In today’s episode of Bingeworthy, our revitalized TV and streaming podcast, co-hosts Mike DeAngelo and Rodrigo Perez treat themselves to the new true-life murder series, “Candy.” Based on a true story, the show follows Candy Montgomery (Jessica Biel), a housewife in 1980s Texas that finds her life spinning out of control after her neighbor and friend, Betty Gore (Melanie Lynskey) is found murdered in her own home. The show premieres on Hulu on May 9th and also stars Pablo Schreiber (Halo) and Timothy Simons (Veep) (read our review here).
After our hosts discuss the show, stars, Jessica Biel and Melanie Lynskey stop by to talk about what drew them to this particular story in the age of the murder mini-series.
“I feel like every person, every parent has felt overwhelmed, alone, like they can’t communicate with their partner, that they want something more, want a spark again,” Biel said of the universal emotions at the heart of the story. “You know, everyone, at some point, has felt something in that world and it was amazing as we were moving episode by episode, you know, you really just start to see the puzzle of these lives come together and it’s just so complex. It’s not, ‘Oh, this one thing happened.’ It’s just so many pieces that made up these women’s lives and their family dynamics and their unit and then how their paths just tragically crossed. The more and more I portrayed this character, I felt sad for her.”
Then there’s the real-life mystery of what actually happened on the last day of Betty Gore’s life, from which, we only know Candy’s perspective. Even Jessica Biel herself had a hard time determining whether she believed that version of events.
“I feel like Robin [Veith] and I would go back and forth every day. ‘Oh, I believe her today.’ Or ‘I definitely don’t believe her and this is why…” Biel said. “We would just go back and forth all the time to the point of how she structured this whole show—that’s really what we want you as the audience to do at the end of this thing. If there could be a debate amongst a viewing party about where everyone stands at the end, that would be a huge success and a huge win for us.”
“Candy” debuts today, May 9th, on Hulu with a new episode dropping every day this week. You can listen to the entire podcast conversation below:
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