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Fans who know Betty Buckley as the mother on "Eight is Enough" or from Broadway musicals may be in for a shock when they see her in "The Mummy an' the Armadillo."
In the dark and brooding suspense film, which is being shown at the Sarasota Film Festival, Buckley emerges in something of a drunken haze, wielding a gun and threatening a young woman who has come to her family's diner. Family members fear the woman is out to learn deeply held secrets.
For the next 10 minutes, Buckley's character holds the girl captive while taking swigs of Jack Daniels.
"You think she's that different?" Buckley asks, laughing, during a telephone interview. "I've played some pretty strange women. She's just a very emotional alcoholic, a really troubled person."
"The Mummy an' the Armadillo" is based on a play by J.S. Cardone, who wrote and directed the film.
Buckley said she took the role in part because her film editor brother, Norman Buckley, worked with Cardone on the...