‘She’s so different from who I am as a person’: Sarah Snook on playing America’s most polarising daughter
Despite the pandemic scuppering production for the long-awaited third season of Succession, Snook tells Vogue Australia how her time spent in lockdown led to her saying ‘I do’.
Sarah Snook is in isolation on her newly acquired 14-hectare property outside of Melbourne after a close contact received a positive Covid test result (later shown to be false). “It’s not much different to lockdown,” says the 33-year-old with a smile. “I’m in bliss.”
Snook’s idyllic home quarantine, complete with a resident koala, wombats and kangaroos, actually makes for a nice sea change from her last lockdown during the New York winter while shooting the third season of HBO’s smash-hit drama Succession.
And by bliss, she also means wedded bliss, relinquishing a secret she’s held for almost a year now. “At the beginning of the pandemic last year, I got locked down in Melbourne with one of my best mates and we fell in love,” she says, of Australian comedian Dave Lawson.
“We’ve been friends since 2014, lived together, travelled together, always excited to see each other, but totally platonic. We’ve just never been single at the same time. I proposed and we got married in February in my backyard,” she adds, of the small Brooklyn ceremony in the presence of her housemates and Succession co-star Aussie Ash Zukerman who also played witness.
The bride wore a vintage velvet Chloé coat and Blundstones. “We had matching Blunnies,” laughs the Pre-Raphaelite beauty, today sporting a Calvin Klein denim jacket that she stole from her sister when she was 11. “It’s been a ride. There’s so much heartache and sadness in the world, but on a micro personal level, I’ve been very fortunate,” reflects Snook, whose resume is as diverse as her role in sci-fi anthology series Soulmates versus the modern adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s Pieces of a Woman, in addition to Black Mirror, Steve Jobs and The Dressmaker.
“There’s a really lovely grace in that without the pandemic, we might not have ended up together so quickly.” Fans of Succession and Snook’s ruthlessly ambitious media heiress Siobhan ’Shiv’ Roy, have been patiently awaiting the cliffhanger season-three return. For those just tuning in, the Machiavellian series, set against the sheltered sphere of the superrich, is a study of American plutocracy, orbiting the mogul Logan Roy and his highly dysfunctional and feuding family, all vying for the top job at his media empire, Waystar Royco.
After being crowned Outstanding Drama Series at the 2020 Emmy Awards, the pandemic stalled the lavish production, and tragically claimed the life of cast member Mark Blum, who played cruise division exec/patsy Bill Lockhart. However, on-screen the Roys’ backstabbing power plays continue none the wiser.
“Unfortunately, I think this year has certainly demonstrated in the nonsense race to space that’s been happening with the wealthy and elite that it hasn’t really affected those echelons of privilege as much as it has every other demographic,” says Snook.
Snook may have received an Emmy nomination for her portrayal of the privileged scion, but she’s the first to point out that’s where the comparison ends. Snook is salt of the earth to Shiv’s silver-spoon airs and graces. So much so that she even suffered from impostor syndrome for much of the first season. She was perfectly content to sit out last year’s Emmys at home. “People were upset on my behalf,” she says with a smile. “I’m like, ‘It’s fine!’”
To mark the milestone, Lawson fashioned her a replica trophy out of tinfoil. Whether you find Snook’s Shiv Roy abrasive or empowered, it’s impossible to deny her razor-sharp retorts and lacerating looks that make for rich viewing. “I wonder whether people think that I’m a bitch,” she says with a laugh, blue eyes sparkling, exuding as much Shiv as Sarah. “I like that she’s forthright, that she speaks her own mind. She believes that she’s allowed to be in any room because she could probably buy the building. She’s still waters run deep. There’s something else going on down there, like her dad, a volatility.”
Snook initially approached the character by conjuring up the family dynamics of the ferociously competitive Roys as children, which we get glimpses of in the show’s opening titles. “Shiv’s the same age as me. It’s like jumping in at that point and going: ‘Wait, what happened before?’ It’s very nebulous … and I really like working that way,” she says, alluding to a catharsis that’s coming for Shiv as we get more insight into who she was in her 20s in season three.
Can we expect any redeeming character arcs from the morally dubious Roy clan? “Nicer?” She laughs. “No. They’re bad to the bone, through and through.”
How does she feel about the role defining her career thus far? “It’s been an interesting one to see break through,” she continues. “I always feel like I’ve played by choice and good fortune, interesting, complex, strong and a good diversity of women, in terms of their characters. They often have a strength and they’re not pushovers, but there’s usually been a redeeming softness that they’re protecting. And Shiv has that as well, but her defence of that softness is so different from who I am as a person.”
She adds: “I have no idea what it is like to be a billionaire, other than through research. Whereas, I’m on this farm with Dave in nature and I’m like, ‘Woo hoo.’”
This past June the jetsetting lifestyle of the Roys did, however, indulge Snook in the European summer vacation we’ve all been dreaming of. “After being locked down in New York through November to March, there was a modicum of freedom on the other side,” she recalls, as the vaccinated cast and crew regrouped under the Tuscan sun. “And because we were actually allowed to see each other outside of work hours, it felt like we were on school camp.”
During breaks from shooting at the majestic Villa La Foce and breathtakingly beautiful Villa Cetinale, Snook segued into tourist mode, booking day trips to Florence to see The Uffizi and Duomo, with Tom, Greg and Connor Roy in tow.
The success of Succession has been a fireball with Snook at the centre of the blaze. The simple act of cutting her hair for season two made news headlines, not to mention the global embrace of the Shiv Halloween costume.
“It’s wild,” she says of the phenomenon. “One of my friends is a costume designer and it’s her dream to make a film costume that gets copied for Halloween. And I’m like: ‘All you had to do was put a turtleneck on with a pair of pants and an orange wig!’ It’s baffling to me.”
For the record, Snook was not in character last October 31. She was busy proposing to Lawson that night. And while Shiv would be nowhere without her impeccably tailored Ralph Lauren pants-suits, fashion is not top of mind for Snook. “I’m so sorry,” she says, drawing blanks to questions about her sartorial preferences, “I’m so bad at this.”
For her 2019 Emmy debut, Snook wore a custom look by eco-aware New York brand Irwin Garden. “I really like that because part of feeling comfortable and looking good for me is knowing it’s been ethically produced or manufactured consciously.”
But in all fairness, it has been almost two years since she’s needed to call her Australian stylist Laura Jones. “I’ve got to get my head out of the trees,” she smiles, motioning towards her generous backyard. “I’ve been chainsawing and chopping wood to keep in shape.” I suggest how much the internet would appreciate her wood-chopping workout. “Yeah. Get that ass by chainsawing wood,” she ricochets back. “I mean, every time you get a role, you’re like: ‘Oh, this one’s the one. I’m going to really work out and get fit and look like the movie star I would hope to become or have a career doing.’ And every time, I’m like: ‘Can I really be fucked subscribing to an unrealistic beauty standard that then perpetuates and makes more women unhappy because they feel like they can’t attain something that’s not actually realistic anyway?’”
She takes a similarly balanced approach to navigating the instability of the entertainment industry. “Actually, the pandemic and being thrust into volatility, globally, was like: ‘Oh, this is what my life is like.’”
Reflecting back to her childhood, the youngest daughter of a swimming-pool salesman and an elder-care provider, Snook was “always making up dances and doing plays”. She recalls: “Frankie magazine had a set of stickers in the second edition, and one of them said, Change is one thing I don’t mind, and I had that on my mirror when I was a teenager.”
After winning a drama scholarship to Adelaide’s Scotch College, Snook moved to Sydney to study at NIDA, before making her way in the industry. “It felt very tumultuous at times and not like I was working a lot – but IMDb seems to say something different,” she adds, of the industry scoreboard that lists every actor’s production credits. “It’s perspective,” she adds, “when you’re an adult and you look back and you’re like: ‘Oh, you were [working] …’ And yet I remember being in my 20s, desperately upset that I had no career prospects, but it’s just getting used to this industry. The more at ease you can become with volatility, the better off you’ll be.”
Case in point: Jane Austen’s Persuasion with director Mahalia Belo, which was meant to be her next project. “The short story is that Netflix decided to green light their own, so Fox abandoned the one we were doing, which is disappointing because it was a great script and a director I really wanted to work with,” she says with a shrug. “But had I been doing that, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to come back to Australia so soon and see family and friends.”
Surely while Queensland was moonlighting as a Hollywood back lot, she could have found an appealing role closer to home? “I did almost,” she answers with a sigh, of the time she’d mentally allocated to local productions before season four of Succession kicks off Stateside, “but unfortunately because the Australian states are operating like countries, I had to turn it down because I didn’t want to get stuck on the wrong side of the border.”
Snook feels the same level of frustration over the government’s treatment of the arts sector. “The industry in Australia brings in an enormous amount of money, yet many weren’t being paid JobKeeper. It was like: ‘Oh, you’re a casual. Sorry. We don’t know how much you’re meant to be earning per week.’ I was super-fortunate, but a lot of people in the industry weren’t, especially in theatre.”
In 2018, Snook starred in George Bernard Shaw’s 1923 play, Saint Joan, at the Sydney Theatre Company, following in the footsteps of her maternal grandmother who trod the boards in London in the 1930s and later introduced Shakespeare in the Park to New Zealand. Snook also did a stint in London performing at the Old Vic theatre opposite Ralph Fiennes in Henrik Ibsen’s The Master Builder. The role came off the back of a recommendation from megawatt producer Scott Rudin following Snook’s performance in the biopic Steve Jobs.
Meanwhile, it was that film’s casting director, Francine Maisler, who contacted her about Succession. However, it was Snook’s role in 2014’s sci-fi noir Predestination with Ethan Hawke that originally broke the ice in Hollywood. “Predestination is what most people contact me over unsolicited. Like: ‘Wow, I just saw this. Want to say great work.’ Which is nice. I’m glad that it seems to have held up.”
The Spierig brothers cast her to play both male and female versions of the same character, spotlighting her impressive voice range, and earning her the Best Actress AACTA Award. She cites Hawke as an early mentor, alongside her The Dressmaker and Steve Jobs co-star, Kate Winslet.
“Working with Kate was a big moment for me. Like: ‘Wow, this is a big star who I’ve always looked up to,’” says Snook. “She’s rad, and manages to organise her family life, raising her children, as well as doing films internationally. It was a strange circumstance to be able to shoot with her on The Dressmaker in Australia and then Steve Jobs in San Francisco back-to-back. Like: ‘Oh, friend. G’day.’ As a person in life, and as an actress, she’s a good example of how I’d like to be.”
Professionally speaking that may also include more time behind the camera. Snook recently directed and starred in a short romantic comedy, Pause – co-written with Ana Jimenez, a producer at Fremantle Media – which Lawson also worked on.
“That’s when I was like: ‘Oh, that’s interesting,’” she says of her shifting focus from friend to fiance. “But in terms of motivation to direct, I definitely do [want to], but does the world actually exist beyond here?” she says of her metaphorical four walls.
After our Vogue shoot, Snook is meant to jet back to the US to do the press tour for Succession. “That’s dependent on whether Australia will let me leave,” she deadpans. “And they might not. Very sweetly, we’ve got a Succession thread and everyone is going: ‘There’s no premiere without Shiv! We’ll boycott. We won’t go,’” she says, laughing. “And I’m like: ‘Yeah, or trot a cardboard cut-out of me around to every single event.’”
You get the sense that the latter may actually suit Snook just fine.
Succession season three is available to watch on Foxtel.
This article appears in the November issue of Vogue Australia, on sale October 25.