I Genuinely Can't Watch "The Perfect Couple" The Same Way Again After Reading These BTS Facts About Filming
There are obviously MASSIVE spoilers ahead for The Perfect Couple!
1.The Perfect Couple is the first time one of Elin Hilderbrand's novels has been made into any screen adaptation. Known for her "beach read" books set on Nantucket, Elin has written a new book every year "for more than two decades."
Variety / Getty Images, Little, Brown and Company
Speaking to CBS Mornings, Elin discussed how the show changed certain aspects of the original novel, saying, "What I said to the director and to the showrunner is, 'I've already written the book. You guys can read the book.' I wanted them to make the best television show possible, so it didn't matter to me. Whatever they wanted to change, I gave them carte blanche: you do it. I wanted to watch good TV."
2.Despite the series being set in Nantucket, filming actually took place in Cape Cod. This is reportedly because it's nearly impossible to get all of the necessary filming equipment on the boat that takes you to Nantucket.
"It's never really been done on the big screen, or little screen, properly," Elin Hilderbrand told CBS Mornings while discussing why she feels Nantucket has never been portrayed authentically on TV or in movies.
She added, "They filmed this in Cape Cod, which is just across Nantucket Sound. So it has that, sort of, authentic Cape Islands feel, and they have a lot of overhead shots. They sent the second unit to do b-roll [over Nantucket], and so you really feel like you're on Nantucket."
3.Eve Hewson explained that the dance number for the opening credits "wasn't in the script" but instead happened after the cast got a "surprise email" from the director, Susanne Bier, near the end of filming. The email asked the cast to learn the dance.
She hilariously joked on The Tonight Show, "Basically, the entire WhatsApp group just blew up. And everyone was like, 'I'm not doing it. I'm not doing it. I'm calling my manager. I'm calling my agent. They have to pay me. They have to pay me.'"
Eve said she was "secretly really excited" for the dance number, and she was really "going for it." She added that Liev Schreiber was the only one who was "openly into it." She joked, "I was pretending I wasn't into it because I wanted everyone to think I was cool."
4.Dakota Fanning was the second person officially cast for The Perfect Couple, after Nicole Kidman, who is also an executive producer. She previously worked with director Susanne Bier on The First Lady, so Susanne called Dakota and offered her the role.
Dakota told the Hollywood Reporter, "She called me about the part, gave me the bullet points, and the last bullet point was that she’s the murderer. I was [in the] kitchen, listening her describe it, and I just said, 'Yes, whatever you want.'"
5.Before playing Liev Schreiber's wife in The Perfect Couple, Nicole Kidman asked Naomi Watts, who is one of her best friends and Liev's ex, if it would be okay. Nicole and Naomi have been friends since the '80s, and Liev and Naomi were together from 2005 to 2016.
Michael White / Getty Images, John Shearer / Getty Images
Naomi and Liev have reportedly remained friends, too. While discussing how Nicole asked Naomi's permission, Liev told Entertainment Tonight, "Isn’t that amazing? That’s how close they are."
Naomi also commented on it with Entertainment Weekly at TIFF, saying, "We always check in; we’re besties. That was very kind of her to do that."
6.There are two big differences between Elin Hilderbrand's original novel and the Netflix adaptation. First, in the book, Merritt's death at the hands of Abby is an accident. However, the show makes it a purposeful murder and ties it to Abby wanting the trust fund money.
Speaking about the book-to-TV changes, writer Jenna Lamia told IndieWire that one reason for the change was that, unlike the book, you're not "privy to a lot of Merritt's thoughts," and having a lot of voiceovers "wasn't going to work." So, Jenna felt it would be more "satisfying" for TV viewers to have a murderer "who fully intended to murder the person they murdered."
She continued, saying, "So for the show, and Elin was totally supportive of this, we decided that the killer had intended to kill the person she kills and that she had a very clear motive for doing so, and it wasn’t just jealousy. So [we] added the money plot. It needed to be a little more crisp."
7.The second big change from the book is the shocking reveal that Greer was a sex worker, and that's actually how she and Tag met.
Writer Jenna Lamia told IndieWire that adding this plot allowed Greer "to have a core wound that was driving her need to appear so outwardly perfect."
8.While Greer being a former sex worker became the big twist, writer Jenna Lamia initially proposed that her secret was that she had plagiarized her first book. However, that bombshell proved to not be "salacious enough" for the TV adaptation.
Jenna told IndieWire, "I had her shamefully hiding the fact that she had plagiarized her first book, that her illustrious career was based on an initial lie. We knew we needed an initial lie, but the tone of the show had evolved."
9.Eve Hewson's Amelia is named Celeste in Elin Hilderbrand's novel. Her name was actually changed because of Nicole Kidman's involvement in the project. Of course, Nicole notably played Celeste in Big Little Lies.
Writer Jenna Lamia said the show went through a "five-year development process," during which time many things changed, including how closely the TV show followed the book.
She told the Hollywood Reporter that to "avoid any potential confusion" between Celeste in The Perfect Couple and Nicole's Celeste in Big Little Lies, production just opted to change the name to Amelia.
10.In order to film some of the moments where her character dies, Meghann Fahy had to have a lifecast made of her entire body. She explained that they "very, very slowly, over the course of six hours, pour two different types of silicone all over you" and then put plaster over that layer.
"It's kind of a wild experience," Meghann said on The Tonight Show. She added, "The worst part, though, was when they did the head."
Meghann said it was bizarre to see the body double on set, which was used for some of the moments when Merritt was floating in the water.
11.Filming Merritt's death took place on a soundstage in a pool, but also in the saltwater on Cape Cod, where the show was filmed. Meghann Fahy told Netflix, "It was a very strange experience," while looking back on having to act like she was drowning.
"It was probably one of the more strange experiences I've had," she added.
12.The scene where Tag begins singing "Never Gonna Give You Up" was originally improvised on set by Liev Schreiber. Director Susanne Bier said the first time they filmed the moment, Liev came up with singing on the spot. However, because you can't just use any song without acquiring the rights, they had to film a few takes.
Susanne told Deadline, "I was like, 'Okay, can somebody please check the rights to that song? Because otherwise you’re gonna have to improvise another song.' And then I think we actually did a few, just to be sure."
13.Dakota Fanning said there was "no way" Abby would "wear a one-piece at the pool," so a special prosthetic pregnancy belly was created so Dakota could look very pregnant while wearing a bikini. She explained it was put on "like a corset" and "wrapped around [her] whole body and tied in the back."
"I was laying there so you never saw my back; it was just so seamless from every side. It’s wild," she began, telling the Hollywood Reporter. "People on set that day were staring at me a ton and then apologizing for staring. Nobody could believe that thing. I loved it."
14.On one of the first days of filming, Nicole Kidman began improvising, which shocked Liev Schreiber. The moment was ultimately cut, but it involved Nicole shouting this "insanely vulgar and angry tirade."
Liev told On Demand Entertainment that the scene involved Tag and Greer waving goodbye to a couple. Since it was filmed in slow motion, there was no dialogue, so Nicole's sudden yelling caught Liev off guard.
He said the moment put him "on notice" that improv was something that could happen on set, and he also ended up improvising alongside Nicole, too.
15.While filming the scene when Benji smashes Thomas's face into the wedding cake, Dakota Fanning revealed that it took a few hours to film. So Jack Reynor actually had to eat lunch between takes with the cake on his face because they needed the placement of all the cake to stay the same.
Dakota told Netflix, "Jack, at one point, was sitting there eating a piece of salmon with this cake on his face."
She also said it was one of the harder scenes to try not to laugh during while filming, saying, "It was so hard just not to keep laughing 'cause it gets, you know, Abby gets quite serious here, when it's threatening to mess up her vintage dress."
16.The costumes for The Perfect Couple were very important in creating the rich Nantucket environment where the story takes place. Costume designer Signe Sejlund revealed to Variety that Greer is always wearing blue, white, or cream colors, which are often associated with the beach.
Seacia Pavao / Netflix, Liam Daniel / Netflix
"When she was leaving the house, I gave her a little stronger colors. And that's the only time in the show that she wears something that's not either blue, cream, or very sheer," Signe explained when talking about Greer's red dress that she wears to her book launch party.
17.And finally, the dress Merritt wears to the rehearsal dinner and ultimately dies in was nicknamed the seaweed dress by costume designer Signe Sejlund. She told Variety it was "tricky" to find a dress that looked good in the water, but then she found this Missoni dress.
Signe said she spotted the dress at Missoni's store in NYC. She brought it home and submerged it in a bathtub to make sure the fabric would react okay in the water.
