‘The most profoundly upsetting thing I’ve ever directed’: ‘Love and Death’ director on ‘that’ scene with Elizabeth Olsen

Love & Death director, Lesli Glatter, candidly shares why shooting the most pivotal scene in the mini-series was challenging. 

As previously reported, Love & Death, which premiered on Max earlier this year, follows the life of Candy Montgomery, portrayed by Elizabeth Olsen. Montgomery, a housewife and mother that lived in Wylie, Texas, was accused of murdering her best friend Betty Gore (Lily Rabe) with an axe in June 1980 following an explosive argument over her affair with Gore’s husband, Allan Gore. 

Although Montgomery admitted to killing the elementary school teacher in self-defense at the time, she would be tried for murder months later. The now-therapist was ultimately acquitted of all charges after being found not guilty in October 1980.

In a recent interview with Variety’s Making a Scene series on June 5, Glatter disclosed that throughout her career as a director, she had created horrific moments in various projects. Still, Glatter claimed that filming the killing scene in Love & Death was “the most profoundly upsetting thing” she has ever captured:

“Filming that scene in the laundry room was the most intense experience I ever had as a director. I’ve done a lot of action. I’ve blown up a lot of s***. I have killed characters in horrifying ways and this scene with two women inside a laundry room was the most profoundly upsetting thing I’ve ever directed.”

Further into the discussion, it was revealed that before shooting that particular scene Glatter storyboarded each moment in the laundry room scene to ensure that no mistakes are made. Glatter would explain that it was difficult to film that scene because it was a “very small space,” and there was fake blood almost everywhere:

“We had multiple cameras though of course we were in a very small space. There was lots of blood. It was really challenging. It was a laundry room, so choreographing the scene within that given what was going on it was a challenge… I think it went to the drama of it because being in such a small space there’s no place to go I think made more intense. It was almost like this bottled up energy that had no release.”

All episodes of Love & Death is now streaming on Max.