How the Opening Dance Sequence of 'Perfect Couple' Almost Didn't Happen

As far as unexpected choices go, few in recent TV memory come close to the opening credits sequence. The perfect couple.

Netflix’s six-part adaptation of Elin Hilderbrand’s Nantucket-set novel begins with a suspicious death on the eve of a wedding, casting doubt on every rich and poor person in the deceased’s orbit. But before they can get to the bottom of their murder mystery, they have to dance! The entire cast, including star Nicole Kidman and the victim, spend the opening 45 seconds of each episode taking part in a crude, improvised dance routine set to Meghan Trainor’s “Criminals.”

If you haven't seen it yet, and this isn't a spoiler, imagine one of those Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon surf movie numbers from the '60s, only everyone looks like they belong to a country club with deeply problematic membership requirements. (Or just watch the embed below.) The choice is very intentional. Susanne Bier, the Oscar- and Emmy-winning director behind The Night Director and T.The cancellation directed every episode. And he wanted viewers to know that the show was going to be a bit more of a comedic take on the genre, not just a disappointing mystery like so many other anthologies.

“I told Netflix and the producers that I wanted to do something fun with the show,” she says, Zooming from her Los Angeles hotel room the day after the premiere party. “The writing could have gone either way: towards the sadness of someone dying or towards something lighter, something that I think elevates her. That’s not to say I don’t have great respect for things that have other ambitions, but this was done very consciously for people to watch.”

Currently sitting at No. 1 on the streamer’s U.S. charts, it looks like people are watching. And for them and everyone else, Bier explains how the opening credits came to be, who was on board early, who conspired to stop them, and why he wouldn’t take no for an answer.

This might be the only mystery with a dance routine for the opening credits sequence. Where did the idea come from?

In the script, at one point, there was a dream sequence where a dance turns into a nightmare. I didn’t want to do that. But there was something about the dance. So when I took it out of the episode, it stuck with me. And I thought the title sequence should be something that suggests that the audience is allowed to have fun with this show. There’s something joyful about a lot of people dancing together. And with all these characters, who aren’t necessarily likable, having that moment, it felt right. Sue Jacobs, our music supervisor, sent me some songs and I really liked “Criminals” by Meghan Trainor.

Isn't he from Nantucket?

Yes! So I decided to go with that song, and then the choreographer, Charm La'Donna, did this dance. We went back and forth a little bit internally. When we sent it to the cast, everyone except Liev Schreiber was like, “No, I'm not doing that. No, no, no.” Then, we went back to filming after the strikes, and we had very little time to do everything. We had to squeeze six weeks into three weeks.

How did you convince them?

We were having the rehearsal dinner [from episode one]and everyone kept saying “no.” The producers, everyone, kept asking, “Are you sure you want to waste your time doing something the cast doesn't even want to do?” Nicole said she couldn't dance in her dress. It was too tight. They even started a WhatsApp group to not dance. But when it came time, I was like, “Let's just do it.” And then everyone jumped in! We shot the whole thing in an hour and a half. I don't know if you noticed at the end of episode six…

Oh, I noticed that.

I show up in the dance! I wanted the cast to get revenge. And then I realized. It was a difficult dance.

And Liev was the only one on board?

Yes. He’s a great dancer. It was interesting because he didn’t want to play Tag. He had to be really convinced. We had probably 20 phone calls before he said yes. Once he got in, he was totally into it. He was even excited to dance.

We won't give anything away in this conversation, but I didn't expect the final reveal. As a director who has made some detective stories like this, what do you do to mislead people without being dishonest?

It’s a really complicated edit. You want to hold the audience’s hand and you can’t lie. It’s so upsetting, every time I watch something, when they don’t stick to the truth. But you can avoid telling the audience things. And it’s not just bits of information. It’s showing the way someone holds another character’s hand. So many little gestures are just loaded with information. Sam Williams, the editor, and I had a lot of fun fine-tuning every single moment, changing things, changing the structure of things, putting scenes in other episodes and all that kind of stuff. I think it makes a good second watch for that reason.

There are many flashbacks and jumps to interrogations throughout the series, especially in the first episode. What are the advantages and pitfalls of this type of storytelling?

Well, the trap is the frustration of being pulled out of the plot and into another world, another character, or another time. I've watched shows that cut back and forth and been very frustrated. The advantage is that you can add to the present with very little means. Cutting back in time can add to the present timeline in a more lighthearted way, which was the idea of ​​this show. But it's a very delicate balance.

What recurring element in detective novels can't you stand?

Police Cliché! The police explain the potential plot very elegantly. When police dialogue becomes too exposition-focused, as detective stories tend to do, it's a trap. They're supposed to be human talking, but that aspect gets lost when they're just telling the audience something. It's one of the most dangerous tropes.

I spent a lot of time on Cape Cod, where you filmed most of the time, and I can't imagine the locals were thrilled with it. What was the look of the filming location like?

Well, they had mixed feelings about it.Laughter.) I don’t think they were mixed up in the trucks and the noise of 400 people. Even with strict rules to make sure we were respectful of the neighbors, those neighborhoods are not built for people arriving on set at 5 in the morning with cranes and trucks and lights. It wasn’t an organic hand-holding, “please come back” situation. Some of them were curious and interested and friendly, but there were also a number of people who definitely didn’t like us being there.

You recently said that you are only really good at something if you are not sure how to do it. How does that translate here?

With that, the mountain to climb was getting the tone right. Balancing the murder mystery and who these characters were wasn't too obvious. The tone is in a very precarious spot that could easily have gone wrong. There's a lot of stuff I haven't done. There's a lot of stuff that scares me. I love doing more comedy. It takes immaculate precision.

Before I let you go, and I realize you are not directing the follow up to The Night Directorbut you're still an executive producer. What's going on there? It's a departure from John le Carré's material, right?

Yeah, he just did that book. So it’s kind of built on that material. I read an early draft of the scripts, and they were great. I think it’s going to be really good. The director is great. The cast is interesting.