Annette Bening posed recently for Vanity Fair magazine without wearing any makeup. She dished about the experience during a recent guest appearance on Live With Kelly and Michael.

“We did one show when Kelly Ripa lost a bet to me and had to do the show without makeup,” Michael Strahan said. “And I know you posed for Vanity Fair magazine with no makeup.”

An American master in both painting and photography–Chuck Close–photographed Bening, as well as other actresses, took what he called “raw portraits” using a “a rare and impressive 20-by-24-inch Polaroid camera”.

“He’s one of the greatest artists in history,” Bening said. “And I knew if it was Chuck Close, he makes amazing portraits so once you’re asked to do something for Chuck Close, then you just say, ‘I’ll be there.’ That’s how I felt. He’s an amazing human being and a great artist. So it was really a thrill.”

“I bet it’s your favorite photo shoot because one of the most dreaded things about the photo shoot would be the time it takes with the hair and the makeup and the whole thing,” Kelly Ripa said. “It’s like time-consuming.”

Annette Bening in no way disses glamour or makeup, however.

“You know, glamour is really fun,” she said. “Getting all dressed up and putting on fancy clothes. All of that’s a great thing but oddly, it doesn’t really have a lot to do with acting most of the time.”

She continued saying, “And a lot of the things, we’re peeling, hopefully, layers away and showing something that’s inside, hopefully, that people can relate to in a story so it’s more akin to what we do a lot of the time.”

In addition to appearing sans her makeup in Vanity Fair, Annette Bening will star in a new film with Ed Harris called Face of Love. The above trailer shows she might just have yet another hit movie to her credit. And even though she surely wears makeup in the film, fans won’t find her any less fabulous.

Image via Wikimedia Commons