The cast of “The Perfect Couple” nearly staged a mutiny after director Susanne Bier insisted on a flash mob-style dance sequence for the end credits.
Based on the book of the same name by Elin Hildebrand, the Netflix murder mystery follows a police investigation into the wealthy Winbury family after a body is discovered at a family wedding, uncovering many long-buried secrets.
Despite the dark undertones, the show opens with a somewhat incongruous routine in which the entire cast – including Nicole Kidman, Dakota Fanning and Liev Schriber – dances in unison on the beach to Meghan Trainor’s song ‘Criminals’, while dressed in suits and evening dresses.
“I guess I felt like I want to do something where we tell the audience, ‘This is going to be fun,’” Bier said. Variety before its Los Angeles premiere on Wednesday night. “I feel this time [period] is a bit somber and I felt like I wanted to do something that had a lot of life and a lot of fun. And I wanted to see all the characters having fun.”
However, the cast were not convinced and even started a WhatsApp group message to try to stop the dance. Meghann Fahy, who plays social media influencer Merritt on the show, shared Variety at the Los Angeles premiere Wednesday night: “Everyone in that group said they didn’t want to do this because we just didn’t understand it.”
“I actually have a really, really big problem with learning choreography, so I was really nervous about it,” she added.
Ishaan Khattar, who plays best man Scooter, said that even though he is a trained dancer, “I don’t think any of us would be into doing this choreography with these characters. We say, “Wait, where does this fit into the scheme of things? This was not part of the assignment!’”
It wasn’t just the cast who were skeptical; the producers were also concerned about having enough time to shoot the sequence, which was choreographed by Charm La’Donna. Beer came up with the idea after everyone returned to the set after an eight-month hiatus due to last year’s WGA and SAG strikes.
“Normally you would spend a whole day, probably two days, shooting something like that and we did it in an hour and a half,” Bier revealed. “I’ve had serious conversations [because everyone] he asked, “Are you sure you want to spend time on this now that we have so little time?” and I was like – I could hear myself like a two year old – ‘I want it! I want it! ”
Nicole Kidman, who plays Winbury Matriarch Greer, was among those who needed some convincing. ‘Cause I didn’t feel like Greer would dance! I had a feeling Greer would be watching,” she said, admitting she had joined the WhatsApp group. “But I danced like Greer. I love it and I’m so glad they got us all to do it. Because there is some joy in it.”
Only Schrieber, who plays Greer’s husband Tag Winbury, was in the game. “I wasn’t there [WhatsApp] chain,” he said. “The entire cast had a mutiny over this idea, except me, I was already in my trailer practicing the dance moves. I just love dancing and I was a little disappointed when it was announced that I wasn’t doing it anymore because I thought I was doing really well.”
La’Donna, meanwhile, had nothing but praise for the actors. “They’re fast learners,” she said. “We all enjoyed it, it was a nice day at the beach.”
Bier told La’Donna (who also happens to be Meghan Trainor’s choreographer) that she wanted “classic” dance moves influenced by movies like “Saturday Night Fever.” The choreographer also incorporated some of the show’s themes into the routine, including a movement where the cast points with alternating hands, symbolizing the murder mystery at the heart of the series. “When you see them pointing around, you don’t know who’s who and what’s what,” La’Donna explained.
Despite the initial resistance, by the time the cameras were rolling everyone was ready to strut their stuff. “The honest truth of God is that in the end we were very happy with it, and we all gave in to it in the end,” Fahy admitted. “It was so much fun and I actually strangely love it.”