Why ‘The Perfect Couple’ Starts With a Choreographed Dance: Stars Explain

Perfect Couple, the six-episode Netflix crime drama, features a scene in the opening credits so bizarre and memorable that the cast can’t help but laugh while telling the story of its creation.

“Why did we shoot the rest of the show?” Ishaan Khatter, who plays Shooter Dival, tells TODAY.com.

“We should have just done the whole music video sequence and done six hours of dancing,” Eve Hewson, who plays Amelia Sacks, adds with a smile.

Based on the novel of the same title by Elin Hilderbrand, “The Perfect Couple” is set on Nantucket Island in the days leading up to the lavish wedding of Amelia Sacks and Benji Winbury.

But when the bride’s maid of honor, Merritt Monaco (Meghann Fahy), washes up dead on the shore near Benji’s family home on the morning of their wedding, paradise turns into a nightmare as everyone begins to wonder who might be innocent and who might be a suspect.

Despite the show’s intensity, each episode begins with a light, made-for-TikTok line dance, with the actors putting on their rehearsal dinner outfits as if their characters were actually doing it.

The cast of the series, including Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Dakota Fanning and others, stand on the beach and perform a dance routine to the song “Criminals” by Meghan Trainor.

The lyrics to the song “Criminals” fit the tone of the show: “Anything that makes you feel this good/ Well, it must be illegal.”

Hewson and Khatter explain from their perspective how the dance came about.

“It was really surprising that (director) Susanne Bier sent us something for Christmas and we didn’t know what it was either,” Hewson says. “We were just as confused.”

“I think it’s that same theme and spirit of being suspenseful and not letting anyone know what your next move is, à la a whodunit,” Khatter adds. “So she kind of intrigued us with whodunit. She didn’t let us know she was coming until the very last minute, and then we had to do it, and the rest is history.”

Hewson says the cast members were a bit skeptical of Bier’s idea, but ultimately agreed to it.

“I think it was an idea that just came to (Bier), and she said, ‘Just do it.’ And we were like, ‘Well, what’s it for?’ Like, ‘How does it fit into the story?’ Like, ‘Why would all of our characters have to do the dance they learned?’ And she just kept saying, ‘Just do it,’” Hewson recalls.

“Honestly, we didn’t know if it was going to be in the show until a few weeks ago,” he continues. “We were texting each other, like, ‘Has anyone heard anything about this TikTok dance?’ ‘No, we haven’t heard anything, I think it’s good! I don’t think it’s in there.’ And then boom, it’s the opening credits.”

Bier told Netflix’s Tudum that the dance wasn’t initially intended to be thought of as the TikTok dance, but the cast and crew started calling it that.

“I was worried that if it was a TikTok dance, it would go out of style before the show even came out,” Bier said. “It had to be something that didn’t have an expiration date.”

According to Tudum, the original idea for the dance on the show came from executive producer Gail Berman, who also produced “Wednesday,” which also had a viral dance moment. Jenna Ortega danced to “Goo Goo Muck” by The Cramps.

Jenna Lamia, showrunner of The Perfect Couple, talked more about the dance and how it all worked out on the show.

“Susanne had this brilliant idea that if we used that dance as the opening credits, people would immediately say, yes, it’s a murder mystery and yes, it’s a thriller, but you’re going to have a great time, so sit back and enjoy the journey,” Lamia told Tudum.

“I think it’s really important for people to realize that the tone of the show is not ‘The Undoing’ or something Susanne has done before; it’s a fun murder mystery,” Lamia continued. “Sure, someone dies, but you’ll also laugh.”

“The Undoing” is another thriller based on a book about a married couple with secrets, starring Kidman. However, that film aired on HBO.

The series “Perfect Couple”, which premiered on September 5, already aroused some reactions on social media on Thursday morning.

“The Perfect Couple opening credits will not be skipped,” wrote one X user.

“I can’t stop thinking about how the new Nicole Kidman series on Netflix starts with the entire cast doing a synchronized dance to a Meghan Trainor song,” another user wrote on X.

One X user compared the opening sequence to the HBO series “The White Lotus”, which received a lot of praise from fans for its fun songs used in the intro.

“White Lotus: I have the best opening credits ever,” wrote user X. “Perfect Couple: Hold my beer…”

“Every frame of the opening credits in The Perfect Couple is perfect,” the streamer declared on Channel X.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com