Australian actor Sarah Snook’s pivotal role in bringing huge US drama All Her Fault to Melbourne
An Aussie’s star power moved an entire US show to Melbourne, but while most of the American actors loved Australia one was perplexed by an Aussie icon.
If you wanted an inkling of just how much Australian actor Sarah Snook has conquered American television, witness the fact the gripping new thriller series she is headlining is set in the US but was filmed almost entirely in Australia.
“I slept in my own bed in Melbourne and yet I was in Chicago. It was great,” the AACTA Golden Globe and Emmy award-winning star told news.com.au at the New York premiere of new drama All Her Fault, which is now streaming on Binge.
American cast members of All Her Fault have told news.com.au they became so captivated by the months-long shoot in Australia, they wanted to move Down Under.
All Her Fault, an adaptation of Irish author Andrea Mara’s best-selling novel, also stars Dakota Fanning. Snook plays hot shot Chicago financier Marissa Irvine. One afternoon, she heads to pick up son Milo from what she thought was a play date to find him missing and the occupants of the home she was told to head to utterly baffled about who she or Milo are.
There follows a desperate search for Milo, leading to uncovered secrets and recriminations galore.
All Her Fault dispensed with any slow build up into the world of the Irvines. Instead, the very first minutes dive straight into the trauma: the front door of the home where Snook’s character thinks her son is playing – and rapidly realises he isn’t there. It’s five minutes that goes from everyday cheeriness, to incredulity to utter anguish.
“I was very aware of how it would feel to have my daughter suddenly go missing,” said Snook, who had her first daughter with husband Dave Lawson, who starred in ABC series Utopia, in 2023.
“Doing a part like this informed my fears for sure and that was something I could draw on.”
“But we had to reshoot the opening scene because when we did it the first time it was it was almost too emotional,” she told news.com.au.
“We had to find a way to gently allow the audience to absorb this information at the same rate that Marissa is doing it, and also to clarify who Marissa is as a person and that she’s much less likely to jump to anxiety first.
“She’s more likely to get all the information, but you can’t repress it for very long because it’s your child and you don’t know where they are.
“It’s a very compelling opening scene.”
Snook’s role in bringing huge US show to Australia
That opening scene, like almost every other scene, was shot not in Chicago – but Melbourne.
Most of All Her Fault was filmed at Docklands Studios. In addition, streets near Southern Cross Station, for instance, doubled as Chicago’s downtown for a pivotal scene during the Illinois city’s marathon. Melbourne’s famous convention centre, known as Jeff’s Shed, is also prominent while the suburbs of Elwood, Williamstown and St Kilda also stand in for Chicago.
It’s estimated some 2000 Australian jobs were supported by the production.
Snook, who is also an executive producer on All Her Fault, was critical to the production ending up in Australia.
She has just completed the London run of the Sydney Theatre Company’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. Based on the Oscar Wilde classic, Snook exhaustively played all 26 parts in the show. The runaway success was all set to head to New York, which would take Snook, her baby daughter and husband, away from Australia for another extended period.
“After (London) I knew that Broadway was probably going to happen, I needed to go home and they very kindly moved it to Melbourne,” she said.
“Shooting it in Melbourne makes it harder to say no.
“They obviously did their due diligence and homework and (asked) can we double Melbourne for Chicago and it turns out we can do it pretty well.”
Other Aussie actors also have major roles in All Her Fault including The Gilded Age’s Thomas Cocquerel, Daniel Monks who will soon appear in Game of Thrones prequel A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and Bear Country’s Kartiah Vergara.
Snook said she acted as something of an unofficial guide to Melbourne for the bevy of American stars who decamped to Melbourne.
“I would be like ‘hey go and stay in Fitzroy, it’s got all sorts of cafes and vintage shops within walking distance’ and they all loved it,” she said.
But, Snook said, White Lotus star Jake Lacy, who played her husband Peter Irvine, discovered Fitzroy’s Deep End Pizza, which specialises in Chicago style deep dish pies, all himself.
“He was there every weekend and would eat like nine pizzas.”
Aussie star US star wants too work with
Aside from Snook, Lacy has starred alongside a host Australian actors on previous shows: Murray Bartlett, Jai Courtney and Nicole Kidman.
“I have not worked with Russell Crowe and I’d like to work with him,” he told news.com.au in New York.
“But I love Australians and I would move to Australian. I absolutely adore being there”.
The feeling was shared by Jay Ellis who is well known for his leading role on HBO hit Insecure.
“Melbourne was new to me, the food was absolutely amazing; the Mornington Peninsula was amazing, the beaches, the vineyards are stunning.
“On days off I went to the Gold Coast, Sydney, Darwin,” said Ellis.
“For a minute I was like ‘I could move here’. If you guys want to give me citizenship I will take it,” he said.
But there was one sacred Melbourne offering that Ellis was less enamoured by: the coffee.
“Why is it you think the coffee is so good down there?” he said, refusing to be drawn on whether Australia or the US had the best brew.
Succession reunion
The New York red carpet of All Her Fault was trod by no fewer than eight Succession cast mates of Snook, including Logan Roy himself, Brian Cox, Cousin Greg Nicholas Braun and J Smith-Cameron who played Gerri.
“I was like ‘who wants to come on Monday? I’m going to need my homies’,” Snook told news.com.au of the Succession fest on the red carpet.
“I didn’t know Brian (Cox) was going to be there,” Snook said. “I was like ‘it’s dad!’
“But how amazing to be able to do a job that allows those kinds of friendships to blossom and to keep being fostered.”
All episodes of All Her Fault are streaming now on Binge.
Originally published as Australian actor Sarah Snook’s pivotal role in bringing huge US drama All Her Fault to Melbourne
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