For some reason, each episode of the new Netflix murder mystery The Perfect Couple, starring Oscar winner Nicole Kidman, opens with a flash mob dance sequence. The directorial choice quickly drew commentary online for its incongruity, with many poking fun at the actor’s moves. And, well, it seems The Perfect Couple cast had some qualms about it, too.
During The Perfect Couple premiere last week, Fahy addressed the sequence and revealed that the cast created a secret group chat in protest. “Everyone was on that group saying they didn’t want to do this because we just didn’t understand,” the actress, who plays a woman named Merritt Monaco, said. “I actually have a really, really huge issue with learning choreography so I was very nervous about it.”
Kidman weaved a delicate answer about the dance, chalking up her dissatisfaction to the personality of her character. The actress plays a famous novelist and matriarch. “I didn’t feel like Greer would dance, I felt like Greer would watch,” she explained. “But I danced as Greer. I think it’s great and I’m so glad they got us all to do it. ‘Cause there’s some joy in it.”
The Perfect Couple director Susanne Bier stood by her artistic choice, citing the juxtaposition between the lighthearted dance (which is backtracked to a Meghan Trainor song) and the more serious undercurrent of the show. It is based on Elin Hilderbrand’s 2018 novel of the same name and follows a house of wedding guests who are all considered suspects after a body is found washed up on the beach. Think Big Little Lies but based in Nantucket.
“I think I felt that I want to do something where we are telling the audience, ‘This is going to be fun,’” Bier told Variety during the premiere. “I feel this time [period] is a little bit gloomy and I felt I wanted to do something which had a lot of life and a lot of fun. And I wanted to see all the characters having fun.”
Fahy and most of the cast did eventually come around to the idea, though. Or in Fahy’s words, they wound up “giving into it.”
“The God’s honest truth is that at the end of the day, we were very, very joyful about it. We all sort of ended up giving in to it,” The White Lotus actress said. “It was so fun and I actually weirdly think it’s amazing.”
