The cast of “The Perfect Couple” nearly staged a mutiny after director Susanne Bier insisted on a flashmob-style dance scene in the opening credits.
Netflix's murder mystery series, based on Elin Hildebrand's book of the same name, follows a police investigation into the wealthy Winberry family after a body is discovered during a family wedding, uncovering many long-buried secrets in the process.
Despite the dark overtones, the show opens with a somewhat incongruous scene, in which the entire cast — including Nicole Kidman, Dakota Fanning and Liev Schreiber — dance in unison on a beach to Meghan Trainor's “Criminals” in suits and evening gowns.
“I think I felt like I wanted to do something where we would say to the audience, ‘This is going to be fun,’” Bear said. diverse Ahead of the Los Angeles premiere on Wednesday night. “I feel like this is the time [period] “It was a bit bleak, and I felt like I wanted to do something that was full of life and fun. And I wanted to see all the characters having fun.”
However, the cast was not convinced, and even started sending group WhatsApp messages to try to stop the dancing. Megan Fahey, who plays social media influencer Merritt in the show, said: diverse At the film's Los Angeles premiere Wednesday night: “Everyone on that set was saying they didn't want to do this because we just didn't get it.”
“I actually have a really big problem learning choreography, so I was really nervous about it,” she added.
Ishaan Khattar, who plays the best man on the show, said that despite being a trained dancer, “I don't think any of us could understand what it meant to perform this dance in these characters. We're like, 'Wait, where does this fit in the scheme of things? This wasn't part of the assignment!'”
It wasn't just the cast that was skeptical; producers were also concerned about not having enough time to shoot the scene, which was choreographed by Charm LaDonna. Beer came up with the idea after everyone returned to the set after an eight-month hiatus due to the Writers Guild of America/Screen Actors Guild strike last year.
“Normally, you’d spend a full day, maybe two, shooting something like this, and we did it in an hour and a half,” Peer revealed. “I had serious conversations. [because everyone] “I went, ‘Are you sure you want to spend time doing this when we have so little time?’” And I said — I can hear myself saying like a two-year-old — “‘I want it! I want it!’”
Nicole Kidman, who plays Winbury Greer's mother, was among those who needed some convincing. “Because I didn't feel like Greer would dance! I felt like Greer would watch me,” she said, admitting she joined the WhatsApp group. “But I danced like Greer. I think it's great and I'm so glad they got us all to do it. Because there's some fun in it.”
Schreiber, who plays Greer's husband Tug Winberry, was the only one who was prepared. “I wasn't in it. [WhatsApp] “He said, ‘There was a rebellion from the entire cast about this idea except for me, I was actually in my trailer practicing dance moves. I just love dancing and I was disappointed when it came out that I wasn’t going to be involved in it more because I thought I had really mastered it.’”
Meanwhile, LaDonna praised the cast, saying, “They're learning fast. We all had fun, it was a fun day at the beach.”
“I wanted classic dance moves inspired by movies like Saturday Night Fever,” Beer told LaDonna (who happens to be Meghan Trainor’s choreographer). The choreographer also incorporated some of the show’s themes into the routine, including a move where the actors point with their hands, which symbolizes the murder mystery at the heart of the series. “When you see them pointing around, you don’t know who’s who,” LaDonna explained.
Despite the initial resistance, by the time the cameras started rolling everyone was ready to show off. “The honest truth is that at the end of the day we were so happy with it that we all ended up giving in,” Fahey admitted. “It was so much fun and I think it’s really amazing.”
