‘Sacred Lies: Singing Bones’ Red Carpet Interviews Part 1: Juliette Lewis, Raelle Tucker, and More

Paging all suspense seekers, Facebook is foraying into original content and has landed a masterpiece with Sacred Lies. The anthology series created by Raelle Tucker (True Blood) is like a mash up of Once Upon A Time and American Horror Story. Sacred Lies follows different short stories written by the Brothers Grimm (the guys who wrote absolutely terrifying versions of fairytales) and puts them in present-day situations. Sacred Lies: Singing Bones mixes intricate storytelling with beautiful cinematography and otherworldly music to showcase a story you can’t stop watching.

Season 2 is all about Elsie, a foster kid on the brink of aging out of the system, finding herself entangled in a decade old cold case. She meets Harper and together they uncover the secrets that led to two gruesome murders. If you haven’t seen the series yet, check out our spoiler-free review of Sacred Lies: Singing Bones, here.

Pure Fandom interviewed the main cast and creator as they strutted down the red carpet to a packed ballroom full of eager audience members for their season 2 premiere. We’ve got all the incredible behind-the-scenes tea from having to wear rubber foot gloves to a True Blood alum’s mishap on set.

Part 1 of our interviews showcases Antonique Smith whose character has yet to be revealed and Juliette Lewis who plays Amelia Harper, a telemarketer who cracks cold cases as a hobby. We also talk about the impact of the entertainment industry’s move into the digital world and its effect on creatives with Raelle Tucker and Scott Winant, Sacred Lies‘ showrunner and executive producer respectively.

Keep scrolling to read the incredible interviews and check out the Season 2 trailer below!

Antonique Smith, Mystery Character

Antonique Smith plays a secret character whose details are under lock and key. Smith’s previous works include Notorious and Luke Cage.

PURE FANDOM: Is there anything you can tell us about your character?
ANTONIQUE SMITH: Here’s the thing, because it’s a mystery I can’t tell you anything about my character because I’m a spoiler.

How about a name?
No, in fact that’s a spoiler! Literally, my name, everything about my character is a spoiler. They haven’t even shown an image of me in the show yet because it gives away things. So, what I will say is the writing of the season is so incredible. As an actor, reading not just about my character, I got so caught up. I was like, “you guys, where’s the next episode? I have to know what happens next not just for my character, but what the hell happens next!” It was a crazy ride and I’ve never felt the need to ask for an episode before they were ready to send it. I needed to know what happens next! So yeah, I can’t say anything about my character, you have to watch. You’re going to get so caught up, you’re going to want to know what happens next because that’s how I got just from reading it. I had the most wonderful time shooting this project and I’m so excited to see it. I will say, I don’t know what you think you’re going to see, but you’re not ready.

How do you think your character falls into play with everything else that’s going on?
It gets crazy for my character. My character has some time that is a little difficult so, yeah, I can’t say anything else because it’ll start to give some stuff away but you are going to enjoy the show. This season is incredible.

How does it feel to be working with Raelle Tucker?
Raelle is a genius. She’s such a sweetheart, I had the most wonderful time working with her. Because the episodes were short and there’s [just] 10 of them, it went too fast. I told her that! I needed more, I needed so much more of the show. We all had so much fun in Vancouver and it was such a family vibe. So much love on the set even though it’s a dark show and [has a] dark subject matter. There was so much love and joy on the set and I was like, ”Raelle, it went too fast, it went too fast!” It was wonderful.

Have you read The Brothers Grimm before?
You know what? No, I haven’t. I have heard of it, but I haven’t read it. The way she [Raelle] told me a little bit about the actual Brothers Grimm and the way she flipped [the story] for this was just so brilliant.

That’s amazing, we’re excited to meet your character!
Oh yes, yes! You will meet my character and it’s going to be like a bunch of shockers!

Juliette Lewis, Amelia Harper

Juliette Lewis plays Amelia Harper who is a telemarketer by day and cold case cracker by night. Juliette’s previous works include Ma and The Act.

PURE FANDOM: What can you tell us about your character Harper?
JULIETTE LEWIS: She’s an odd bird, you know. She spends a lot of time at home with her obsessions and she’s obsessed with bringing dignity, by finding out the identities, of some of these cold cases. We learn more about her, about her traumatic past, and why she’s obsessed with that mission. As a person, she’s sort of shut off from love, from connecting with other beings, and you see her journey of becoming more self-loving and human again throughout the story even though we’re delving into these dark subjects.

So, she’s doing a lot of vigilantism? 
Yes!

Do you think, especially nowadays, we have a ton of people doing that with the whole social media crackdowns, hacks and such?
It’s interesting and I don’t think it’s a bad thing with these cold cases. Raelle is the one who told me that there is something like 40,000 cold cases with these victims that we don’t even have names for. We don’t know who they are and there are these people who— and I’ve watched so many documentary shows, but I wouldn’t pretend to know how to solve some of these riddles – but it’s interesting to play someone who is obsessed and she’s coming at it from a place of a broken heart through her past with her sister.

So, you’ve actually played a detective before in another series, Secret of Lies?
Yeah! I think great detective work has profiling and it blows my mind that people can see a body or crime scene and can read [it]. They can tell what type of person committed the crime and I think for good detective-ing, you need to have a sort of sixth sense. There’s a tactical aspect to it, but there’s also this other, I don’t know, psychic spiritual nature. I don’t think people would classify it as that, but my character [Harper] says she is seeing it from the victim’s perspective.

Incredible. Is there one last thing you want to say to fans about season 2?
Yes! I’m just so proud of this cast. We’re introducing Jordan Alexander who stars in it as sort of an abrasive person in and out of the foster system and we befriend each other. She’s a beautiful person and new actress. Just the whole cast, everybody does an amazing job with their characters.

Scott Winant, Executive Producer

Scott Winant is the Executive Producer of Sacred Lies for both seasons 1 and 2. Scott’s previous works include True Blood and Thirtysomething.

PURE FANDOM: What pulled you into Sacred Lies: Singing Bones?
SCOTT WINANT: Raelle Tucker and I worked together on the HBO show True Blood. After we finished the show, we desperately wanted to work together again. We went to lunch and talked about the fact that we both like fairy tales and would like to do contemporary versions. Then, about a year later, Raelle found this book that was just that! So, she went ahead and she optioned the book on her own, she wrote a pilot script, and she asked me to come in and help her. I was thrilled! It was a very risky subject because, I don’t know if you saw the first season, but our main character didn’t have hands so it’s not an easy sell. But, Facebook stepped up and I’m very enthusiastic and I was thrilled to do it. It’s a very exciting project.

Absolutely! In the first season, the main character did not have any hands and usually shows will do that for just an episode or two and then they’ll add in prosthetics or something to cover that up. But, you guys kept to it.
Yeah. So, it was a learning curve in the beginning. I shot the pilot and I directed the first episode, as well, and we weren’t sure how to make that work. We started with puppet arms and then we had arms on rods. Eventually, we started to use digital effects, but Elena [Kampouris] had to learn all that.

Oh, wow. What can fans look forward to in Season 2?
Well it’s much more [of a] complex story, it’s a real mystery this time. You’re not looking for literally one answer and I promise you that the answer that you think you’re going to be looking for, and the one you’re looking at is not the one you find at the end. It took very clever storytelling and [it’s] very real and very grounded.  So I’m very pleased with the outcome.

Last question, how do you feel about things moving towards more streaming networks and now Facebook?
Oh I love it, I love it. I’ve been doing shows on all the networks and streamers. I did a Naomi Watts project on Netflix, had my own show on Amazon, and I did a show called Shut Eye for Hulu. So, I think the kind of material that we can do now on the streamers is actually better and more sophisticated.

Raelle Tucker, Creator and Showrunner

Raelle Tucker is the showrunner for Sacred Lies. Raelle’s previous works include True Blood, Supernatural, and Jessica Jones.

PURE FANDOM: As someone who has worked for cable, Netflix, and now Facebook Watch, is there something that as a showrunner, differentiates Facebook Watch?
RAELLE TUCKER: I will say what’s completely different, particularly with this season, in my experience creating for Facebook Watch is that in season 1 we developed this die-hard fan base. I think the reason they came to the show in the first place and loved it so passionately was that they got to actually talk to me and the star of the first season, Elena Kampouris. We were on [Facebook] all day long, engaging with them, answering their questions and really sharing our own life experiences. So when we came into season 2, we had this growing insane fan base and I decided to involve them in the making of the show. We did polls online and allowed them to pick the location for where the show would take place, pick costume choices, name choices. [It] allowed them to feel like this is really their show and without them we would never be here. None of us [would] get to do what we do if there isn’t a fan base of people who love it, support it, and talk about it. I think that’s what’s really different. Nobody else, no other platform, could possibly do what Facebook Watch is doing.

I think how Facebook Watch is open to everyone plays a huge role. Have you seen a lot of international fans coming in just through the accessibility of Facebook Watch?
We have international fans from all over the world, we seem to have a huge amount of fans in Australia for some reason— I think that might be people who are really excited for Ryan Kwanten this season. But they were there prior to that. Yeah, we get messages from all over the world, people talking to me from every country so, yeah, it’s real exciting.

Amazing! So, Sacred Lies is one of the first kinds of original content for Facebook Watch. What is it like to be putting in the ground work and sort of the foundation for original content on Facebook Watch?
Yeah, last season I think we were the first long form content they had and there was definitely a learning curve. Nobody really knew what this platform was going to be like, nobody knew that the platform was there. So, it’s been a lot of educating people about where our show lives and what kind of show would be on Facebook. It’s not like a web series. Ours is a major premium show with a large budget and really incredible actors. It’s been a lot of helping to educate people and that’s been a challenge. The upside of it is there’s been a tremendous amount of creative partnership with Facebook. They’ve given me a lot of control to be able to say what I want to say and make the kind of show I want to make. We have a real trust between each other at this point that I think was built because we kind of started things together.

So at Pure Fandom, we are all about female empowerment and diversity which we see a lot of in Sacred Lies: Singing Bones. Have you been able to do that because of Facebook Watch giving you creative power? 
Facebook Watch absolutely empowers me to hire women and people of different colors both in front of the camera and behind it. It’s a big part of what they believe in and they champion it. If I had to fight for every one of those positions, it would be really really hard. So, they’ve been great partners in something that is so important to me and is really the essence of the kind of stories I want to tell.

That’s amazing, thank you so much!

Sacred Lies: Singing Bones episodes 1-3 are now available on Facebook Watch. Make sure you check it out and stay tuned for part 2 of our red carpet interviews! In part 2, we discuss how Raelle’s push to hire only the best created a truly safe and positive working atmosphere with Sacred Lies: Singing Bones star Jordan Alexander and Emily Alyn Lind and Siobhan Williams who play the Cherry Falls Jane Does.

featured image: Sacred Lies: Singing Bones | Facebook Watch

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