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Hulu’s latest must-see series Nine Perfect Strangers is coming to a close, but with one episode left, the series is about to get a whole lot “trippier” according to its breakout actor, Grace Van Patten.
Created by David E. Kelly and John-Henry Butterworth, Nine Perfect Strangers is adapted from the novel by Liane Moriarty (Big Little Lies) following a group of strangers all with their own problems who have escaped to Tranquilium House wellness retreat in search of inner healing. Though, it’s slowly uncovered throughout the series that the serine facade isn’t exactly what it appears to be.
While the novel is set in Australia, the show’s location was changed to Northern California where it was initially supposed to be shot. However, the pandemic forced the team to move the production to Byron Bay, Australia requiring several cast members to pick up their lives and relocate for eight months while filming. The realities of the cast’s lengthy on-set immersive retreat contributed to a real-life bond between the actors that only reinforced their on-screen emotional connections.
Amongst a rockstar cast including Nicole Kidman, Melissa McCarthy, Bobby Cannavale, and Regina Hall (to name a few), Grace’s emotionally-raw performance as 20-year-old Zoe Marconi grappling with the devastating death of her twin brother alongside her on-screen parents (played by Michael Shannon and Asher Keddie) has allowed Grace to command the attention of all of us at home. As Tranquilium House in and of itself presents a facade unlike what’s going on inside, each character slowly sheds their outer shell throughout the series painting a realistic picture of the weight of trauma and how one internally bears it. “I think the media has the capability to shine a light on mental illness in a way that society is afraid to,” said Van Patten. “So, I hope it starts conversations.”
While Nine Perfect Strangers is Grace’s most prominent and impactful role to date, the 24-year-old native New Yorker and Fiorello LaGuardia High School alum is a far cry from a Hollywood newbie. Coming from a dynasty of film creatives, Grace was practically raised into her work. She’s the niece of Eight is Enough star Dick Van Patten, daughter of acclaimed director Timothy Van Patten, and sister of rising young actresses Anna (21) and June (8). Grace received her first role at the age of eight in The Sopranos as Eugene Pontecorvo’s daughter and has since worked her way up the ladder of Hollywood success culminating in Nine Perfect Strangers and her upcoming starring roles; a fantasy film Mayday set to release in October and Hulu’s forthcoming series based off Carola Lovering’s novel by the same name Tell Me Lies. Displaying true versatility of her performance, Grace has made quite a name for herself, and she’s only just getting started.
Ahead of the finale, CR spoke with Grace reflecting back on the series.
CR: How do you think your work has developed from your early start to now?
GVP: “I feel like I learn so much from every job and every actor I work with. So, it’s like taking in and moving on. I went to LaGuardia High School, so it was a really intense acting program there for four years and I feel like it created such a good base for many different techniques. From then on, I’ve had it in my head that every character requires a different process and a different way to think of going about it. Nine Perfect Strangers was something I’d never experienced before because the whole prep was in Australia. Even just speaking with Michael and Asher, who play my parents, and having these really in-depth conversations about the family dynamic, who we were before this traumatic event happened, and how did it change us in very specific ways. That helped so much and I hadn’t ever don’t that before and I really loved that way of working through it.”
CR: What about Zoe’s character drew you in?
GVP: “I fell in love with Zoe when I read the book and I found her to be such a beautiful character in what she was going through and really thought that her story needed to be told. I felt that [her journey] was so hopeful at the end despite what she had gone through, she came out the other side in grief and in that realized that the grief does not go away. However she learned to accept it and live beyond the loss, which I thought was such a beautiful realization.”
CR: What was it like to be on this real-life retreat with your co-stars?
GVP: “It’s cool because it was in-sync in that we all came from isolation and then we got to Australia and we were only with each other and we were shooting in this confined space. So, it was weirdly art imitating life. But, it was so special in that we were all coming from the same situation, same place, whereas normally, all of these actors would be coming off job after job. We all came from the same place, and I think it really forced us to connect on a level that we wouldn’t have if life was normal. So, it made it very special.”
CR: What was it like working with so many acclaimed actors? Did any of them give you any advice as a young actress?
GVP: “Every day was a master class, I feel like I learned everything from just watching them. Michael did say to me, very casually and in passing, on his process and when he reads a script, he’s just getting a bunch of little pieces of LEGOs that he has to kind of form into one character. I had never thought of it in that way, I just thought it was such a cool image. Reading scripts now, I definitely think of the pieces that make this person.”
CR: What is it like preparing for a role that addresses mental health and emotional trauma? At any point did you feel it taking a real-life toll on you?
GVP: “I thought that I was good at separating myself from the character, and this job made me realize that I’m not very good at that. It took me a few months afterwards to shed Zoe off of me. It was a very heavy headspace to be in for six months, I read this book that really really helped me called Standing On My Brother’s Shoulders; it’s a memoir written by Tara J. Lal and she had been through a similar experience, her brother had died by suicide, and she analyzes living beyond loss and the rebuilding that is necessary after someone goes through a traumatic event. She wrote it in such detail and the whole book is just so brave to me. I would just read sections of it before scenes and at night, I think I kind of just stayed in that essence.”
CR: Did you channel any sort of your teen self in preparation for this role?
GVP: “I’m sure aspects are sprinkled throughout it. I definitely related to the closeness of the family. I definitely come from a very close family and that’s why being apart, I was scared to leave, I was like, “I’ve never been away from my family for eight months.” You know, normally, they’d come visit me when I was on a job. So, I think that was definitely put into Zoe, the feeling a little bit lonely, being so far away from home, and missing my sisters and parents. So, I think on that aspect, we definitely connected on that.”
CR: Recently, it was announced that you have another upcoming Hulu project in pre-production and you also also star in the film Mayday coming out. What’s your dream role and what do you want to focus on moving forward?
GVP: “Honestly, this next show is one of my dream roles. It reminds me of all of my favorite movies and all of my favorite characters and it’s called Tell Me Lies. It’s also based off of a book, which I highly recommend, you will read it in like two days. It’s going to be fun, it’s going to be dark, sexy, and compelling. I’m excited to kind of experience all of that within one character.”
CR: Then what can you tell me about the finale? I know it’s a secret, but what can we expect from you in this final episode?
GVP: “It gets trippier, if you can even imagine! You can definitely expect hope for the Marconis.”
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createdAt:Mon, 20 Sep 2021 19:03:30 +0000
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