Looking for a super interesting show about totally normal women doing reckless, crazy, and wild things? Good Girls is the show for you. Three mothers who care about their kids more than anything realize that in order to actually take care of their kids, they might need to bend the rules a little bit.
By bending the rules a little bit, we mean that they find themselves willing to go to the absolute extremes in order to come up with enough money to keep their household afloat and make sure that their families are taken care of. What starts out as a somewhat small grocery store robbery ends up turning into a lifestyle of debauchery and crime. Here’s what the cast of the show has been up to behind the scenes.
10 Retta Hit It Off Quickly With Her Costars
Retta plays the character of Ruby Hill, a working mom with a very sick daughter. She works at a diner, barely making ends meet when the show begins. She described working with her costars saying, "Working with Christina and Mae is pretty great. We all hit it off pretty quickly and we have so much fun on set. Now, I met Reno [Wilson, who plays Stan] after them and we had never met before. But after hanging out, it was like we were the same person, just on different planes." The cast of the show pull of the believability of being true friends in real life.
9 Christina Hendricks Never Stops Laughing On Set With Her Costars
Christina Hendricks plays the character of Beth Boland, a housewife who is married to a scumbag cheating husband. Her cheating husband has suddenly dug their finances into a ditch leaving her to figure out a plan. She described working with her costars saying, “We’re always having fun. To spend every day with those women—we never stop laughing and we never run out of things to talk about.” The characters they play might go up and down every now and then with disagreements but the actresses behind the roles have solid friendships.
8 Mae Whitman Vouches For Show Creator Jenna Bans' Intelligence
Mae Whitman plays the role of Annie Marks, a single mom who got pregnant during her teenage years. She needs to be able to pay for hormone treatment for her transgender child which makes her feel even more desperate for cash.
Mae Whitman discussed the deep subject matter of the show saying, "I love the issues that it tackles and I think Jenna Bans, our show creator, is so intelligent and so sensitive. The whole concept is these are people who aren’t being heard and aren’t being respected or considered and they’re backed into a corner that literally becomes about life or death for their families." Jenna Bans certainly does an incredible on touching on some of the more serious issues in life.
7 Retta's Role Was Written Specifically For Her
When asked about the audition process for the role, Retta explained that she didn't actually need to audition! She said, "The role was actually written for me. I met Jenna Bans [the show’s creator] when I was working on The Girlfriend’s Guide To Divorce and one day, she told me she had written Ruby with me in mind. And I know that people always say that, but I was the headshot on the board for who she wanted for the part." It is a good thing they had her in mind for the part because... who could have done it better?!
6 Manny Montana Uses Real-Life Personal Experiences To Portray His Character
Rio is a scary villain who only cares about money and himself. His selfish ways lead him down a path of insensitivity and ruthlessness. He is played by none other than Manny Montana. Manny explained how he brings the character to life when he said, "There’s such a big difference between my character of Rio on Good Girls and any other regular street dude that’s just tough, serious, and always about the money. What I bring to Rio is what I saw growing up." He brings personal life experiences to the set of the show whenever they are getting ready to film to allow for higher levels of believability.
5 Christina Hendricks Tenses Her Body Up During The More Physical Scenes
Sometimes, the characters get caught in very compromising situations where they appear to lose their way completely. On many occasions, they almost end up dead! How do the actors make it look so real? Christina Hendricks explained, “Our whole bodies are tense during the day because we’re constantly in fear of getting caught or dying or something horrific happening. If you want it to be believable, you have to go through those physical moments.” So to simplify things, the trick to making those alarming scenes appear so real requires body intensifying!
4 The Assault Scene Was Especially Tough For Mae Whitman
The subject of sexual assault is hard enough to talk about but being an actor who must act out a scene like that sounds very challenging. Mae Whitman described it saying, "The filming of the sexual assault scene with Boomer [David Hornsby] was really, really painful and it was really difficult."
She continued, "It just made me so vulnerable. People that go through this have no one to express it to and have to carry this pain around their whole lives." She got through the scene for that particular episode but it does not sound like it was an easy or simple day on the set.
3 Retta Figured Out How To Make Herself Cry On Cue For The Show
The character Retta plays, Ruby Hill, is constantly shedding tears from emotional turmoil. How does Retta pull that off?! She explained, "I think I’m bit a bit of an empath—not totally psychic, though. But if I read a scene that requires crying, I’m truly tapping into how this person may be feeling. I know what it’s like to break someone’s heart or be so angry that all I want to do is cuss you out and want to slap your face. [Laughs] I’m able to pull from those emotions, so crying comes very easy for me." Being an empath means that you are able to take on the emotions of those around you with ease. It means that you are easily able to express what you are feeling without too many blockages.
2 Christina Hendricks Makes Beth Relatable By Balancing Comedy & Drama
When asked how she makes the character of Beth Boland so realistic, Christina Hendricks said, "She felt like this modern, approachable and relatable woman who was going through these absolute bonkers circumstances. As an actress, I knew there were going to be so many challenges in this and walking the balances of the comedy and drama, it just seemed like something that I wanted to do every day." In some episodes, there is way more comedy at the forefront while in others, the drama is beyond overwhelming. Christina Hendricks figured out a balancing act between the two.
1 Manny Montana Corrects Show Writers On Stereotypes
Manny Montana knows that the character of Rio is meant to be a scary dude. Sometimes the writers of the show miss the mark though. He revealed, "Whenever I see the way writers stereotypically portray criminals, I’m like, that’s not it that’s not how they are. Why would anyone who has that much money always be serious? The point of having a lot of money is to have fun." If he's behind the scenes helping squash out stereotypes on the writer's table, viewers are in luck.