Copyright The Hollywood Reporter
With two Golden Globes and an Emmy under her belt, Sarah Snook had the world at her feet while scouting out her first post-Succession project. She settled, of course, on a West End production of The Picture of Dorian Gray, in which the Aussie actress played all 26 roles. The reimagined production was a smash hit, and Snook’s performance was lauded by critics and fans alike; the show went to Broadway, and she swiftly picked up an Olivier Award and a Tony. So it was only natural that, while promoting her new Peacock thriller All Her Fault — Snook’s first major TV appearance since retiring Shiv Roy, the cynical and cold-blooded daughter at the center of Jesse Armstrong’s media conglomerate empire — she would be asked about what exactly it was that drew her in after years of wild success with the Succession squad. “It’s so difficult because Succession was such a big, zeitgeist, huge moment thing,” Snook began at a press conference for All Her Fault ahead of the show’s Nov. 6 premiere. “[It was] career-changing for me and so incredible, so my plan going forward was always choosing things that are different — but also to never compare. It’s not a thing that I can ever top as an experience and as a world. It meant so much to me, so just finding something different was really important. And I feel like this is that.” In All Her Fault, an eight-part series created by Megan Gallagher and based on Andrea Mara’s novel of the same name, Snook plays Marissa Irvine, a mother living in a wealthy Chicago neighborhood. When Marissa goes to pick up her five-year-old son from a play date, he’s not there and the woman who answers the door has never heard of him. What ensues is a twisty mystery that is, per The Hollywood Reporter‘s review, poked and prodded at from all angles. The White Lotus‘ Jake Lacy stars as Marissa’s husband, Peter, in a lineup that also boasts Dakota Fanning, Michael Peña, Sophia Lillis, Abby Elliott, Jay Ellis, Daniel Monks, Duke McCloud. “It’s very different from Shiv,” said Snook about portraying Marissa. “[Shiv] is internally cold and stiff and presented. Marissa, there’s a warmth. And so much of it came from costuming — we’ve got knits and cozy jumpers and we’re trying to find a way to keep that warmth alive, even though she’s going through the hellscape of having her child go missing.” Snook also serves as an executive producer on the show, something she admits was a balance with a two-and-a-half-year-old, who she shares with husband Dave Lawson. “I do have a wonderful stay at home husband who is working on parenting,” the actress began. “That is one of the toughest jobs. And. you don’t get days off ever, unless you have a nanny, and then you have to balance that as well — affordability and all that kind of stuff that comes into it.” She used this balancing act as inspiration for playing Marissa. “There’s a lot reflected from my current state in the character insofar as me working and trying to be a parent at the same time. Marissa has the added stress of her husband working as well and trying to create a career. It’s balance of who’s is more important in this moment, and then at the same time a child goes missing.” On the other hand, being an exec producer allowed Snook to be more “front-footed” on set, an experience she came to savor. “Shaping a culture on set, that was really nice. To be able to take more of a hand in [things],” she said, as well as championing an eco-friendly set, too. “Being in Australia, we were able to run the set in a particular way that was much more environmentally friendly,” she said. “We had reusable coffee cups. We had reusable cutlery and plates. I’m a very strong advocate for the environment and what we can do to help reduce waste. We did a lot of things on set, catalyzed by [my] being a producer, that I’m really proud of. We had electric vehicles. We had hydrogenated vegetable oil running our unit-based trucks, which is just incredible.” When asked about this series’ Big Little Lies similarities, Snook indicated she understood the desire to tell stories about affluent families. “There’s definitely that happening, and I think that’s something that audiences quite like to see at the moment, in a way that Succession was popular. There’s this [idea] that surely, with wealth comes happiness and ease,” she said. “And that’s just not the case. Like yes, money can bring happiness to a point, but you’re still going to be dealing with life and being human and I think there’s something interesting about pulling apart things that, on the surface, look glossy and perfect.” Of course, it wouldn’t have been a thorough presser without asking how Shiv Roy would handle Marissa’s situation. “Oh that’s a good one,” Snook responded. “She’d throw money at the situation. She would she would be livid. It’d be so much arm’s length-distance parenting from Shiv that she would barely be involved with the child. But then having the child taken away would be like, ‘How dare you?'” “Trying to call in all the favors, calling all the police and the State Department and whatever, whomever,” Snook continued. “[The Roys are] very well connected people, so she would throw money at the situation and probably get it solved.” All Her Fault premieres on Peacock on Thursday, Nov. 6.
