Brittany Snow Is Owning The Moment

Brittany Snow is ready to be number one on the call sheet. The actor, who grew up a shy kid in Florida, has already logged over 30 years in the entertainment industry (most of them as a player in beloved ensembles). But she recently realized she wanted more, and now she’s getting it. “I remember back in middle school and high school, I was the girl’s friend… like, ‘Yeah, you tell him!’ Snow says, pantomiming an exaggerated go-girl line reading from her New York hotel. “I was never the main girl. I never wanted to be. [Now] I think it’s OK to be both.”

After an early breakout role at 16 in NBC’s throwback primetime soap American Dreams, Snow rose to fame in earnest as a go-to supporting player in one teen popcorn movie after another. There was Kate, the scheming cheerleader in the 2006 adolescent revenge comedy John Tucker Must Die; the villainous Amber Von Tussle opposite Zac Efron in 2007’s Hairspray remake; and Chloe, the over-eager college acapella team co-captain in the Pitch Perfect trilogy of the 2010s. Since then she’s worked steadily, still in ensembles, albeit in more mature projects that playfully subvert her wholesome public image — like Ti West’s 2022 slasher flick X, in which she played a 1970s Texas porn star, or the raunchy holiday rom-com Christmas with the Campbells that same year. But anyone who paid attention to the pop culture winds this past summer knows that Snow’s status — and fate — changed with one surprise superhit: the addictively soapy and steamy Netflix drama The Hunting Wives.

Snow plays Sophie O’Neil, a Boston housewife who moves to the fictional Texas town of Maple Brooke and promptly falls for Margo Banks (Malin Akerman), the HBIC of an elite clique of gun-loving housewives with plenty of secrets. For weeks, the show was one of the most-streamed television shows in America, and this fall it was even spoofed on Saturday Night Live, which called it a “straight but lesbian, horny Republican murder drama.” Snow and Akerman’s palpable chemistry on the show also fueled many a TikTok edit and jokes from straight women suddenly questioning… everything. The actors have played along, tipping their hat to the buzz in a viral Emmy’s segment — Snow helped write the spot — that stoked excitement for Season 2, now in production.

The 39-year-old’s hot streak hardly ends there. In addition to The Hunting Wives, Snow is currently starring in Hulu’s true-crime series Murdaugh: Death in the Family. Based on the hit podcast about a wealthy South Carolina family linked to a series of tragic deaths, the show stars Snow as Mandy Matney, the intrepid reporter-turned-podcaster who broke the story. She’s also co-starring in perhaps the most high-brow project of her career, the Netflix limited series The Beast in Me, in which she holds her own opposite Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys as the new wife of a very rich man suspected of killing his last one.

But what to us might look like a surprising mid-career ascension is actually the result of years of doing the work — both professionally and personally. In her early 20s, Snow stepped back from public life to tend to her mental health, which had taken a back seat to work. “I’m really proud of myself for not giving up in this business and not giving up on myself and stopping the self-sabotage that I was doing for many, many years of my life in my 20s,” she tells me. She’s channeled that into advocacy as the co-founder of September Letters, an initiative she launched with friend Jaspre Guest that uses letter-writing as a way to talk about mental health issues and build community. “I'm the happiest that I've ever been in so many facets of my life,” she says. “I think I've been through a lot a couple years ago and I think I just made a decision that I wasn't going to go down like that. And so I feel very excited for whatever's to come because I know I can get through a lot.”

When I caught up with Snow over Zoom on Halloween, she was wearing a simple black sweater as she relaxed on her hotel bed — though with the composure of an utmost, lifelong professional. Her glacier blue eyes were the most colorful thing in frame, and her rescue dog, Charlie, was nestled on her own bed nearby. This was the capper to a busy press week — fellow inbox-zero types will sympathize with her anxiously showing me the 17 unread messages on her phone that were making her “a little mental” — and she basked in the fact that she’d spend the evening doing not much. (She had planned to attend a costume party as the third mouse in a “Three Blind Mice” ensemble with some friends, but no longer: “My favorite thing to do is to cancel,” Snow jokes.) Before she sank into her new plan (watching 2000’s Michelle Pfeiffer chiller What Lies Beneath), we got down to it, discussing her very big year, the female friendships that fortify her, and that time she asked a co-star to connect her to her favorite psychic medium.

In the official companion podcast for Murdaugh: Death in the Family, you mention being part of a “true crime club” with your lawyer friend. How did that start?

My mom met these women when I was a baby, some in Lamaze class, and it’s called the Play Group. We've all been friends since we were months old, and we’ve stayed really close. There’s all different types of women in this group. My one lawyer friend is very pragmatic and logical — she comes from the legal side of the injustices of the world, and I come from just needing salacious gossip and figuring out the puzzle.

She's the one who turned me on to the Murdaugh murders and said that it was very informative and done really well. I was like, “I don’t know about this Mandy Matney girl. I’ve never heard of her before.” And she was like, “Trust me, she knows what she’s doing. She’s really smart.” And thank God she did, because then when I got the meeting for Murdaugh, I was very familiar.

All three of your major TV projects this year explore a hidden darkness. Why are you drawn to those kinds of stories?

I had this recognition the other day while I was taking a walk with my dog and listening to a true crime podcast. I know this sounds cheesy, but there’s something about listening to these things that are so heinous and outlandish and horrifying that make me really, really grateful for my life and make me really aware of what I have. I know that I’m very lucky and blessed but I do think, as a woman, it’s sometimes interesting to have perspective on the fact that this could be any of us. These are stories that happen every day to people who are just regular people living their lives. And I also try to solve the puzzle quickly because I want to utilize that part of my mind that needs a hamster wheel. If I’m thinking about someone else’s problem and how to fix it, I don't necessarily have to be thinking about my own problems.

In all three of these shows, your characters do a lot of sleuthing — sometimes successfully and sometimes clumsily. What skills do you think you — the real you, Brittany Snow — have that would make you a great detective?

When I go to an escape room, the one thing that I’m pretty good at is emotional intelligence, rather than book-smart intelligence. I’m really hypervigilant about my surroundings and about noticing things. In the newspaper when there are questions saying, ‘Which picture is missing these items?’ or ‘What’s not like the other?’ — I’m really good at those.

Do you think you're a good lie detector?

I’m pretty good with immediate gut feelings about people, but I’m also really loyal and gullible. So I don’t know. Someone will do something to me and I’m like, “Oh man, I really trusted them!”

Malin Akerman was recently on Sophia Bush's (Work in Progress) podcast, and Sophia talked about your kiss with her in John Tucker Must Die and how it was filmed with more of a “male gaze.” She compared it to your kiss scenes with Malin in The Hunting Wives. And she was so happy to see the progress of queer representation and in general female sexuality on screen. I’m wondering what, if anything, you remember about the John Tucker filming and how it’s different from the intimate work you were doing on The Hunting Wives — and maybe better?

It was a different time. I was also only 18 or 19 when I did that movie, and I definitely didn’t have the advocacy — not only for myself, but other people weren’t advocating for me necessarily. I was kind of on my own and a little bit over my head, I guess.

I remember there being a lot of wardrobe fittings about my underwear scene, and they were very stressed about how I was going to look in that underwear. I felt a lot of pressure. I had just gone through my own mental health stuff right before, and so I was not in a very good place to be scrutinized in that way. There was a lot of talk about our bodies, about our hair, about us looking really pretty. I was put on a diet, I had to go to the gym with this workout trainer every morning before work. But I remember feeling very safe with Betty Thomas, who was our director. It’s just very indicative of the time, that [the kiss] was sort of supposed to be funny and weird and shocking, and that’s unfortunate because it means so much else to so many other people.

I'm so glad you were comfortable behind the scenes.

There's a scene that I don't know if people will remember, but I have to go up on top of this pyramid and I'm up on top and I had a full panic attack. I'm 19 years old and I was so afraid of everyone holding me up and looking at me. I remember telling Betty Thomas, I just needed a second and she was so lovely to me and I remember I'll always be indebted that she gave me not a long time, but at least 15 minutes, to get my stuff together. And the girls that were in the scene with me were so supportive. And then I went back and did the scene and everything was fine. But to go from something like that — that seems so trivial — to Hunting Wives, which is the most vulnerable, the most exposed. I mean, I'm just so proud of myself because I’m not only being held up, I'm completely, completely naked.

But everything was so different on Hunting Wives because we were doing it from an all-women perspective in terms of the showrunner, the creator, the camera operator, the intimacy coordinator. It sort of hurt my feelings when people were saying that we did Hunting Wives with a male gaze because I wanted to say there weren't even any men on the set. All the directors that we had were women and that made us feel really safe and held.

You’ve gotten a lot of love from the women-who-love-women community throughout your career. Is it flattering to hear that when people tell you that you’re their gay awakening?

Oh my gosh, of course. It’s so flattering. It’s an honor that people can have that sort of eye-opening or awakening with anything in their life. And if it’s me, it’s hard for me to comprehend, but it is obviously such an honor.

You did take a break some time ago from the industry. What is it like now that you are back in the rhythm of working again?

Everyone has been through dark times in their life and faced adversity within themselves, and I am no different. I have just really learned what the word resilience means. My friend had gotten me a book when I was 18 or 19 years old, and it was about self-reliance and self-resilience. I remember thinking, I have no idea what that even means. I can’t even trust myself to go to the grocery store. One of the things I’m most proud about is that I love being alone right now. I can always pivot. I can always take care of myself. If there’s a problem that I’m having, I am always trying to see another way around it, even if it’s difficult. That’s the marking of the recovery that I have and how much work I’ve done on myself. It doesn’t mean that bad things shouldn’t happen or can’t happen — it just means that you’re able to have that resilience.

You got to explore these topics in your directorial debut, Parachute (2023). Are you interested in getting behind the camera again, maybe for an episode of The Hunting Wives?

Definitely. Parachute took six years from inception to when it came out, which is quite normal for an indie movie, because no one wanted to give us money to do a movie about mental health or eating disorders, which I understand. Once I was doing it, I felt another part of my brain snap into place. I found it so rewarding to be so collaborative with so many people who were better at their job than I am. It felt like a cohesive machine that when it works, it really works. I would love to do it again. Hunting Wives, I think there’s so much pressure for this [next] season because people are going to be watching it now, and we didn’t think anyone was going to watch it before. So I didn’t even suggest it at this point, but maybe Season 3 or Season 4.

Is there going to be a Season 3 and Season 4?

I have no idea. I mean, that’s my manifestation board.

What was it like being part of The Beast in Me ensemble with Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys?

At first, nerve-wracking, but then once I got to know them and got my footing on the show — around the fourth scene that I did with everybody — they were so welcoming. Matthew is so gregarious and funny and Welsh and just always having a laugh. Claire is the most giving and curious and interested and present person. She really wants to know about you. Every once in a while I would have an out-of-body-experience where I’d be like, I’m working with Claire Danes, this is crazy. She used to be, and still is, my idol. It really made me level up in a lot of ways, of what type of actress I wanted to be and what I know I could do.

You and Claire have a really pivotal scene in the final episode. Did you two talk about preparing for that scene together?

I talked a lot with Antonio [Campos, director] about how he was not wanting me to show anything because I really needed to not give away what I was thinking. That was really hard because Claire is so alive in that scene and so present and I needed to almost be the opposite. And it's really hard to act opposite someone who is so gifted and alive by showing nothing when all I wanted to do was cry because she was making me cry. I do once again feel like this show is also weirdly enough for the ladies because it's really… those are the people that stand up to what's going on.

The scenes with Matthew were so terrifying too. Does he go back into a Welsh accent in between takes?

He goes back to Welsh immediately and then he can go back to American. It's really incredible. He's not method whatsoever. He's the most joyful and funny guy. I think the scariest part about his performances, and what we both did, was that we never knew what either of us were going to do. So when he's yelling at me… that didn't happen every time. Sometimes he was very close to me and very menacing and silent and then other times he was screaming at me. And so it really added to that element of surprise because I couldn't tell what was coming or not.

In The Beast in Me, an author is writing a book that she finds boring and then switches to writing about her mysterious neighbor. If you had to write a book about a subject that you would never find boring, what would that be?

Metaphysical stuff I never find boring. The stories of people who have near-death experiences, or things that happen to them with psychics, mediums, ghosts, aliens. I’m such a nerd for that stuff. I just tear through books about that. It gives me sort of a calming feeling because I didn’t grow up very religious, but I do find a lot of spirituality and connection in something that we don’t understand.

Do you identify as woo-woo?

I'm right at the cusp because I don’t necessarily believe in astrology. My one friend, she’s like, “Oh, we can’t go to this one place because Saturn is in Uranus and this star is not going to hit the sky.” And I’m like, “Are you kidding me?” She won’t let me sign a contract if retrograde is whatever. I don’t like any of that. But what I do find fascinating is the scientific evidence of people who have real-life stories of these things.

Do you have books that you'd recommend in that vein?

My favorite psychic medium is this woman named Laura Lynne Jackson, who has a new book coming out. I’ve read all of her books. And actually Claire Danes, who I did Beast in Me with, is in contact with her, just through life and her being Claire Danes — she can contact anyone. I begged and begged for her to hook me up. The waiting list is five years long or something, so we’ll see.

You've been cast in a lot of roles that explore the complexities of female friendship. What's something that you find interesting about that dynamic as an actor?

I find it to be such an honor that people assume and know — because it’s true — that I’m such a girl’s girl. That’s something that I don’t take lightly. I’ve had all these different movies where the women that I'm interacting with are seemingly oddballs, like Someone Great or Pitch Perfect. I like that there are different dynamics of a group that I can help complete because a lot of the characters I play bring people together.

What role do you play in your own friend group?

Everyone always talks about how I bring the party. I love hosting a dinner party. I love getting people together. If I can get all of my friends together in one group, that really makes me radiate. I think I’m a pretty good friend. I always get back to people. I don't just talk the talk. I get a nervous feeling when I don’t text someone back. I keep my phone really organized because I don’t want anyone to feel like I ignored them.

With everyone — including yourself — so busy, what kind of friendship maintenance do you do?

Thank gosh for voice notes because my friends and I, we leave each other podcast-long voice notes. My one friend makes notes and has a pad of paper and she always hits all the points. I'm like, “Girl, you’re better than me. I'm just going off memory.” With a couple of my girlfriends, they live pretty close by me in Los Angeles, and we do have a certain Cheers bar that we always go to.

When I was single and just wondering what the heck I was going to do in that department, I would have these standing cooking show dates with my best friend Mimi [Gianopulos]. I would go over and we would do a pretend cooking show because she's a really great chef as well as an actress. I looked forward to it every week because it really got me through. Little things like that are the basis of a good friendship.

You had a lot of public attention this year, and it seems like you’ve handled it well.

I mean, I can still go outside. I was walking around all morning. I had no makeup on, and I don’t get stopped. I don’t feel like anything is different. The show is really big, but — I would be freaked out if I saw Jennifer Lawrence or Emma Stone, but I don’t think I’m in the freak-out zone. It all comes with perspective too. I know what really matters, and that’s going home to Florida and seeing my parents. They don’t care about anything like this.

I did coverage for a pre-Emmys party, and everyone I talked to was obsessed with The Hunting Wives and Sophie and Margo.

It’s very nice to hear. The thing that I work on a lot is that when I hear that, I immediately say, “But I could have done better. It wasn’t my best, I can do better.” But I’m also still very grateful, and it’s very surreal at the same time as well.

Now that your inner voice is kinder, does that change how you’re working?

I [used to be] afraid if I got too successful, then I wouldn't be able to take the scrutiny, or I wouldn't be able to take people looking at me. I grew up a very shy kid, and it is not in my nature to enter a room and want everyone to look at me. It makes me feel a little uneasy. In my past, I was OK with being the second or third lead, and that was just because I didn’t want to disappoint myself if I failed. What I’ve learned now is that I can take those big chances and have people look at me, and it doesn't hurt as much. I don’t care as much, I guess. I know that I can be the lead of something, and that’s OK. That doesn’t mean that I’m pompous or self-serving or anyone’s going to think of me any differently. It's OK to take up more space.

Top image credit: Michael Kors clothing