’re a little skeptical of the concept. Isn’t McDonald’s hiring? Isn’t the high-stakes life of French frying and burger flipping slightly more appealing than putting your sons into a life of knee-cap busting and, you know . . . mob-killing?
Whatevs. We’ll take it as long as Maria keeps looking like this:
Loving the Bowtie. Can we work bowties into this mob-boss/distraught mama plot line?