[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for The Better Sister.]
The eight-episodePrime VideothrillerThe Better Sistertells the story of sisters Chloe (Jessica Biel) and Nicky (Elizabeth Banks), who are seemingly vastly different on the outside and yet probably equally as broken on the inside. When Chloe’s picturesque life is turned upside down by the brutal murder of her husband Adam (Corey Stoll), the sisters work through an estranged that was partly due to Chloe being the guardian of Nicky’s son Ethan (Maxwell Acee Donovan), from her own prior relationship with Adam. But with Ethan now the prime suspect of the crime, the two must unite as they deal with a complicated family history and unravel the truth behind what happened to Adam.
And investigating it all are Detective Nancy Guidry (Kim Dickens) and her partner, Detective Matt Bowen (Bobby Naderi). The no-nonsense Nancy, who isn’t afraid to ruffle some feathers, has her eye on Chloe and Ethan while Matt is suspicious of Nicky and her unpredictability. While different in their approach, they are united in relentlessly pursuing answers until the very end. During this interview with Collider, co-stars Dickens and Naderi discussed what drew them to the project, the presence of the mustache, how easy it was to find their relationship dynamic, that courthouse fight between Chloe and Nicky that Nancy involves herself in, what their characters thought of these sisters, and how they felt when they learned the answers to this murder mystery.
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“I loved my character.”
Collider: There are so many layers to this, with the family dynamics, the sister relationship, addiction, and crime. What drew each of you to this? Was it your own character that you identified with? Was it some other element of the story?
BOBBY NADERI: I got to work with Kim Dickens. That was it for me.
KIM DICKENS: I saw Bobby Naderi’s name and was like, “I’m in.” I loved the writing of it. I thought it was brilliant and irreverent. I loved the really messy relationship of the sisters. I thought it was so real and so relatable.I come from theDeadwoodfamily, with (creators) Regina [Corrado] and Olivia [Milch], so we had a shorthand to our working together that was enticing to me.I loved my character, especially. I was in.
NADERI: Absolutely. To add onto that, every character has a story, an arc, is flawed, and has strong points and negatives. That was just really exciting. That all comes from the writing and an incredible team. For me, that was it.
I would watch a series of the two of you guys fighting crime together.
DICKENS: We would play that series.
NADERI: Yeah. The mustache would have to come back.
DICKENS: I think you’d go through a lot of different hair looks. It would be like, “Oh, it’s mutton chops now?”
Bobby, I am so curious about the mustache situation. Even Nicky calls your character Borat, at one point. Was there a lot of conversation about what the mustache would look like?
DICKENS: Yes, there was a lot of conversation.
NADERI: It was all special effects. The mustache had its own agent. It was very difficult, so we had to get rid of it halfway through. Am I allowed to say that?
DICKENS: We fired the mustache. No.
NADERI: Kim hated it.
DICKENS: I loved it. For the story point, I was really nervous for it to leave. But then, it left and we were all like, “Bobby is so cute!”
NADERI: You wanted it back on my face.
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Was the mustache always in the description of this character? Did you know you would have it, and then it would be gone?
DICKENS: He auditioned with the mustache.
NADERI: I randomly had it.
DICKENS:I think the mustache got the job.
NADERI: The mustache, for sure, got the job. It all happened organically. It was instinctual.
Between the mustache and Chloe’s hair, there’s a lot going on.
DICKENS: That’s the thing about this show, they had the courage to really layer these characters. We’ve got shit going on. Nicky is a completely irreverent, not politically correct person who is just a mess. That’s what’s so fantastic and juicy about the show.
What was it like to find the relationship between your characters? Was that something that was very well-defined? Were you able to play with that a bit?
DICKENS: It was on the page. They were exquisitely written scripts.We had electricity together and sometimes improvs would come in.We lifted it off the page as much as we could, but it was there already.
NADERI: We were probably detectives in a past life, in real life.
Kim Dickens Reveals One of Her Favorite Scenes in ‘The Better Sister’
“I love that stuff.”
Kim, in episode six, Chloe and Nicky get into a fight in the courthouse, and your character kind of puts herself in the middle of that. What was it like to figure that scene out and shoot it? Did you enjoy finding yourself in the middle of that confrontation?
DICKENS: Yeah. We had to have a stunt coordinator for that day because it was like a dance with three people and you’ve got to make it look like you’re really smacking people around, but then not get hurt. I’ve done a lot of stunt work in my past series, so I was game. I love that kind of stuff. I think it’s really fun.One of my favorite scenes is that fight and after the fight, when Nicky and I just hate each other. I love that stuff.
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May the odds be ever in her favor.
What do you think your characters thought about each of these women? Would Nancy have ever been friends with either one of these women if she had met them?
DICKENS: That’s an interesting question. Would I be friends with her? Our detectives get a little hooked on a different sister, as far as what we’re picking up on and what we think. There’s something underneath.Guidry and Nicky really lock on each other and hate each other.Guidry says, “Yes, she’s very familiar with law enforcement. I can see that a mile coming.” And Nicky’s like, “Yeah, she’s a real dick.” They get each other because they’re probably similar. They’re hot heads and are more complicated than they seem at first. They look at people in the same way. I think that like-mindedness makes them aggravated with each other too.
NADERI: He’s very enthralled by this elaborate lifestyle, with the homes, the parties, and the affluent life. There’s something very seductive about that. But also, he’s balancing the fact that he’s investigating this high-profile case. He does lock into a specific sister and has his hunch, and there are very complicated feelings in the sense of what’s going on. He doesn’t really interact with Nicky too much.
DICKENS: Are you scared of her?
NADERI: A little bit, yeah. He’s like, “Nan, help!” We definitely picked our person to explore.
Kim Dickens and Bobby Naderi Found the Surprises in ‘The Better Sister’ Exciting
“I don’t think people will guess where it’s going.”
What did you guys think about how this all played out, with the way it ended and the reveal of what happened? Were you surprised by how it all turned out?
DICKENS: Yeah, I was. I’d have to go back and reread to make sure I didn’t miss anything. I thought it was a very good surprise.
NADERI: Yeah, absolutely. I don’t think people will guess where it’s going, which is really a testament to the material. I was like, “Woah, okay, this is going there?”All the surprises were actually exciting.
DICKENS: I think it’s a great ending, altogether.
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The Better Sister
The Better Sisteris available to stream on Prime Video. Check out the trailer:
