Dynasty's Eliza Bennett Discusses The Final Season, Her New EP, And More

I want to go back a little bit to when you worked with Helen Mirren, you were 14. That's mind blowing. I'd love for you to reflect on "Inkheart" and that project as a whole and how it impacted your mindset, your experience moving forward.

I look back on that as really a huge highlight of my childhood career, because I did "Nanny McPhee," but I was 12 then, so I was less able to digest it than "Inkheart." We shot most of that movie in Italy, which is insane now I look back on it, and it was my first real lead in a big studio budget film. It's funny — if I got that opportunity now. I would be sh***ing myself, but at 14 I was like, "Yeah, let's do it." 

I was most starstruck by Brendan Fraser who played my dad, because he was [in] "George of the Jungle" and "The Mummy." That's what I grew up watching. It was wild, because I was mainly around men on that [project], [like] Paul Bettany and Andy Serkis, and Helen Mirren was my female example and role model.

During filming "Inkheart," she won the Oscar for "The Queen" while we were shooting. I was in awe of her ... Now that I look back on it, I think how lucky I was to have her at such a pivotal time in my life as an example of what it is to be a female actress, because she is such a professional. She's worked forever. She is lovely to everyone. You watch her walk on set and everyone in the crew is in love with her. She's magic to be around. Largely why I had such a great time as a kid actor is because the actors that I was lucky enough to work with were all such stellar people, honestly.

Watching Brendan Fraser now, who I have such a soft place for in my heart — he honestly was wonderful to me and was such a father figure for years even after the film finished. It's so wonderful to watch what's happening to his career now, because he is such a good man. Largely, the fact that I was untarnished by the downsides is because I have these great examples. All of these actors would treat the people around them impeccably and it only took being an adult to look back and realize how important that was for me to watch.

Especially at 14, that's a really pivotal time of development for anyone. You're old enough to be aware of what's going on, but as you said, reflecting on that now you have such more of an appreciation for it.

100%. You can easily surround yourself with yes men and that's what they obviously say is, "That person's never been told no," and that's sometimes why people's behavior gets bad. That's difficult when you're a kid actor, because runners and PAs are constant. If you want sweets, they'll get you sweets, or candy. That's hard when normally, you would be being parented, and that was hard for my parents to be like, "No she can't have that. No, please don't do everything for her." I feel sorry for parents having to be a parent while your parenting is being undermined on set all the time.