Sarah Snook plays Shiv on Succession. That’s by far her most well-known role, as the daughter of a rich a–hole, surrounded by rich a–holes in her family. Snook is not Shiv though. The real Sarah is just an Aussie woman who would prefer to not give a crap about clothes, awards or the hussle. Snook covers the latest issue of Vogue Australia, and I enjoyed this piece, mostly because I’ve never read anything this in-depth with her. She seems very cool and lowkey.
Love in lockdown: “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.
She’s enjoyed this time: “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. There’s a really lovely grace in that without the pandemic, we might not have ended up together so quickly.”
She hates the wealthy elite: “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.”
She loves playing Shiv: “I wonder whether people think that I’m a bitch. 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.”
She hasn’t needed her Australian stylist Laura Jones. “I’ve got to get my head out of the trees. I’ve been chainsawing and chopping wood to keep in shape.”
How she feels about being red-carpet ready: “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 f–ked 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?’”
Her version of Jane Austen’s Persuasion was cancelled: “The short story is that Netflix decided to greenlight 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. 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.”
I like that she reveals her secret marriage with a shrug! And she proposed to her friend! I always feel like Australians are just built differently, maybe it comes from dodging life-threatening wildlife from birth or something, but they just approach love and marriage differently in such a fundamental way. They meet someone, fall in love, get married and there’s just zero angst or second-guessing or melodrama. Anyway, she sounds like a sweet country girl, it’s amazing that she plays Shiv so well.
Cover and IG courtesy of Vogue Australia.
I’ve just binged the first half of Season 1 today and Succession is so good! She’s excellent in it (tbf, everyone is) and it’s sad to hear her show was dropped. But what she’s describing woth her husband is kind the dream, isn’t it?
Yeah too bad about Persuasion but she absolutely owns Succession.
Lovelovelove Succession! This is a great interview, I hope we see a lot more of her in the future.
I didn’t realize that Ash Zuckerman was also an Aussie or that they’re close friends IRL. Their chemistry on screen sizzles, IMHO but maybe that’s just cuz I think they’re both crazy hot. I’m happy for Sarah Snook and her BFF/husband but G-D would I hit it with Ash given the chance.
She’s a very good actress. She was in Predestination with Ethan Hawke ages back; excellent in that. NIDA is very hard to get into (the best drama school in Australia and prob Southern Hemisphere).
She’d probably have been good in Persuasion but 1995 was the year for Jane Austen adaptations. The one with Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds (extremely authentic) probably tops it for me, along with the Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth one and closely followed by Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet’s Sense and Sensibility. Couldn’t believe the Keira Knightley and Matthew McFayden one that had Lizzie and Darcy sitting in their undergarments at dawn talking love to each other. Goop’s Emma was quiet Hollywood in casting though pretty well done too. Anyway, 1995 was the best year for JA adaptations!
I’m also from Melbourne and her attitude towards equality is SOOOO Melburnian! Sydney is much more status conscious and obsessed with money.
Hold up, let’s be clear: that dumb end scene of P&P outside Pemberley is ONLY in the American version – everywhere else, the film ends with Mr Bennet laughing and joking about men for Mary & Kitty. 🤣🤣
The film without that scene is gorgeous!
Didn’t know that. Thanks for letting me know about the different versions. Even so Keira Knightley and MM weren’t Lizzie and Darcy for me. Mannerisms and speech were so modern. BBC version with Jennifer Ehle nailed Lizzie’s archness and playfulness and intelligence 100% and Colin Firth was 90% on point but lacked a bit of the intensity I associate with Darcy. The rest of the cast were superb, from Jane and the sisters and Mrs and Mr Bennet to the Gardiners and Charlotte, etc. I understand Jennifer Ehle worked on her speech/cadence a lot to get it right for the period. With the the 1995 Persuasion, the director deliberately got the cast to wear no or little makeup with played-down hairstyles and the costume designer won a BAFTA for making the clothing look lived in.
Snook is from Adelaide, maybe that’s why she’s rad!
Also #justiceforsydney, plenty of non-toxic people here too, just not the upper echelon perhaps!
I’m from the Gong, Eastern suburbs Sydney is too much for me but I love the inner-West and lived there for a few years!