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In Netflix\u2019s newest drama sensation The Hunting Wives, Malin \u00c5kerman plays her Texas housewife character as a femme fatale. Margo is the queen bee of suburban Maple Brook with a wide smile and cowboy boots that hide an array of secrets: an unstable childhood in a trailer park, an ascension to her businessman husband\u2019s side through sex work, an array of extramarital relationships. Margo does whatever she wants, and \u00c5kerman gives her spontaneity an easy grace.<\/p>\n
But once her husband, Jed (Dermot Mulroney), decides to run for governor on a pro-gun, anti-abortion, happy-marriage platform, Margo realizes the increased public scrutiny could threaten everything she has built for herself, exposing elements of her life Jed\u2019s voters won\u2019t like. Such as the abortion she just had after her boyfriend, a high-school student, got her pregnant; the murder she committed to cover up that fling; and the affair she\u2019s currently having with new-to-town Sophie (Brittany Snow). The Hunting Wives churns through plot as Margo and Sophie hook up, Margo frames Sophie for the murder, and the couple break up, get back together, and break up again. The season\u2019s cliffhanger ending<\/a> drives another wedge between them as Sophie, mistakenly convinced that Margo has sent her brother, Kyle (Michael Aaron Milligan), to kill her, instead kills him. For \u00c5kerman, the series\u2019 deft moves through comedy, thriller, noir, and mystery are exactly what make it so bingeable; it became a hit on Netflix after all eight episodes premiered on July 21. (The Lionsgate Television show was originally commissioned by Starz, then picked up by Netflix<\/a> after Starz and Lionsgate split in May<\/a>.)<\/p>\n \u201cThis show moves pretty quick. It\u2019s not a slow pace or, like, I hope they kiss by episode whatever. We\u2019re diving right in there,\u201d says \u00c5kerman from Sweden, where she\u2019s visiting her mother. During filming, she says, the series\u2019 creative team described Margo as a bit like Melania Trump, someone who \u201ccame into a marriage to this rich man as one woman,\u201d then finds the expectations for her have shifted once he becomes politically ambitious. \u201cThat was the only reference, really,\u201d \u00c5kerman says. \u201cOther than that, it\u2019s just high society. I\u2019ve mingled with aristocrats and high-society people and seen the games that go into it. For lack of a better word, I wouldn\u2019t say \u2018authenticity\u2019 is how those people lead.\u201d<\/p>\n You\u2019ve said of Margo, \u201cEverything is an agenda. I would take everything she says with a grain of salt.\u201d Where did you find sincerity within her?<\/strong> Approaching it definitely came from a place of survival, and that is where I could relate to her. I moved out when I was 16. Figuring out the world on my own, traveling a lot on my own as a 16-year-old girl,\u00a0what you run into \u2014 grown men and women who try to take advantage \u2014 all of that played into who I became as a person and who Margo became as a person. We chose very different paths, but I can understand her from that place. There\u2019s a chameleon aspect to her, but it\u2019s all played as grounded as possible. Otherwise, it becomes a caricature. I always played the scenes with the intention of what she needs in that moment. She will say and do anything. If her husband said, \u201cWe have to go and do satanic rituals in order for you to stay where you need to be,\u201d she\u2019ll go do that. It just happens to be church, and that\u2019s what she needs to do in order to stay in the good graces of her territory. She learns how to play people, which is kind of politics, really.<\/p>\n She uses her sexuality as a weapon. I\u2019m thinking of her opening scene, when she immediately undresses while introducing herself to Sophie.\u00a0<\/strong> On a certain level, I\u2019m like, is Margo the most feminist character I\u2019ve ever encountered?\u00a0<\/strong> In the finale, after Margo and Sophie have ended their relationship, Margo comes clean to her husband and gets kicked out, while Sophie has seemingly killed Margo\u2019s brother, Kyle. Sophie picks up Kyle\u2019s ringing phone, Margo is on the other end, and Sophie realizes she misunderstood why Kyle was after her, while Margo suspects that someone has killed Kyle. It\u2019s a really tense moment of mistaken identities and motivations on both sides of the call, even as the women never actually speak. You\u2019ve said you shot it a couple of different ways.\u00a0<\/strong> But if you break down that scene into little pieces, it\u2019s the initial relief that, finally, the phone is being answered. She\u2019s been trying to get hold of Kyle. Then there\u2019s the anger of \u201cYou better not be disregarding what I said to you about not bothering Sophie.\u201d Then there\u2019s the fear because nothing is happening on the other end. Then there was the figuring out of, Maybe this is Sophie, and what the fuck? We filmed it all the way to when I say \u201cSophie, is that you?\u201d and the breathing continues and then Margo falls back against the wall and starts melting down. It\u2019s a two-second roller coaster of emotions. We lost my little sister in the airport in Paris when she was very young, and it\u2019s like your whole life flashes in front of you for a second, where you just can\u2019t believe this is happening. That was the feeling I wanted to bring to that phone call, where there are so many thoughts you don\u2019t have time for them all. The panic sets in.<\/p>\n Earlier in the finale, you and Sophie have a big fight in the middle of Jed\u2019s latest fundraiser, where Sophie confronts Margo about killing Abby, and Margo begs Sophie to forgive her and suggests the two of them could still be together. I was wondering the whole time, How honest is Margo being with Sophie right now?\u00a0<\/strong> Brit and I talked about it a lot, and the showrunner, Rebecca Cutler, was there and director Cheryl Dunye. I said, \u201cThis is the point where she\u2019s at her lowest. The intention in this scene is so important. She has to get Sophie to agree not to tell anybody. This will ruin her life. It\u2019s everything she\u2019s built up until this moment, and someone\u2019s about to pull that away from her.\u201d For me, it was that mother instinct, as if somebody were threatening to take my child away from me. That was what I brought to it: If she walks away, my kid is gone. And I think Sophie is heartbroken and disgusted and mad at herself. Brittany played it beautifully. That was a tough one for me. It\u2019s hard to get yourself there, especially when you\u2019re surrounded by people you love and you\u2019re having a great time on set and you\u2019re like, I don\u2019t want to do this. I don\u2019t want to dig that deep and get that sad and angry and upset. It takes its toll.<\/p>\n Where did you want to leave Margo at the end of the season? How is she thinking about her situation and whom is she caring about?\u00a0<\/strong> When Margo is teaching Sophie how to shoot in the premiere, Margo is standing behind Sophie, guiding her body. It\u2019s a very sensual moment that sets the tone for the show to come: We often see close-ups of the women touching each other, long shots of the two prioritizing each other\u2019s pleasure during sex, and moments of them laughing together afterward. Was that blocking scripted, or were you and Brittany able to choreograph it together?\u00a0<\/strong> There\u2019s a recurring discussion online about the male gaze versus the female gaze, and this show has a lot of the elements I consider to be the female gaze \u2014 the camera focused on touch, gesture, caress. So much of that comes through in this moment.<\/strong> This series was created for Starz, then when Starz and Lionsgate separated, it moved to Netflix. You filmed it intending it to be a weekly show and then it became a binge release. Did you have any thoughts on that change?\u00a0<\/strong> Have you heard anything about a renewal or what the show would need to do to get renewed?\u00a0<\/strong> If there were a second season, what sort of arc would you like for Margo? You\u2019ve said it would make sense for her to get back together with Jed because it would both benefit his political image and keep her in power.\u00a0<\/strong> What would you not want to happen to Margo?\u00a0<\/strong>
She\u2019s a survivor. Everything she\u2019s doing, there\u2019s a reality to it. For me, it was played more out of necessity: These are the things she needs to move up in her agenda for her life. That doesn\u2019t mean she doesn\u2019t get thrown off. Sophie, for instance \u2014 that\u2019s a new shiny toy she hasn\u2019t seen in a while, this really bright, emotionally intelligent woman who stands her ground and is not one of the wives.<\/p>\n
I love that scene. I\u2019ve never seen anything quite like it. It was really brave and really forward, like a female version of a dick-swinging contest. We\u2019re like, Tits out, baby! You want to challenge me? No? All right, you can stick around. It\u2019s testing the waters. We\u2019ve all seen men do that over and over again. And growing up modeling, you learn that your sexuality can be powerful whether you decide to use it or not. Men have their power and women have their power, and that is one of the things women wield; we know we can make people bow down at our feet. It depends on how much integrity you have as a person and how far you\u2019re willing to go. Margo just goes for it. She has her boundaries, which are very different from my own. But I can understand leading with sexuality, where there\u2019s a freedom to saying, I don\u2019t care. Why shouldn\u2019t I, if I feel comfortable with it? If I want to do this, then I\u2019m gonna.<\/p>\n
But then you see how she is with her husband and how she can cower, and you go, Oh no, she still has to play that game for the man. It\u2019s not like she\u2019s free on her own. She still needs him. The nice house and the money are tethered to the husband.<\/p>\n
\ufeffI always want to understand what\u2019s going on in my character\u2019s head. When you\u2019re on set and talking about things, it\u2019s so conversational; there\u2019s no linear thought process. We went back and forth on all the different versions of that, if it was bigger or more contained. In one version, I hear the breathing and I say, \u201cSophie, is that you?,\u201d which I really liked.<\/p>\n
That was a big scene for us \u2014 that one and the motel room, where Brittany throws me up against the wall and I\u2019m begging. Those two were the most difficult scenes for me because those are pivotal moments for my character. I always try to personalize things, but I\u2019ve never been in a situation quite like that \u2014\u00a0I\u2019ve never killed anyone and someone found out about it.<\/p>\n
We all can agree that she cares about Sophie, but I do think if it were a choice between Margo\u2019s life and livelihood versus Sophie, she would always choose herself. It\u2019s the personality of a narcissist, this survival instinct. You still want something between these two because you know there\u2019s something there. They connect through their traumas, and subconsciously they\u2019re attracted to each other because of that. I hope we leave the audience with, These two have things to work out, and their journey isn\u2019t done yet. Margo is at the point of fear her wrath \u2014 because this is not going to be good when what happened to Kyle comes out.<\/p>\n
Most of this stuff was a group effort. That was a combination of our director Julie Anne Robinson and Rebecca going, \u201cWe want these moments.\u201d There was a lot of talk about hands and making sure we had hand gestures and saw the sensuality in it. It\u2019s foreshadowing, of course, to have these moments for Callie, Jaime Ray Newman\u2019s character, to notice and the audience to be able to see it. It makes apparent what\u2019s happening here \u2014 it\u2019s not just a friend going, \u201cHere, I\u2019m going to help you do this for the first time.\u201d Instead, we wanted you to go, \u201cOh wow, that\u2019s a little extra.\u201d<\/p>\n
Absolutely, and listen, we spoke about that a lot on set. It\u2019s very much the female gaze, and we had really big discussions about that because Brittany and I have to be vulnerable in this show. We wanted to make sure it\u2019s sexy but beautiful and the way we would like to see these scenes play out. Every single director was a female director. Out of the two camera operators, one was female. We had a female showrunner. We didn\u2019t feel pushed. We didn\u2019t feel unsure about anything. It felt like we were protected. It was always conversations, and it felt like we were all talking the same language.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m so glad it was dropped all at once. It\u2019s perfect for that. It takes a lot of faith in yourself and in your show to drop it weekly, and I\u2019m my own worst critic. I\u2019m never gonna be like, This is gonna be fine dropped weekly. I have more faith in Rebecca and in this show, but I was really nervous because it started as this little show on Starz where you go, All right, we\u2019ll test the waters. We were nervous it was just going to disappear because of the separation \u2014 what if it gets swallowed up in this whole divide? When we finally got the call that it went to Netflix, I screamed. I was just so happy it got to see the light of day but also that we\u2019d have that many more eyeballs on it. There are a lot more viewers on Netflix than on Starz.<\/p>\n
We have not heard anything. It\u2019s early days, but I\u2019m hoping the fact that we\u2019ve done so well in the first two weeks and there\u2019s been such a buzz is a good sign.<\/p>\n
That is the most logical, but that\u2019s such a straight-edge kind of answer because it\u2019ll never be that easy. The way Rebecca writes, we\u2019re going to have some major twists and turns and unforeseen events and blows. I would like to see Margo come into her power and take over the fucking world, truly, but she\u2019s a murderer so I don\u2019t know how that\u2019s gonna work out for her. I think she\u2019ll have to reconcile with Jed. I don\u2019t know how she moves forward without doing that. I can\u2019t imagine the relationship will be easier or be the way she wants it. But you can\u2019t put Margo in a cage.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t want her to go to jail. I want to keep going. Let\u2019s get a few seasons out of it. Everyone thinks Jill killed Abby, so let\u2019s see how long she can keep Sophie at bay. And now she\u2019s got a terrible ace card with her brother being dead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In Netflix\u2019s newest drama sensation The Hunting Wives, Malin \u00c5kerman plays her Texas housewife character as a femme…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3940],"tags":[4080,77,117469,462,34147,451,19862,117468,106386,382,16,15,10357,10356],"class_list":{"0":"post-325639","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-finale-thoughts","11":"tag-interview","12":"tag-lionsgate","13":"tag-netflix","14":"tag-qa","15":"tag-starz","16":"tag-the-hunting-wives","17":"tag-tv","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom","20":"tag-vulture-homepage-lede","21":"tag-vulture-section-lede"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114988454222177331","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}