When actress Jaime Ray Newman was making ready to audition for The Looking Wives, she felt a wave of pleasure she hadn’t skilled in almost a yr. It was the primary position she was going out for for the reason that 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes, and after studying the pilot, she was desirous to land the a part of Callie, the fierce sheriff’s spouse with a crack shot. There was only one catch: her longtime good friend Katie Lowes wished to play her too.
“We each confirmed as much as our coach in L.A. one afternoon in full hair and make-up — like, full blowouts,” Newman tells Yahoo. “And we have a look at one another and we’re like, ‘Did you audition for The Looking Wives?’”
The 2 actresses return 25 years. They dwell two minutes aside from one another in Los Angeles and their youngsters attend the identical faculty. When Newman discovered she was probably getting the position, she braced for the dialog. “I walked as much as Katie and mentioned, ‘I believe I’m going to finish up taking part in Callie.’ And he or she goes, ‘No manner, they need me for Jill.’”
Katie Lowes and Jaime Ray Newman in The Looking Wives. (Lionsgate)
The second was emotional. “We began crying — crying like scorching, big, rolling tears spilling off the cheeks,” Newman says. She and Lowes ended up reserving the roles, anchoring the tv sequence alongside stars Malin Akerman and Brittany Snow. It’s that real-life bond between the ladies, Newman believes, that has helped gas the success of The Looking Wives, which now sits in Netflix’s High 10 TV exhibits within the U.S. for the third week in a row following its July 21 premiere.
“Everybody got here in seasoned {and professional},” she says. “That sort of camaraderie — understanding one another and supporting each other — actually shines via onscreen.”
Uncharted territory
The eight-episode sequence relies on the 2021 novel of the identical title. It follows Sophie (Snow), who strikes from Boston to East Texas, the place she’s drawn into an elite clique of feminine associates led by Margo (Akerman). Callie is Margo’s closest confidante of their interior circle, however rapidly feels threatened when Margo grows more and more all in favour of Sophie.
The Looking Wives blends soapy drama, homicide thriller and erotic thriller into one, with the final half grabbing probably the most consideration. It is no spoiler to say the Texas socialites share the identical unbridled enthusiasm for intercourse as they do looking boars. It simply so occurs they get pleasure from doing each of those actions with one another.
“Are you able to get extra enjoyable, hilarious or wild?” Newman laughs. “We simply need to give folks a good time and provides folks one thing to speak about.”
For Newman, she has intimate scenes with Akerman and likewise with actor Branton Field, who performs her husband, Johnny. After I ask if she had any hesitation stepping right into a story that pushes boundaries, she says, “Not even for a second.”
After she was forged as Callie, showrunner Rebecca Cutter requested Newman to learn the scripts for the remaining episodes earlier than committing to the sequence. Cutter wished to ensure the actress was snug filming the racy scene in Episode 7, which entails Newman utilizing a prop to have interaction in a intercourse act together with her onscreen husband.
“She wished to know if I used to be open to it. They didn’t shove it down my throat. They didn’t power me,” Newman says. “I learn the entire script, and after I acquired to that scene, my jaw dropped.”
Now, Newman isn’t any newcomer to tv. She has a deep bench of credit, together with standout roles in The Punisher, Dopesick and Little Fires In all places. She’s additionally an Oscar winner; her movie Pores and skin, which she created alongside her husband, Man Nattiv, was 2019’s Finest Reside Motion Brief Movie. However the scene in query was uncharted territory. Newman requested Nattiv what he thought concerning the scripted state of affairs.
“He was like, ‘Why not? It’s enjoyable. It’s wild. It’s going to stir dialogue,’” she says. “You already know, we’re all consenting adults right here. One thing that additionally made me really feel actually good was that Rebecca was like, ‘Johnny and Callie have an amazing marriage.’ They in all probability have the most effective marriage on the present. They’ve an understanding with one another. They love one another. They respect one another. They’re companions. And what they do behind closed doorways is no person else’s f***ing enterprise.”
Getting intimate
To make the intercourse scenes as genuine and cozy as attainable onscreen, it began with constructing belief off-camera. Enter intimacy coordinator Lizzy Talbot, recognized for her work on Babygirl, Bridgerton and It Ends With Us.
“She’s extremely gifted and makes positive everybody feels protected and revered,” Newman says. “She was an enormous a part of making a optimistic setting for everybody concerned.”
A part of fostering a collaborative house meant letting the forged and crew take liberties.
“Typically intimacy coordinators can really feel too intrusive in a manner [where I want to say], ‘Let me have freedom and let me do my factor,'” Newman explains. “[Lizzy] made all people really feel snug, free, free. We went into all these scenes, actually understanding what we have been doing, however we additionally felt that we might improvise a little bit bit inside them. So it wasn’t too constricted.”
When it got here time to movie with Field, Talbot had a minimum of 15 intercourse toys lined up for them to select from.
“Branton, God bless him. I like him a lot, he is such a staff participant,” Newman laughs. “We roll up [to set] that day… I mentioned to Branton, ‘All proper, child, you select. That is your name.'”
Jaime Ray Newman, Malin Ackerman, Brittany Snow and Katie Lowes in The Looking Wives. (Netflix)
That confidence prolonged naturally to Akerman, who Newman says was one of many first folks she reached out to as soon as they acquired a begin date for filming. She wished to speak with the Billions alum about their characters’ dynamic, which ranges from associates to lovers. Newman credit her costar for being “so open.”
“I like that lady. She is a wild, toes planted on the bottom, great actress who’s recreation for something,” she says. “Clearly, she’s beautiful, however she’s extremely clever, a really deep actress, very all in favour of script evaluation, very all in favour of find out how to make the most effective present we presumably can.”
Bringing that stage of dedication wasn’t nearly performing — it was additionally about counting on one another offscreen to navigate the pains of filming. “I can’t categorical sufficient the bond that all of us had on this set,” Newman says. That’s very true of her friendship with Lowes.
“We flew backwards and forwards between Charlotte, the place we filmed the [show], and L.A. 26 instances to see our youngsters collectively. We’re sisters endlessly now,” she says. “Sharing this wild journey with one among my closest associates — and seeing the present’s success with Katie — is without doubt one of the joys of my life.”
