Can we really trust a stranger we let into our lives? Are we too naïve when we assume someone is telling us the truth at all times? For Peacock’s Apples Never Fall, Georgia Flood plays the perfectly nice girl next door who just needs a little help. Soon, though, we begin to understand that her past is very much present in her present, and her Savannah might be the downfall of the entire Delaney family.
When thinking about approaching a character like Savannah, any actor has to think about what they are hiding and what they are presenting to their scene partner. How do you not give everything away all at once? What I love about Flood’s performance is how she keeps so many plates spinning at one time, and it’s impressive to think how Savannah dives straight into this family and their lives.
“I think it’s more about paranoia and pulling it off and keeping any sort of fake truths alive, because there are a lot of people in this family,” Flood says. “Savannah is quite literally pulled into the world of being introduced to a lot of people. That’s so nerve-wracking to me. I can’t speak for all con people, but why Savannah does it is because the paranoia isn’t really paranoia–it’s exhilaration for her. Every time you don’t get caught, it’s a dopamine hit. I think she sees them as her playthings.”
Imagine finding out that Liane Moriarty has a new book coming out. Any chance to be in the room is a dream for any actor since Moriarty draws characters in such an alluring way. With Apples, Flood didn’t go immediately to the source material since she wanted to find the character on her own. But it was difficult to stay away.
“I read the book in the second callback, but when I thought I might get the part, I blazed through the rest of it,” she says. “This character is quite difficult to pin down since there’s so much going on. One of the things that I noticed in the book, though, was that she had an eating disorder and that she was a ballerina. What Liane Moriarty highlighted about her that made her feel off and off and quirky was that she used to say strange things from old movies. I took note of that even though it wasn’t in the show, so I wanted to make sure that I honored the script version of Savannah as well as my own.”
There is a pointed friendliness to how Savannah approaches any interaction. She is the first to say hello. She will extend her hand before yours. Savannah has a watchful eye, but her natural charm and familiarity make us feel at ease immediately.
“One thing that Liane had in the book was that Savannah grew up watching a lot of television, and I thought that maybe Savannah would pick a person and regurgitate what she heard in a movie,” she says. “She is the kind of person that will make up a name when she goes into a coffee shop and she will act out a different life for a small interaction.”
Flood recognizes that Savannah doesn’t con just to con. She is a wounded, hurt person, and the conning is a way to deal with that. Flood turned to other con films for more research, but her Savannah is entirely her own.
“The Talented Mr. Ripley was definitely one of the movies that I referenced a lot. I watched Catch Me If You Can and Grifters. There are a lot of YouTube videos about why a con person is a con person and what does it mean for their psychology. We created this backstory of what I thought, what Melanie Marnich thought, and, at the end of the day, she’s a deeply traumatized, abandoned person. The conning is just a way to survive for her.”
Apples Never Fall is streaming on Peacock.
