To speak in internet parlance, Brittany Snow starring in a sapphic murder-mystery thriller for Netflix was not on my bingo card. But here we are.
For millennials who recognize Snow from cult classic teen comedies like 2006’s John Tucker Must Die and the Pitch Perfect franchise, her starring role as the self-destructive Sophie in The Hunting Wives is simultaneously nostalgic and intriguing. This is Snow, all grown up.
The TV adaptation of May Cobb’s seductive novel about murder, lust, and self-discovery, has flip-flopped between the number one and two spots on Netflix’s top 10 TV shows since it premiered on July 21—a stunning feat considering it’s going up against Netflix darling Wednesday. The show has also tapped that special frequency which is so much more elusive than a simple ratings success. Online, The Hunting Wives has become a lightning rod for dissection, discussion, and obsession.
“It was completely unexpected, I’m not going to lie,” Snow says of the show’s success and rabid fan base. “Sometimes you think you have a good sense of what’s in the zeitgeist and what people want. I, in this case, did not.”
Between the infidelity, the wildly inappropriate relationships, the money, and the murder, it’s hard to imagine the show not striking a chord. But it’s a testament to the cast—including Snow, Malin Åkerman, Dermot Mulroney, Katie Lowes, Chrissy Metz, and Jaime Ray Newman—the production team, and Cobb’s source material that The Hunting Wives was able to toe the line between campy drama and straight up absurdity.
“I’m very grateful for the people that get it, because it’s a tricky show to get,” says Snow, noting that the more shocking scenes (full frontal nudity, a pegging scene in an implied lavender marriage, a Mrs. Robinson-esque dalliance with a high school student, etc.) were “unapologetically” intentional. “So many people understand what we were going for.”
Coincidentally, Snow tells Glamour, she also has two more sexy, murdery projects in the works: Netflix’s The Beast in Me and Hulu’s untitled Murdaugh murders series, both out later this year.
“What’s really important for me, and I think that that shows in Beast in Me and I hope it shows in a season two with Hunting Wives, is that there’s so many facets to the women that I like to play, and that you can be sweet and curious and still be a badass and also really intelligent,” she says.
“I think that those dualities exist within me and I hope they exist within my characters. I’m just excited for people to take that journey with me,” she adds. “Just because you’re blonde and you have blue eyes doesn’t mean you’re dumb.”
Keep reading for Snow’s take on the most-divisive storylines on The Hunting Wives, her hopes for a season two, and what’s next for her. Warning: Spoilers for The Hunting Wives ahead!
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Glamour: The Hunting Wives is doing well on Netflix, and has so much buzz online. What has the reception to the show been like for you?
Brittany Snow: The show was originally made for Starz, so when we were filming the show, we thought it was going to be a much smaller audience, and maybe it would be a cult classic in a way. But now that so many people have seen it… it’s really tested me and a lot of stuff that I needed to work on within myself.
There’s a lot more people judging it and a lot more people liking it, which is extremely gratifying and I’m very grateful for, but it also makes me very nauseous. So, I’m equal parts, very, very happy and like, “Oh.”
Is it the fact that there are so many opinions about the show? Or just that there are so many eyeballs on it?
I think both. The better thing is that even if it is polarizing and people have negative reactions to it, I’m not necessarily sure that I care about that. I just really, really always care about my performance and things that I could have done better. I just pick apart myself a little bit.
I’m curious about your thoughts on the conversations about Graham. A lot of people hate him and think he’s an awful husband. What is your take?
When we filmed the show—I’m sure not many people know this—Sophie and Graham, we filmed our scenes many different ways. Graham’s character was done in many different ways because they didn’t know how bad a husband they wanted him to be. So, they landed somewhere in the middle. But we filmed a lot of these scenes that were cut of him being even worse and then him being better. I think it’s because they really needed to show that there is love there, but on the flip side of the coin, there’s also a guy who is very controlling, and Sophie has been really used to being controlled not only by him, but by herself.
You really needed to see how that environment shaped her need to break free. That was a really hard thing for Evan [Jonigkeit] to master. It’s so funny because he’s the nicest guy on the planet, and I’m hoping he’s taking the hate online of his character as a sign he did well at his job, because he’s the antithesis to that.
We needed a complete foil in a lot of ways to what’s going on with Sophie’s inner world. I have seen a lot of people argue that he’s actually being a good husband, and keeping Sophie from being a wrecking ball in a lot of ways to himself and the family. So, I don’t know. I think people’s personal reasons can play into whether they see him as a villain or not.
Totally.
Same thing for Sophie, because I remember just getting all the scripts and being like, “She does what? Why?”
Right? Sophie’s no angel either. Would you consider their relationship toxic, or do you think it’s just two very complicated people? How would you characterize their marriage?
I think it’s almost codependent in a way, because she is using him to stay safe because she doesn’t trust herself, and she doesn’t feel safe within herself. It’s one of those things where she hates him for keeping her in this box, but she’s put herself in a box in a lot of ways because the choices that she’s made in the past have led her to feel like at any point she might do all these dangerous things, and then you see within the show that she does. I think a lot of people get frustrated by that, but that’s just because she was a ticking time bomb long before she got to Maple Brook.
I think we emphasize that with her biting her nails and being really fidgety and really awkward. It’s because she’s been kept really tightly wound because she knows with any false move or any false step that she could implode. I think a lot of people think that she’s an alcoholic and all these things. [Executive producer] Rebecca Cutter and I went back and forth on that decision. She’s not an alcoholic. She’s just very distrustful of herself. So, if she drinks, she has no idea what she’s going to do, which you obviously see.
When we’re introduced to Sophie, we learn she’s lived on the East Coast, she’s worked in liberal politics, and now here she is rubbing shoulders with the flashiest conservatives. Some people have asked, “What does she really stand for?” What do you think motivates Sophie? What do you think of the mask she’s putting on?
The front that she’s putting on is very flimsy. I’m not sure that she has a very good one, or a good poker face, in any scene. I do agree that her moral compass is just spinning all around because she’s been waiting for something like this to come around. She hasn’t felt like herself in a really long time.
It’s almost like she’s being called to come back to who she really is, which is a really hard thing to shy away from or stay away from, because throughout the arc of her story, she’s actually getting closer and closer to the person that she’s always wanted to be.
Another conversation that I’ve been seeing a lot of is maybe there’s a repressed sexuality element. We see in the flashbacks that she was put off by any romantic relationship with another woman. There’s a lot of sexy scenes in the show and there’s a lot that Sophie’s exploring. Do you think that that has any bearing on her behavior?
Definitely. I think that two things can be true at the same time. There’s a lot of gray that exists in Sophie where she can be very, very attracted to women, and has been attracted to women for a really long time, and then also she has suppressed that in a way because she knows the safer thing to do for herself is to go with a safe option. Clearly, you see when Graham shows up that he’s the quintessential safe option. He’s like, “Hey, you want cheese and crackers?” after she’s been doing drugs all day. I think she’s afraid of the road that she could go down.
Rebecca and I worked a little bit on her backstory, and the type of parents that she had and the structure that she was trying to uphold in terms of the mom that she wanted to be, the woman that she wanted to be within these societal norms that are placed on women. Like, you can’t be this wild thing. At a certain time, you have to get married, you have to be a mom, you have to have these goals checked off. I think she was really wrestling with that and then got in too deep over her head and couldn’t turn back. So, this story is her asking herself, “Is this what I really always wanted?”
I think yes, she has been repressing a lot of her desires as a woman because she feels—and many women feel this—that living that largely and living that boldly and asking for what you want and getting what you want is sometimes looked down upon. We’re just now coming into an age where women are saying, we have autonomy, we have sexuality, and we want what we want. We don’t have to be ashamed or keep ourselves small for it.
There’s been some fuss about the level of nudity and sex scenes in the show, and I wonder if that’s because it’s on Netflix. What do you say to the people who have a problem with it?
I think about how the show was done for Starz, and if it had been on any other network, like HBO…I don’t think people would be shocked. That’s what is really interesting. I mean, there’s certain shots that I’m like, “Oh, I’m in my head because I’m self-conscious, but I don’t find the nudity that jarring. I don’t feel like it was gratuitously done, where we’re showing this shot of a woman’s body for no reason. It’s all part of the story that needs to be told, specifically because of Margo’s coercion and power and making these moves on Sophie, the sex scenes need to happen because Margo uses her sexuality and prowess to make sure that Sophie feels like she’s finally being seen.
That’s all that Sophie wants, is to finally be pleasured and taken care of and all these things that she hasn’t felt in so long. I think that it’s needed because it’s always also a little weird when there’s sex scenes and they begin to kiss and then it fades into the curtains or something. So, there’s a little bit of both that’s happening here, but I feel like the interesting thing, and Rebecca says this really unapologetically and proudly, is we did this show because we wanted to shock people.
I would second that by saying men behaving badly has, for a really long time, been very accepted. There’s men shooting people up and killing people, and heads are being chopped off and they’re having sex with women.
No one is clutching their pearls because those are the types of gangster movies we’ve become so fascinated with—and which I love, too—but when women do it, it’s more shocking and it’s more talked about. I think that’s something we all need to figure out.
Maybe it’s the Netflix of it all that’s shocked people.
I think the resurgence of purity culture has also influenced the reactions. The one real surprise, though, was when Kyle came out completely naked.
It’s so funny because there’s a reason for everything in the show. The point of Kyle’s nudity is that Rebecca and all the women on the show said there’s enough naked women, there’s always naked women in scenes. Why can’t we even the score?
What was your favorite part of filming?
God, there were so many. Everybody that I worked with was so incredible and so lovely, and I think that’s why we want a season two so badly. There was not one bad apple in the whole barrel. We didn’t have anyone that didn’t feel aligned.
Some of my favorite scenes got cut. One of my favorite scenes that I did was with Michael [Aaron Milligan], who plays Kyle. I really got to be funny. We have this whole banter and we start to actually get along. That scene got cut, which was really unfortunate because it’s before I take him to his buddy’s house. You get to see that I really do like crime, and I do want to help him in this weird way. You get a sense that I’m a little mischievous and it plays to why I go on this journey with him. It also makes it even more sad when I kill him because I liked him and we were getting along.
All the scenes that I have with the Hunting Wives were my favorite scenes to film. I mean, I would look at the call sheet and it would be a Hunting Wives day. I just would get so excited because it was just hanging out with your girlfriends and talking about life and things and our love lives and everything. We got so very close, and the camaraderie there was really special.
What was it like to work with guns for the hunting scenes? Did you have to take a special class?
There was weapons training, but I think people should know that there were no live rounds in any of our guns. Everything was CGI, which was funny because when we’re shooting things, specifically the clay pigeons, the gun is not going off. It wasn’t my best acting. [Laughs]
There was a bit of an arc with Sophie’s wardrobe too. In episode one she’s wearing this boring, conservative black dress, which is really out of place in this flashy Texas town.
Sophie’s wardrobe was so funny. I think specifically of the sandals that she wears to Coyote Joe’s—she’s flowery. I think she’s trying to be an East Coast mom, that’s something that she would wear if she was dropping her kids off at school. She’s unfamiliar with these short sequined skirts and translucent materials.
What I really like about her evolution is that she cares a little bit less by the end of the show. I really hate in TV shows and movies when someone’s fighting for their life or for their kid and they’re going on this long goose chase trying to get their life back together and they look amazing. They somehow put an outfit together, and I can barely put an outfit together when I’m just going to the grocery store.
So, yeah, I really liked those scenes where she’s just in jeans and a T-shirt. She’s just going around trying to put her life together. I do like that that symbolizes in a lot of ways too that she just stopped giving a fuck. I think that’s what you’re seeing by the end, when she’s making every bad decision possible. It’s like all fucks have been lost.
What are your hopes for season two? I know obviously nothing’s confirmed yet, but what are you hoping for for Sophie?
I would love nothing more than for Sophie to have a little bit more guidance and to not be manipulated as easily, because once you find out your girlfriend is a murderer, I think things change a little quickly. But it does put Sophie and Margo on even ground in a lot of ways that I find very interesting to explore, because now Sophie is a murderer as well. I’m going to be interested to see how that dynamic plays out, and I’m hoping that she doesn’t forgive Margo and it takes a lot more to get them back together.
Tell me a little bit about your decision to take on a project like this, as well as The Beast in Me and untitled Murdaugh Murders? You seem really interested in thrillers.
I always attract projects that I find fascinating in some way, and I love murder mystery stuff. I’m such a quintessential true crime junkie. With Hunting Wives and with Untitled Murdaugh Murders and with Beast In Me, I think the thing that really holds them all together and what I’m fascinated by are these really interesting characters within this puzzle that you’re trying to figure out.
There’s depth to these characters and it’s more of a dramatic leaning thing for me, which I actually find really fun. A lot of my career was musicals and comedies, and I love doing that, but I wanted to try something that was a little bit different. So, I’m really glad that it’s happening that way, but it’s not necessarily that purposeful. It’s not like I will only do murder mysteries.
It’s so fun to see you in a new light, especially because I grew up on John Tucker Must Die, Hairspray, and the Pitch Perfect films. What has it been like to grow up in the spotlight, and to evolve from those teen roles?
I am just really, really grateful that people still care. I mean, it’s been a really long time that I’ve been around, starting as a kid. I’m just always amazed that people remember—and I mean this genuinely—John Tucker Must Die and things like that. It’s nice because I’ve been growing up with everyone in a way, and these roles reflect that we’re all growing up and we all like different things.
Not to say that I don’t want to do more comedies. I would love to because that’s what I feel like my personality just does. But I also feel like there’s more depth and more things that I’ve gone through and more things that I can share through my acting, specifically experiences that I’ve had that I feel lend itself well to these types of roles.
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Do you think that there are any misconceptions out there about you or anything that you want to set the record straight on?
The thing that’s really funny with Sophie and with Beast in Me that’s coming out in November is that I think a lot of people assume that I like and want to play these girls who are naive or wide-eyed and feel very fish out of water, a Dorothy in Wizard of Oz. I think my face just lends itself to that, unfortunately, because my eyes are really big. Everyone’s like, “You’re always so wide-eyed,” and I think it’s just because my eyes are literally wide.
Working on these murder mystery shows, how do you unwind at the end of the day? Do you have a routine?
On Hunting Wives, Malin and I had a little tradition. After we would finish a big scene, we would go to this one bar and we would have these huge turkey sandwiches and a margarita. We would just talk about life. I was in a very transitional place in my life at the time we filmed, and I just talked to Katie [Lowes] and Jaime [Ray Newman] and Malin all the time about life stuff. We did a really good job of balancing the fact that we didn’t want it to be all about work all the time. We really wanted to solidify these friendships; we would unwind afterwards and realize that the work wasn’t our entire life. It was just this thing that we were very grateful to do.
Our friendships mattered so much, too, and they helped the story as well, because you really see that chemistry—specifically from me and Malin. We did a lot of decompressing after work and hanging out with each other. Hanging with Malin was my favorite thing to do.
The post ‘We Wanted to Shock People’: Brittany Snow on Making The Hunting Wives appeared first on Glamour.
