Brittany Snow Is Reclaiming Her Power One Project and Red Carpet Look at a Time

While Brittany Snow could have never predicted the massive success of The Hunting Wives, she does usually have a hunch about these things. Her project-picking meter is usually never wrong. The proof is in her work, a series of culture-defining cinematic moments that transcend generations—like the early aughts teen comedy John Tucker Must Die; the socially relevant musical Hairspray; the aca-amazing Pitch Perfect franchise, which spawned two sequels (and, fingers crossed, maybe a third?); and the Ti West horror cult hit X. Over the last two decades, Snow has brought us some of our most beloved on-screen characters, but the real impressive feat is in the actress's ability to consistently reinvent herself and her career at every turn.

The Hunting Wives was just the beginning of what continues to be a banner year for Snow, who is currently starring in Hulu's true crime drama Murdaugh: Death in the Family and will return to Netflix this month in the dark psychological thriller The Beast in Me. With back-to-back-to-back projects on her hands, the actress is proving herself a dynamic force in Hollywood. Call it a 2025 Snow renaissance. The actress is making exciting moves both professionally and sartorially (her Barbie pink Wiederhoeft gown at the Emmys and custom Lein dress with pearl detailing are recent faves) as she subverts expectations and reclaims her power. Where many zig, Snow zags, and it's paying off.

In the midst of all the welcome chaos of the last few months, we sat down with Snow, who was outfitted in a chic archive Jil Sander suit, for our Portrait Sessions series to talk about finally getting out of her own way, true crime podcasts, acting with her idol Claire Danes, and meeting the current moment with perspective and presence.

What a few months you are having! First The Hunting Wives, then Murdaugh: Death in the Family, and now The Beast in Me. How does it feel to have all of these amazing projects coming out back-to-back-to-back?

It's funny because we didn't do them as succinctfully as it seems. They were sort of one after another and over the past year and a half, but they are coming out at the same time, which seems a little mental. I'm just so grateful. There was a time in my life when I didn't know if I was ever going to work again, and I just felt like maybe I was getting in my own way. I was too in my head about things and was so analytical about it, and I just let that go, and that felt like that opened the door for me to keep working. Now, I get to do all these fun projects, and I'm just so humbled.

Let's talk about The Beast in Me. I think I finished it in two sittings—it was so good. I imagine reading the script was similar for you. What really interested you about this particular story and the character Nina?

The Beast in Me was a very interesting and special project because there was only one or two scripts available, and it was sort of the promise of what the story could become. I knew it was the same team behind Homeland, which is my favorite show. Claire Danes is one of my favorite actresses. I've seen every single episode of Homeland. And not only that, I grew up with Claire Danes. I'm of the age where that was my idol, so I really wanted to work with her, and then Matthew [Rhys], of course, I loved him on The Americans. I feel like all of the pieces were there in terms of why I'd want to be a part of it.

When I auditioned for it, I only had so much to go on, which was what the character was described as, and then there was only one episode to read, which my character's not really in that much. People don't know this, but I think we're being pretty open about this, which is that the scripts were developing and being written as we went. So it wasn't like Hunting Wives, where there were all eight scripts written. They were writing them as we were shooting them.

Tell me about stepping on to set with your idol Claire Danes.

The night before, I remember just being so nervous and excited, but I had heard from people that she was very real and very lovely and normal. Our first scene together was the "walking in the park" scene, and she's just so present and curious and genuine and open, and she just wanted to get to know me right away. It was so lovely to know that there was an actress that I admired who was as invested in me as I was in her. I look up to her even more so now because of who she is as a person. She immediately put me at ease, which I think was a huge help with my nerves in terms of going into a project that I really respected.

Let's pivot to the other show you're starring in right now, Murdaugh: Death in the Family. The series is about the real-life Murdaugh family murders and is based on the reporting of Mandy Matney, who you play. Matney is a producer on the show, so I imagine you were able to get quite close with her. What struck you about her involvement in the case?

Before I started working on the show, I was already very familiar with the case, and I was already very familiar with her because I had listened to the podcast. I was very familiar with her type of journalism, which was scrappy, and she had this dogged determination with this case and an instinct that was so intrinsic to solving the case. She was doubted at every turn, but without her, this case wouldn't have gotten solved and found out in the way that it was. So I was very interested in what made her tick and the adversity that she had gone through and how that affected her emotionally and mentally. I read her book twice. I called her up. We went out for drinks and dinner and got to know each other right away, and then we became friends. It was really such an asset and invaluable to me to get to play a character that I felt like I could actually learn from in real time as opposed to having to research in books or videos and stuff like that. I could just hang out with her and ask her questions. That normally doesn't happen.

Is there also a unique pressure that comes with playing a real-life person who is present on set and watching your performance?

It was only nerve-racking and intimidating because I didn't want to disappoint her. I didn't want to let her down. I knew how important this story was for her, and I knew there had to be a certain quality about her that was an essence about her that I couldn't imitate but I had to become. That was what I was worried about the most. [It's] not necessarily the voice or that we look perfectly, exactly alike, but there is an essence about her that's very cool and tomboy and pesky and perky and all these things that are a culmination of who she is, and that's what was important to me.

You mentioned listening to Matney's podcast before being cast in the show. Are you someone who is into true crime podcasts and/or documentaries?

I'm in that camp 100%. Ever since Serial came out however long ago (Was that 2016? It was almost 10 years ago now), I have just been obsessed with true crime. I think I sort of liken it to a psychological exercise because I do like the mental gymnastics that my brain does while I'm getting ready or cleaning the house. I'm trying to figure it out. I'm also trying to keep the characters safe, so I'm thinking ahead. It's critical thinking in a way, or maybe I'm just telling myself that so I don't feel so bad. But I do really like it because I really like puzzles.

Are you listening to any new ones right now?

The new season of Culpable right now. I like Tenderfoot TV, all of their podcasts, and Payne Lindsey. Up and Vanished was an OG of mine. The new season of Culpable is about this kid who was found in a cornfield in 1988, and I'm deep in that mystery right now. I'm gonna solve it.

We can't not talk about The Hunting Wives, too, because it was such a massive cultural hit. It was recently parodied on SNL by Amy Poehler and Aubrey Plaza. Did you see that?

Of course! I don't know if I'll ever get over it. I'll never be able to understand or comprehend how my life is doing this right now. I just was laughing my ass off. It was so great.

Did you have an inkling the show would blow up in the way it did or not at all?

Absolutely not. When doing Pitch Perfect, I really knew that it was going to blow up. I remember reading the script and being like, "You guys, people are gonna love this!" Some people believed me, and some people didn't, but I knew. This one [was] absolutely the opposite. I had no idea. I thought no one was gonna watch it. I remember talking about that all the time with the girls. I'm like, "Nobody is gonna see it anyway" because we were originally doing the show for Starz, and the show was very geared toward a Starz audience. It was very salacious and splashy and lots of sex and adult themes, so when we went into it, that was very much the mindset. We didn't know it would be seen by a bigger audience, and we didn't even know if a bigger audience would even like it because it's breaking a lot of rules. I was very happy that people have now seen it, and you never know.

What about the project or character felt like the right move for you at that time in your career?

Well, it was very different from The Beast in Me because we got all eight scripts at once. I was in Thailand at the time shooting an episode of Night Agent, and I remember reading all of the eight scripts in one day. It was the best. I was by the pool just reading scripts, which sounds so douchy, but I couldn't put it down. I just thought, "This is one of those types of shows that I would watch, that I would binge, that I want to know what is going to happen." I felt really connected to the role of Sophie in terms of feeling like a woman who has put herself in this feeling like maybe she's underestimated by people. She's underestimated by herself, and she's wanting to take the next step and taking up space and becoming who she really is. I really did feel like I was at the precipice of that in my own life, taking my power back and walking into a room and not being afraid. I felt like that was just a perfect mirror to something I wanted to explore, and it always happens like that. The parts that I end up doing always are going through some themes that I needed to explore in my life.

I love that. You are learning from each of your roles. What's great about the show, too, is it's an all-woman team, which can be rare in this industry. How was that for you as an actress?

It was so crucial to taking on the role and to feeling safe. Our showrunner—Rebecca Cutter, who I just love and I think she's the most intelligent woman—she was thoroughly at the helm of not only shaping this tone and this story that's very specific but also making sure that we all felt really safe and that we were doing this to have fun and have agency over our bodies, and we could be women after the age of 30 that are still having sex and doing all these things that you don't really see on TV anymore. … With that theme being explored, she wanted to make sure that there were all women directors. We had a woman camera operator. There were only women at the video village. We had an amazing intimacy coordinator who was a woman, obviously, and it was done for women and under the female gaze because we knew how important it was to be very true to an experience of what women have already gone through in this way.

Is it true you are about to start filming season 2?

I think I leave on [November] 8 or 9?

What do you hope to see for Sophie's story going into the next season?

I always explain it to people, and Rebecca and I talk about this a lot. [Sophie's] sort of this caged animal that has been kept in a cage, self-induced in a way, where she is afraid of herself, so she really chooses this marriage and life and this way she decorates her house and the way she dresses in this contained way, not knowing that Margo is going to open up the cage and let her out. I feel like season 2 will be the culmination of what happens when you let a caged animal out of a cage. Because she's a murderer, I think all hell breaks loose.

Can we talk about the magic you and your stylist Yael Quint have been creating lately? How has working with her changed your perspective on style, and do you have a favorite look you've done together?

The minute that I met Yael, I knew that something was going to be special because we really do have a great shorthand with the people that we look up to and that inspire us and the looks that we really respond to. It was all synergistic, and we were very much on the same page. I've always really been drawn toward timeless and classic images. Being an actor, it's our job to invoke a feeling of understanding of other characters, of other times. I've always really responded to that, so we, from the very beginning, have always responded to Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, Michelle Pfeiffer, and with a hint of throwbacks to Grace Kelly, and I think that that's really what I've always wanted to emulate.

I don't know if I have a favorite look recently. Everything has really felt true to who I am, which I have to dare say that's not always been the case. I also think I've been really trusting to people and really loyal, and this is the first time that I do speak up a lot more than I ever have.

I know mental health is an important topic to you. You started September Letters in 2020 and wrote, directed, and produced the movie Parachute about addiction in 2023. During such a busy time like now, how do you stay grounded and positive mentally?

I think I try to meet it with a lot of perspective. This is a little heavy, but I've been pretty vocal about it. My dad is pretty far progressed in his Alzheimer's, and I've been thinking lately as I've been taking walks [that] we're so on our phones and not present, and all of these things really make a lot of sense to me now that I have someone that I love that isn't looking at taking a walk the same way, and the little things are fleeting in a way. In these times where things are getting really busy, I like to remember that this is all ephemeral, and this all does go away at the end of the day. I could do something tomorrow, and this could all go away, so I try to be really present with how grateful I am but also taking note of the little things that really matter.

This is so stupid, but this morning, I was trying to get ready, and my dog rolled over and wanted the belly rubs. I'm like, "I'll rub your belly for like five minutes, and I'm not gonna move, and I'm gonna just really try to be present instead of trying to rush to the next thing." I do feel like that has been helping, even with being grateful in all that's happening. It's just like taking in the present moment.

Photographer: Elliott Morgan
Hairstylist: Takuya Yamaguchi
Makeup Artist: Charlie Riddle
Producer: Nick De Bellis