‘Love & Death’ Team Recall the “Big Surprise” of Learning Another Candy Montgomery Story Was Coming to TV

On Wednesday evening, the cast and crew of Max’s Love & Death gathered in West Hollywood to celebrate the series premiere.

From Max and Lionsgate Television, it’s based on a true story, centered on real-life 1980s housewife Candy Montgomery (played by Elizabeth Olsen) who was accused of the brutal axe murder of her friend Betty Gore (Lily Rabe). If the story rings a bell, it’s probably because a show based on the same events — Hulu’s Candy, starring Jessica Biel and Melanie Lynskey — premiered just last year.

“It was a big surprise because we were two months into filming Love & Death when we found out that they were telling the same story,” explained director and executive producer Lesli Linka Glatter about the coincidence. “We had optioned the rights to the Texas Monthly articles and the nonfiction book, so we were surprised. But it is public domain material, so there’s nothing we can do.”

She continued, “We trusted the way we were telling the story, which is very much more about the characters, rather than just a true-crime drama. I’m much more interested in the why this happened, rather than just the how.”

As for whether or not Olsen ever connected with fellow actress Biel, who plays Candy in the Hulu version of the story, Olsen notes that the two actresses didn’t speak about the roles throughout their respective filming processes. “We started filming our show before they did,” Olsen explained, “and so the only time I ever spoke to her about it was a few weeks ago.”

However, Jesse Plemons, who plays Betty’s husband and Candy’s lover Allan Gore, said he wasn’t too shocked by the coincidence of the two shows. “It seems like that happens fairly regularly,” the actor said. “But it did feel like — especially when we were all together and it would come up — it just sort of felt like there was this alternate parallel universe where we were existing in some other way.”

Coming off of several back-to-back Marvel projects, Olsen steps into the complex role of Candy, a housewife who yearns for risk-taking thrills amid her quiet suburban life. “For episode one, my reaction was, ‘Can I get episode two?’” Olsen said about reading the script. “And then when I read both of them, I was very interested in trying to figure out how to play a woman who tries to lead a life based on aspirations and the desire of external validation. How tightly one grips on to that, and what happens when it is threatened to be taken away.”

When it came to casting, Glatter said Olsen immediately came to mind. “She has this incredible accessibility,” said Glatter. “She lets you go inside of her eyes and feel something about the human condition. She is so generous of spirit, both as an actor and as a human.”

Olsen’s castmates echoed the sentiment, praising their co-star. “Lizzie is such a wonderful collaborator,” Rabe gushed. “She’s an amazing scene partner, she’s an amazing person. I think we had a lot of the same feelings about the relationship. We didn’t want to miss any of its nuance or complexity, because it takes so many turns along the way.”

Added Plemons, “She’s an amazing actor and has been doing amazing work since she started, but this seemed like a little bit of a different character for her. Anytime you’re working with someone that’s that good, it makes your job much easier.”

Love & Death‘s first three episodes are now streaming on Max.