Elizabeth Olsen enjoys the challenge of unravelling complex characters, and her latest character is the epitome of complex: she makes her return on the small screen as housewife and accused killer Candy Montgomery in HBO GO’s new miniseries Love & Death.
Based on the true story of a controversial crime that occurred in the small town of Wylie, Texas in 1980, Candy – in both real and fictionalised events – is described as ‘perfect’. The perfect wife, perfect mother, perfect neighbour, perfect church-goer…who gets involved in a violent and gruesome murder for which she eventually stands trial.
Olsen’s on-screen version of Candy is perfectly calibrated; the actress is astute in crafting the minute details in portraying the seemingly serene but intensely unsatisfied woman – whether it’s her honeyed Texan accent that sweetens in church, or the once-bright eyes that hardened over the fictional years with ennui and inner turmoil.
“When I read the first script, I understood what I wanted to try and play with,” the Emmy-nominated actress tells Her World in a roundtable on a press junket for the miniseries. “I think that was my way into [the character] – that kind of tension and obsessiveness. I had the idea, and my imagination was like ‘oh! I can see how this could be fun to play’.”
Olsen, known for her award-winning performances in projects like Martha Marcy May Marlene and Sorry For Your Loss as well as for portraying the role of Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch in the Marvel Universe, leads the cast together with Oscar-nominated actor Jesse Plemons (The Power of the Dog and I’m Thinking of Ending Things), who stars as Candy’s secret lover Allan Gore. Other cast members include actress Lily Rabe (American Horror Story) as Candy’s friend Betty Gore, Patrick Fugit (Outcast) as Candy’s husband Pat Montgomery, Krysten Ritter (Jessica Jones) as Candy’s friend and business partner Sherry Cleckler and Tom Pelphrey (Ozark) as Don Crowder.
The series is the brainchild of prolific creator and writer David E. Kelley, the force behind hit series Big Little Lies and The Undoing. Award-winning director Lesli Linka Glatter, known for her craft with complicated drama productions including Homeland and The Newsroom, directed the first four and the final episodes. The show is also inspired by the book “Evidence of Love: A True Story of Passion and Death in the Suburbs” and a collection of articles from Texas Monthly (“Love & Death in Silicon Prairie,” Part I & II).
According to the show’s logline, the drama “tells the true story of Candy and Pat Montgomery and Betty and Allan Gore – two churchgoing couples enjoying their small town Texas life… until an extramarital affair leads somebody to pick up an axe.”
Chilling. Those who are familiar with the 1980s case will, of course, know how the story ends, but the true-crime miniseries has an empathetic edge as it exercises poetic license.
To find out more about the makings of the miniseries as well as the powerful female characters in the show, we sat down with the cast and crew of Love & Death.
Elizabeth, how did you really ensure that you connect with the character to portray your version of Candy in such a controversial story?
Elizabeth Olsen: The reason why I said yes to the job is because I felt like I could connect to [Candy] or at least have a certain point of view playing her. I think that there’s this simplicity to the things that she wants in life – it’s those simple things that we all dream of that are actually incredibly difficult [to obtain] and feel impossible. And so I think [as] someone who’s such an energetic do-er and someone who tries to figure out how to get what she wants almost to a neurotic zone, I felt like it could be fun to energise how forward-moving she is.
Lesli and David, how did you approach the challenge of portraying such complex female characters in this story (whether it’s writing and creating them or portraying them on-screen)?
Lesli Linka Glatter: I am always pulled to layered, complicated, rounded characters. I want to dig deep into that psychological depth. And one of the things that I fell in love with [when it came to] this story, from reading the Texas Monthly articles and the book, is that things are not what they appear to be. You have to look deeper to see what’s really going on and that is how I feel about the characters – I want to see what’s underneath the surface; I want to see not just the outer public-facing view; I want to see what’s underneath. And I think [Candy] is a great example of a very complicated, layered female character.
David E. Kelley: Usually, the burden in the fiction world for me is to conjure up certain characters and facts that would be entertaining and provocative enough. Here, those facts came to me in the form of the truth. So the burden, in this case, is living up to the truth and being truthful to the characters in the story.
It was a different kind of vigilance and discipline from past projects that I worked on but I think we were both drawn to the complexity and depth of the characters. They were very hard to reconcile in the community they lived in [and] the circumstances that they were raised in. We were drawn to the world and characters and tried to be truthful to both.
Lesli: I echo that completely. This is a story about things not being what they appear to be.
Patrick and Lily, can you speak to any moments in the story where you felt particularly connected to or empathetic toward your characters?
Patrick Fugit: There’s a lot, but I think the moment when Candy and Pat go to [a retreat program called Marriage Encounter] and they have a conversation – or at least, they try to have the best conversation that they really are equipped to have at that time. It’s this great effort from the both of them. It’s a really authentic connection that they have. But it’s a really bittersweet moment at the end of that scene, and it’s one of my favourites just because it’s so sweet at the beginning and so sad at the end.
Lily Rabe: I was actually going to choose a moment at Marriage Encounter as well, when Alan and Betty had this exercise where you write down your feelings and desires – what you wish you can say to the other person but you can’t, and then you read it. It’s such a simple exercise but it’s incredibly profound.
Even if you do have access to therapy and all sorts of emotional support and you have an incredibly highly emotionally intelligent relationship with your partner, I think there’s something so poignant about how that investigation into a relationship can continue to be so surprising. And I think Jesse (Plemmons) and I were so surprised – it was beautiful on the page, but in that moment, there was that moment of revelation; and seeing this person that you know so intimately in this new way and light…our [characters] actually has a sort of happier ending in that moment. And I found that very moving and I connected to that very personally.
Love & Death, the seven-episode Max Original limited series, premieres with three episodes on April 27, followed by one episode weekly through May 25. Stream or download Love & Death on HBO GO.