If you haven’t watched the Hulu limited series “Candy” yet, you may want to stop reading now to avoid major spoilers. The true story of a horrible death that involved friends Candy Montgomery (Jessica Biel) and Betty Gore (Melanie Lynskey), it’s a case that has perplexed investigators and observers for over 40 years. And for Lynskey, recreating the incident between the two women not only took months of rehearsals but sticking to Candy’s account was key.
“The fight that we performed was exactly as Candy told it. Jessica and I rehearsed it for months,” Lynksey says “And there was one time we showed the choreographed version to Robin [Veith], the show creator. And there was a bit where I sort of rushed her and try to strangle her. And Robin was like, ‘No, no, no, that’s not in Candy’s story. This is exactly the version of it as Candy told it. This is what we have to show.’ So she was very specific about that. For me, as an actor, having been playing this person, I felt really protective of Betty. And it was hard for me to play those moments where Candy said she was like the aggressor. And I felt a little out of body doing it because there are aspects of the story that I don’t buy really. So that was a little tough for me. But we had two wonderful, wonderful stunt doubles who did a couple of the [moments such as when] Jessica gets thrown into a fridge and I got thrown against a dresser, but otherwise it’s all us.”
Still, Lynskey says she and Biel began to question Candy’s account as they reenacted it.
“Honestly, when Jess and I were walking through the story exactly as Candy told it on the stand, the story that got her acquitted, we just were like, ‘There are missing pieces. It doesn’t make sense…physically,'” Lynskey recalls. “The room [in our show] was recreated exactly as the utility room was. And just some things are not physically possible. Some things just don’t make sense. And we just were like, ‘There’s more to the story. There just is.'”
Over the course of our conversation, Lynskey discusses the other odd moments in Candy’s story, her big moment at the 2022 Critics Choice Awards, when “Yellowjackets” season two might begin filming, and much, much more.
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The Playlist: The most obvious question. What about “Candy” made you want to commit to it?
Melanie Lynskey: Honestly, I really loved the writing. I felt like it was very interesting the way it was told. I loved how it gave kind of equal amounts of time in the first three episodes to Candy and to Betty. You got to really see what both of their lives were and the kind of mundane existences and how they were dealing or not dealing with that. And then also, I had worked with Michael Uppendahl who was directing the first episode and the last episode. And I just love him as a director. It would be very hard for me to say no to anything he was doing. He’s so great. And I was a huge fan of Jessica. So, it was like kind of a perfect storm of a lot of great things. I was like, “Why would I not do this?”
I know you grew up in New Zealand. Had you ever heard of Candy and Betty’s story or was it all new to you?
I hadn’t heard of the story. To be perfectly honest, I had heard a little bit about the HBO version that was being made. And so I had read some things about it. And then when this one came around, I was very interested to read these scripts and see how they were telling the story and how in-depth it was. But I had read the Texas Monthly article, which was fascinating. So, I did know the story before I read these scripts. Such a crazy story.
What shocked you the most? Was there one thing that you were like, “I can’t believe this happened”? Was there anything, do you remember going like, “Well, this can’t be real”?
There were a few things. Like the fact that Candy hosted Betty’s baby shower while she was in the middle of having an affair with her husband. I was like, “Did she really offer to…?” I know worse things happened like she hacked her to death with an ax. But to me, the kind of betrayal of giving someone this special day, this person who never felt included and didn’t feel like she had friends and suddenly was made to feel important and like she was the center of attention, by this person who was sleeping with her husband, it’s so intense to me. So, that was pretty crazy. And then also, a lot of the stuff from the trial, like how Betty was basically put on trial. And person after person got up on the stand and said, “Oh, she was weird. She was awkward. She wasn’t easy to talk to.” It wasn’t in the show. But they had a whole thing where they put a woman on the stand and then they said, “How much do you weigh?” They started asking this woman about her body. And then they said, “Do you think you’re around the same size as Betty Gore?” And they basically were saying like, “Oh, Betty was so much bigger than Candy.” So she was so threatening because she was bigger than … Which to me, I was like, “Are you kidding?” And this poor woman was just torn apart after her death in the trial. So there was a lot of stuff like that I was really shocked by.
I think one of the things that shook me the most is that even though they have a rough relationship, how almost cold her husband eventually was about Betty’s fate. He seemed upset at first, but then he moved on pretty quick.
He moved on. I think he was married before the trial ended.
That’s just crazy.
It’s absolutely crazy.
What was going on in the ’80s in the Dallas suburbs? Yeah, just weird.
I don’t know. And I also just want … I don’t want to be in judgment of anything. People cope in different ways, but I don’t know. That’s pretty crazy to be dating during your wife’s murder trial. I mean…
Right. It’s not like the murder trial was two years later. It was six months later. Yeah.
Yeah. They pretty quickly were like, “Well, we know who did it. Let’s just get this going.” Yeah. I was shocked to find that out too. That was crazy.
There is no video footage that I’ve seen referenced or interviews with Betty. Was there anything you had to go by to play her? Did you just have to go from the script and your own imagination?
Oh, there’s this book called “Evidence of Love,” which was written by two investigative journalists who covered the case from the beginning. And they interviewed everybody you could ever have wanted to have been interviewed. John Bloom and Jim Atkinson are their names. Jessica and I had a very long Zoom with Jim, where he answered every single question. Just hours. Jessica had a lot of questions about Candy’s accent. And he told me so much about Betty and how growing up in Kansas, she’s from a very, very small town and she was popular. She had a lot of boyfriends. She was kind of the catch of the town. And she just was a real sort of fish out of water and struggling with postpartum depression and just feeling awful about herself and married to someone who didn’t make her feel better about herself. And I just was kind of like, Oh gosh, this woman who had this kind of carefree existence and was quite confident and felt valued, to come to this place in her life where she’s sort of beaten down. And at her lowest point. It just was really kind of heartbreaking. And that added a different dimension for me of how to look at the whole context of her life. It was really interesting.
In the final episode, I don’t know how you personally describe it, but it appears as though Betty’s spirit or her presence is there watching the trial. Was that always in the script when you first read it?
It was. When I first read that script, it was in it. And I said, “Are you sure?” I mean, again, it was why I was so grateful that Michael Uppendahl was directing that episode because I just trust him so much. And he was like, “I’m not going to let you look stupid. If it doesn’t make sense, it’s not going to be in here.” Because I keep saying like, “You can cut this out if you need to, right?” That kind of thing hasn’t happened in the show. And then all of a sudden it is happening. And I was like, “Is this going to be jarring?” I think it’s quite moving. And I think it works and I trust him so much. Yeah, it was definitely weird.
In the script, was there clear direction for you such as “Betty reacts in a certain way,” “Betty’s upset,” etc., or were you having to play, inhabit the character as to how you thought she would have reacted to certain moments in the courtroom?
From my memory, it was pretty specific. And it’s clear, she’s unhappy. There was a lot more of it in the script.
Oh really?
And I filmed more of it. There was a moment she appeared after Allan’s testimony and she was kind of betrayed by that. And then I think Robin at a certain point decided maybe the less, the better. And I agreed with that because I was already nervous about it. So, they took some of those moments out.
I think it works though. I think it’s very moving in context and makes it clear to the viewer that there’s something going on with the trial that’s not quite right.
Oh, that’s good. I do love giving her a voice. She doesn’t have a voice. She doesn’t have a voice in that trial. It was just awful, what happened to her. So I do love that kind of gift of letting her sort of have a voice after her death. I thought that was quite beautiful.
Totally agree. On a more gruesome note, the fight, and I’m assuming some of it is you, some of it might be a stunt person, but the actual death scene fight. How tough was that to do?
Well, the fight that we performed was exactly as Candy told it. Jessica and I rehearsed it for months. And there was one time we showed the choreographed version to Robin [Veith], the show creator. And there was a bit where I sort of rushed her and try to strangle her. And Robin was like, “No, no, no, that’s not in Candy’s story. This is exactly the version of it as Candy told it. This is what we have to show.” So she was very specific about that. For me, as an actor, having been playing this person, I felt really protective of Betty. And it was hard for me to play those moments where Candy said she was like the aggressor. And I felt a little out of body doing it because there are aspects of the story that I don’t buy really. So that was a little tough for me. But we had two wonderful, wonderful stunt doubles who did a couple of the [moments such as when] Jessica gets thrown into a fridge and I got thrown against a dresser, but otherwise it’s all us.
Oof. That’s a lot. Did you shoot it in one day, or was it a couple of days?
We shot it in one day.
Wait? One day?
I know. Yeah. It was a crazy day.
We’ve talked about things that are just so hard to believe about Candy’s story, and it’s funny, it’s a scene that doesn’t involve either of you that exemplifies that the most. Timothy Simmons, as Candy’s husband Pat, goes out in the middle of the night and tries to use the ax 41 times on a stump as his wife did on Betty. You’re just like, “How stupid were these prosecutors?” That’s all they needed to do to demonstrate how insane her story was. There’s something else going on here.
Yeah, it’s really crazy, and honestly, when Jess and I were walking through the story exactly as Candy told it on the stand, the story that got her acquitted, we just were like, “There are missing pieces.” It doesn’t make sense…physically. The room [in our show] was recreated exactly as the utility room was. And just some things are not physically possible. Some things just don’t make sense. And we just were like, “There’s more to the story. There just is.”
I also wanted to ask about Jason Ritter and Justin Timberlake, both your and Jessica’s husbands, appearing in the miniseries. Was that Robin or Nick Antocosta saying, “Hey, we’ve got an idea”? Was it just random casting?
Well, first of all, it was Justin’s idea. I guess he read the script and talked to Jessica about it. And he said, “I want to play this guy.” And Robin thought it was a good idea. So Justin was going to be in it. Robin and Nick and the actors and I were all on a group text. And over Christmas, I sent a picture of my husband, Jason, who had grown this crazy mustache out of boredom. And Robin was like, “He’s looking very period-appropriate.” And then it kind of sparked an idea in her. And she said, “What if he plays the other detective and it’s a kind of like a meta sort of thing where it’s like your actual husbands?” I’m always cautious. So I was like, “Will that be distracting?” But I think it also works. And they’re both so good. They’re both so great.
It’s meta in the sense that it was such a weird trial anyway. In its context, it makes sense because it is such a strange story. I wasn’t distracted by it, to be honest. In fact, I didn’t even recognize Justin at first. I think it took the second episode he appears in before he popped for me. I don’t think people are going to be taken out of the story.
Yeah. When I watched it, I was really glad. I was like, “O.K., it’s kind of seamless.” And I think they’re both doing a really good job and they’re so good together. I feel like they should have a cop show together.
Before I let you go, obviously, “Yellowjackets” became this phenomenon. And I’m just curious what that has meant to you in your career. And also, you won the Critics Choice Award for your performance. And that was one of the first huge major awards you’ve won.
The only one.
What has all that meant to you in the months since?
I mean, it’s really crazy. I honestly have been so grateful for where my career has been and the fact that I’ve been able to make a living and not had to have another job and done work that I find interesting and been able to say no to some things, if I don’t think they’re going to be creatively fulfilling. What a position to be in.
Absolutely.
And over the years, people have been like, “You should be more famous.” And I’m like, “Well, that’s the last thing I want.” I feel like I’m kind of in a sweet spot of being able to do interesting work and also go on public transportation, and take my daughter for a walk. But I have to say, it’s a really nice feeling to have people watching something that you did and caring so much and to feel like it’s part of a conversation that people are having, and that everyone’s excited. I’ve never really had that to this degree before. And it just feels nice because you work hard on stuff and sometimes it just kind of floats away and is never discussed again. So it’s been really gratifying. And especially for our younger cast, I’m just so happy for them because they worked so hard. What they had to go through is so different from what we had to go through. They’re like out in the woods, doing night shoots, freezing or boiling hot or in the rain. I’m so proud of the work they did and the fact that people are seeing their work and they’re getting more opportunities. It feels amazing. And the Critics Choice was so fun. It was such a great night. And it just felt like there was a lot of love in the room. And it just was like a huge honor. It was very, very special, you know? And I’ve never been a person who is like, “I don’t care about awards.” I’m obsessed with awards shows! I watch every single one. I love them. Love, love, love them. I think they’re so fun. I think they’re exciting. So to be part of it in a way that I never had been before, was kind of amazing.
I am 99% convinced you’re going to be part of this upcoming one this September, but on another note, do you know when you’re going to shoot season two?
Christina Ricci always knows stuff that nobody else knows for some reason. So she said on “Jimmy Fallon” “late August.” So if she’s saying it, then it’s true. I was like, “Great, good information.”
But wait, they haven’t even said, “Keep your fall months free”?
I mean, we have to go whenever they tell us to go. Last year, I got one month, a month’s notice.
Oh, damn.
Like, “You’re moving to Vancouver in one month.”
My final last question is, obviously Shauna and Jack [Warren Kole] were at an interesting place at the end of the final episode. And I’m curious, have the creators, have they given you any hint of where that might go in season two?
Well, at the beginning of season one, they said that the idea for their arc was to have Shauna and Jeff kind of fall in love, not even really again, but kind of for the first time, to get to know each other and to be like, “Oh, that’s who you are. That’s interesting. You’re a different person than I thought. And I’m kind of more into this version.” And for that to be their kind of like reawakening to each other. And so that’s sort of what happened over the course of the first season. And I loved that. I loved working with Warren. He’s so fun and so funny. So, I don’t really know what the plan is for season two, but I’m kind of hopeful that dynamic continues because it’s been really fun to play.
“Candy” is available on Hulu. “Yellowjackets” is available on Showtime.
