Shelley Hennig, Mary Holland, and Christina Anthony Talk Satirical Take On Crime Thrillers With The Woman In The House Across The Street From The Girl In The Window

Who dunnit?

Led by Kristen Bell, The Woman In The House Across The Street From The Girl In The Window follows a woman who’s past traumas have left her gulping down copious amounts of wine as she stares out her window, observing her community. When a handsome new neighbor moves across the street with his daughter, she is smitten. Until she learns he has a girlfriend. But when she thinks she sees his girlfriend stabbed to death in the window, it sends her on a wild goose chase to solve the crime… or find out if it really even happened. I spoke with Shelley Hennig, Mary Holland, and Christina Anthony about working on The Woman In The House Across The Street From The Girl In The Window.

The series delivers a satirical take to the crime thriller genre and will subvert viewers theories. “What I loved about the trailer coming out was people reaching out to me like where I’m from going, ‘Oh, I love a horror movie or I love a thriller,’ and I’m like it’s actually a dark comedy, but, you know what, forget it. They’ll learn,” Hennig told me. “It’s such a unique tone. I personally haven’t seen anything like it. I like being a part of projects where you’re like, ‘What is that?’ I mean, look at the title. It’s so fun and it’ll be fun to see everybody’s reactions to it because I don’t think people really understand what they’re getting themselves into. That is exciting for me.”

Hennig plays Lisa, Anna’s new neighbor’s suspicious girlfriend, and loved exploring their “Real Housewives dynamic of the smile through the argument” throughout the season. “We just really played into that and I think we had too much fun in that space,” said Hennig. “I had to be mean to Kristen Bell. It’s really hard to do!”

I had to be mean to Kristen Bell. It’s really hard to do!

On the opposite side of that, Mary Holland plays Anna’s best friend Sloane. “Getting to play Kristen Bell’s best friend is a real dream. She is just so amazing and such a supportive scene partner, such a professional. She’s so smart and her performance is just glorious in this,” said Holland. “I just had so much fun playing a character who had such a familiar relationship with Kristen’s character and get to have that rapport and comfort with each other. Every time we had a scene it was so much fun.”

The crime thriller genre has so many layers that it made it the perfect genre to take a satirical twist on. “It really does show these woman characters in many complicated and layered ways that I think is very refreshing and it’s definitely a lot of fun to play,” Holland shared, adding she had fun “getting to play within a satire of a genre that already does a deep dive into the psychology of women and how they grapple with grief and self-doubt and [have that layer] of the absurdity of it. It really plays to the top of the intelligence of the author and to all of us as actors and creators.”

The Woman In The House Across The Street From The Girl In The Window is streaming on Netflix.