by Gill Pringle in LA
Coming off four award-winning seasons of Succession – where her screen father, brothers and husband largely took control – Sarah Snook was ready to take charge of her own project.
Namely, twisty new series All Her Fault, which she stars in and executive produces.
Better still, after years spent filming in New York, All Her Fault would be shot largely in Melbourne with additional locations around Chicago where the story is set.
Based on Andrea Mara’s psychological thriller of the same name, the story unfolds as Snook’s Marissa Irvine arrives to collect her young son Milo from a playdate at his friend’s house, only to be met by a woman she doesn’t know, who tells her Milo has never been there.
Marissa’s world quickly implodes and, as her panic escalates, an unexpected twist worsens everything. Desperate to find her child, Marissa is forced to confront everything that she thought she knew about her friends, family and even herself. But who can she trust? And how far will she go to protect her own?
Set in a world that is a little reminiscent of Nicole Kidman’s Big Little Lies – rich parents, luxury homes, nannies and shocking secrets – Snook was keen to take the next step in her career just like her fellow countrywoman.
“It’s been a new ride for me to help shape and shepherd the project, and I’ve enjoyed the challenge,” says the Adelaide-born actress. “Being an EP while also being the lead of this show was an interesting and tricky balance, knowing when to shut off one part of your brain and focus on the other.
“In terms of prep work, I had a baby myself, not on purpose for this role, but it helped!” she quips.
“Being a mother, I understood the mindset, challenges, expectations, the deep well of love and fear, and the anxiety that comes with it,” Snook says, before explaining her attraction to the role.
“Before this story starts, Marissa is very Type A. But seeing what happens to a person like that when the worst thing imaginable happens to her – how she deals with the fallout and the emotional journey that she experiences – is what drew me to the character, as I’ve wanted to flex that muscle.”
Having wed Aussie performer Dave Lawson in 2021 – together welcoming a daughter in May 2023 – Snook was just months into motherhood when she read the script for this disturbing suburban thriller.
“I’d never done a proper thriller like this before, and it had a really great twist. You engage with all the drama and all these scenes, and then also just playing a mum, who is very successful.
“We often see women on screen who are successful and then, you know, child rearing is kind of like a pain in the arse. But in this, she wants to be present for both. And how do you balance that?” argues the actress, who stars opposite Jake Lacy, Dakota Fanning, Michael Peña and Sophia Lillis in the show.
Cast and crew all enjoyed working with Snook who acted as an informal host to all-things-Australian.
“Sarah was great to work with, and she brought so much intelligence to the project,” says creator/EP/writer Megan Gallagher. “She oozes talent out of every pore as both an actor and EP. She was also the cast’s informal host and gave them an incredibly warm welcome to Melbourne. There was camaraderie and warmth, which showed on screen.”
On set, when things got tough, Snook kept in mind a simple mantra: “I was having a meltdown once, and one of my girlfriends texted: ‘Don’t worry, you can do hard things.’ That was such a great, simple little mantra to do for myself. And I feel like it’s true. I mean, we can all do hard things and just taking one step at a time.”
Ask her if All Her Fault might further serve as a wake-up call to dads who don’t do as much heavy lifting as the mums, she says, “Yeah, probably. But I find it hard to speak to that for myself, because my husband is a very present father and he’s taken time off work to be able to help raise our daughter.
“But I think naturally, with child rearing, the woman is the one who is bearing the child and carrying the child. And then postpartum, you’re needing to be around fairly consistently for at least six months afterwards, minimum. And not all women can have that time for postpartum. They have to go back to work and then it’s just a massive imbalance that usually ends up falling to the women to take more of the hit, I guess. And then that’s the guilt and the blame, so yeah, men stepping up to balance that is important, I think.”
Despite receiving accolades aplenty in her career thus far, Snook, 37, enjoys challenging herself with the roles that she takes on. “Succession was kind of a huge moment and career changing for me and so incredible. So, my sort of plan going forward is always choosing things that are different but also to never compare. It’s not a thing that I can ever top, as an experience and a world. It meant so much to me. So just finding something different is really important. And I feel like this is that.”
And while pursuing career opportunities, she tries to ensure a balance in her life. “Part of it is about being as present as I can as a parent, and being as much as I can, there for my daughter and being in her creative and imaginative world as well.
“She’s just reached this point as a two-and-a-half-year-old where she can really develop her imaginative world. And it’s so much fun when I get into it. I love that,” she says.
Being a mother in real life, surely helped her understand the emotions that her screen alter-ego is experiencing. “Motherhood, I guess for me, it’s kind of a full identity shift. The identity shift of who you are, not just you yourself, but who you are to your partner and who you are to your child, and then also realising all the different things that you did as a child and how your mum must have reflected to you and your dad must have reflected to you.
“It’s such a brain rewiring, actually, physically, physiologically, as well as emotionally that, it’s fun to kind of try and imbue that into characters. Being able to play Marissa as a mum whilst experiencing that kind of change in myself brought a whole new shade to it all,” she says.
“But I do have a wonderful stay at home husband who is working on parenting. That is like one of the toughest jobs. And you don’t get days off ever – unless you have a nanny. And then you have to sort of balance that as well with affordability and all that kind of stuff that comes into it.
“So, there’s a lot reflected from my current sort of state, in the character, insofar as me working and trying to be a parent at the same time. Marissa has the added stress of her husband working as well and trying to create a career and the balance of who is more important. And then at the same time as a child going missing…” she says.
While All Her Fault’s main players live with all the trappings of wealth, she likens that sense of luxury to Succession’s appeal to an audience. “I think that’s something that audiences quite like to see at the moment. In the way that Succession was popular, there’s this kind of position that with wealth comes happiness and ease. And that’s just not the case.
“Like yes, money can bring happiness to a point, but you’re still going to be dealing with life and being human. I think that there’s something interesting about pulling apart things that on the surface look glossy and perfect.”
All Her Fault is streaming now
