Lily Rabe, who plays Betty Gore, and executive producer and director Lesli Linka Glatter reveal what it was like filming the murder scene.

Jake Giles Netter/Max

Before I watched advance screeners of the Max limited series Love & Death, I knew nothing of the real-life murder that rocked a small town in Texas in the early ’80s on which the series is based. I also hadn’t watched Hulu’s Candy with Jessica Biel, which examines the same story and premiered nearly a year ago, in May 2022. What’s more, other than American Crime Story: The People v. O.J., true crime stories have never quite been my thing.

That all changed when I watched Love & Death, which is the most riveted I’ve been in years for any show, let alone a true crime series. The seven-episode series from Emmy winner David E. Kelley (Big Little Lies, The Practice, Ally McBeal) and multiple-Emmy nominee Lesli Linka Glatter (Homeland, Mad Men, Now and Then) is so addictive and compelling, it will stay with you long after you’ve finished each episode.

Thanks to a stunning performance by Elizabeth Olsen (who plays Candy Montgomery, a churchgoing housewife and mother of two who yearns for more), plus a strong supporting cast (Lily Rabe, Patrick Fugit, Jesse Plemons, Tom Pelphrey), this is a story less about whodunnit and more about the human psyche and the secrets people never reveal.

Lily Rabe as Betty Gore and Jesse Plemons as her husband, Allan Gore.

 Jake Giles Netter 
In episode seven, titled “Ssssshh,” viewers see the gruesome fight that ensued between Betty (Lily Rabe) and Candy (Elizabeth Olsen) that resulted in Betty’s death. While it’s clear that Candy had to at first defend herself from an axe-wielding Betty, what doesn’t make sense is why Candy felt the need to brutally strike Betty 41 times. However, the hypnotist on trial reveals that Candy was emotionally disconnected in the moment and dissociated immediately after the killing.

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Eventually, Candy is acquitted, but she’ll never have her former life back. And so, a week later, Candy and Pat (Patrick Fugit) decide to leave Texas, but not before driving to Allan’s (Jesse Plemons) house to say goodbye. They both apologize for how out of control things got (ya think?!), but it’s also so like Candy and Allan to act and speak as if it was just a minor speed bump. Eventually, Candy drives off with Pat and the kids, passing the Como Motel, which looks so empty—and distant.

The Montgomery family prepares to leave Texas for Georgia in the finale of Love & Death.

 Jake Giles Netter/Max

As the credits roll, viewers see images of the real-life versions of the characters portrayed in the series with updates on what happened after the trial ended. Pat and Candy divorced after moving to Georgia, but Pat still lives there. Allan Gore married church organizer Elaine Williams shortly after, but they eventually divorced. Betty’s parents adopted Betty and Allan’s two girls, and Allan remarried a third time. He now lives in Maine. Don Crowder (Tom Pelphrey) ran for governor of Texas in 1986, and in 1998 he tragically died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Allan Gore (Jesse Plemons) moved on rather quickly after Candy’s trial.

 JAKE GILES NETTER/Max
We also discover that Betty was not pregnant at the time she died, even though she was convinced she was with child. Meanwhile, Candy went on to—ironically—work as a family therapist in Georgia. At one point she even practiced alongside her daughter, Jenny. The show then ends on an image of Candy’s face.

Linka Glatter tells Glamour that the episode—and specifically the act of murder—shook her in ways she had never experienced in her storied career, even while directing such shows as Homeland and Mad Men. “Those scenes in the laundry room were the most upsetting things I’ve ever shot in my entire career, for everyone involved. It was really, really intense,” she says. “Because it was two women, two housewives. These are just normal people. And lifting the rocks and swinging one swipe is a huge deal. Obviously, we did this very carefully. It was choreographed. We had storyboards. But once those two amazing actors—Lily and Elizabeth—inhabited those roles, it was heart-wrenching and so upsetting. And every day we would hug each other and cry. I’ve blown a lot of shit up in my career, but nothing like this. This was from-the-heart pain because we know it was real.”

Rabe agrees. “I feel incredibly protective of Betty, and I know that everyone did,” she says. “Part of what is so compelling and so painful about it, is that there all these unknown elements of what happened and there’s a missing voice [Betty’s]. And it was a voice that I was giving voice to. So even as we were shooting it, we were just going through making sure that we weren’t leaving any stones unturned in terms of covering it so that then in the edit, Lesli would balance it in a way…knowing that we cannot know [for sure what happened]. Of course I have my feelings about what I think happened or what didn’t happen, but my personal feelings are irrelevant. It’s not for us to answer. That’s why I think we made the show.”

Lily Rabe as Betty Gore

 Max
Speaking of the murder scene, Olsen and Rabe shot the scene for four days, starting on a Thursday, with the weekend in between. “We knew at the time [of filming it] that the audience would experience some of it throughout the series, but that much of it and much of the detail was going to be withheld until the finale,” Rabe says.

Rabe says regardless of the subject matter, she’s usually able to put it behind her and move on, but she struggled to find a neutral state in the aftermath. “I am pretty good at doing that, [but] I really did struggle with this one more than…,” she trails off. “I always want to answer questions like this pretty delicately because I think being an actress and getting to do what I do is so privileged…. But truthfully it took me longer than maybe any other role that I’ve played, and certainly any other role that I can remember playing. It was really hard for me to shed [Betty Gore]. It was really hard for me to leave that scene behind.”

Elizabeth Olsen as Candy Montgomery

 Jake Giles Netter/Max
Rabe was also pregnant while filming the murder scene (her pregnancy was CGI’d out of the show) but says she didn’t feel limited by the physicality of the scene. If anything, it empowered her even more. “Pregnant women can do anything,” she says. “Obviously they should not do anything they don’t want to do, but in the same way that an actress who isn’t pregnant shouldn’t do anything she wants to do…I always want to do everything that I possibly can do safely because it’s just something that I’ve always been so interested in as an actress. The physical life of the characters that I play is everything to me. Of course I want to keep myself safe and my scene partners safe, and everyone around you is going to do that, always. And I knew how to do that [for myself].”

However, what changed for Rabe was the poignancy of the fact that Betty believed she was pregnant at the time of her death. “That was something that just knocked me over. It took my breath away. I could have never anticipated [how I would react] until we were in it, just how much that would be with me, this idea that she thought she was pregnant at the time and she also, she had her baby in the other room. That determination, that will to stay alive and the number of blows that we know happened and how many she lived through, it’s unimaginable. And yet we imagined it because we had to shoot it. I remember Lesli just holding my hand and weeping.”

Some moments called for Olsen and Rabe to use a rubber ax, but other times, such as when Betty first walks out with the axe, the prop was real. But making the actual point of contact, especially when Candy strikes Betty in the middle of her head, was “so horrifying,” Rabe says. “I’m trying to think of another word, but it was so horrifying. We have her autopsy, [and yet] it’s so beyond comprehension. It’s so wild, I can barely talk about it. And her baby was left in the house, screaming in the crib, covered in feces, and dehydrated. The baby had lost its voice, was hoarse from screaming. It’s so unbelievable.”

Elizabeth Olsen and Lily Rabe

 Jake Giles Netter/Max
Rabe doesn’t know if Betty and Allan’s grown children will watch the series, but says she carried Betty’s best interest with her always. “You always feel a tremendous responsibility when you’re playing anyone, frankly, because it’s a big responsibility. But certainly when it’s a real person,” she says. “But when it’s a real person who hasn’t been able to tell her own story, I think for me that responsibility felt so profound and still does. I still think about her all the time.”

For more on Love & Death, see below.

Where can I watch Love & Death?

On Max (formerly known as HBO Max). HBO Max. The first three episodes dropped on Thursday, April 27, and one episode aired weekly until the finale on on Thursday, May 25. There were seven episodes total.

Elizabeth Olsen as Candy Montgomery

What’s the official synopsis?

Per HBO Max publicity, “Love & Death tells the true story of Candy and Pat Montgomery and Betty and Allan Gore–two churchgoing couples enjoying their small town Texas life…until an extramarital affair leads somebody to pick up an axe. Inspired by Evidence of Love: A True Story of Passion and Death in the Suburbs and a collection of articles from Texas Monthly (‘Love & Death in Silicon Prairie, Parts I & II’).”

Says Sarah Aubrey, head of original content for HBO Max: “This is a gripping story about the frustrations and desires of two women in a small town that culminates in a terrible act of violence.”

Should you read up on what happened before you watch?

If you aren’t familiar with the story or didn’t watch the Hulu series, Candy (which actually didn’t begin production until two months after Love & Death had started filming, even though it came out first), Linka Glatter says hold off for now. “Stay away, just go for the ride. But there are going to be people that know the story already. And because of the Hulu series or they’ve read the articles, or there was a TV movie made a long, long time ago. Obviously, the story still intrigues. All I can say is that even if you’ve seen other things, it is approached in a really different way. And there’s room for all kinds of storytelling. And this is a very different way to tell this story.”

Who’s in the cast?

Elizabeth Olsen (WandaVision, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Martha Marcy May Marlene) as Candy Montgomery; Patrick Fugit (Almost Famous), as Candy’s husband, Pat Montgomery; Jesse Plemons (The Power of the Dog, The Irishman), as Allan Gore; and Lily Rabe (The Tender Bar, Shrinking) as Allan’s wife, Betty Gore. Krysten Ritter (Marvel’s Jessica Jones, Breaking Bad) plays Candy’s best friend, Sherry Cleckler, and Tom Pelphrey (Ozark) plays attorney Don Crowder. (Speaking of Pelphrey, wait till you see the final three episodes.) Keir Gilchrist plays pastor Ron Adams, Elizabeth Marvel plays pastor Jackie Ponder, and Bruce McGill plays judge Tom Ryan.

Olsen with Krysten Ritter as Sherry Cleckler

 Jake Giles Netter

Who’s the writing and producing team behind Love & Death?

David E. Kelley writes each episode, as well as executive-produces through his David E. Kelley Productions. Lesli Linka Glatter also serves as EP and directs the first four episodes, as well as the finale, which she calls the most intense thing she’s ever done. “I’ve blown a lot of shit up in my career, but it was nothing like this. This was from-the-heart pain. Pain because we know it was real,” she says.

This is also the first time that industry titans Kelley and Linka Glatter have worked together, which is surprising given their 60 years of combined experience. “David and I have always wanted to work together. I have to say, it was amazing. I’m so glad that it was this one. I read this story [of what happened to the Montgomery and Gore families] and I thought, Oh, my God, if this wasn’t true, you absolutely could not make it up. Real life is by far stranger than fiction. And that story was filled with that.”

Linka Glatter goes on to say that she and Kelley are not true crime aficionados. “We’re much more interested in why things happened, in human psychology, in exploring what is inexplicable, and kind of looking at what’s bucolic on the surface and then what’s really going on underneath. So to me, it’s a deeply psychological story. I felt all these characters and wanted to explore that.”

From left: Patrick Fugit, Elizabeth Olsen, Lily Rabe, Lesli Linka Glatter, David E. Kelley, and Jesse Plemons attend the Love & Death premiere during the 2023 SXSW Conference and Festivals at The Paramount Theater on March 11, 2023, in Austin.

Nicole Kidman and Per Saari (Big Little Lies) also executive-produce through their Blossom Films production company. And Scott Brown and Megan Creydt executive-produce through Texas Monthly, and Matthew Tinker, Michael Klick and Helen Verno are executive producers as well. The show was an official selection of the 2023 SXSW Film and TV Festival.

How true is the series to the story?

Very. “We went as deep as you could go [as far as research],” Linka Glatter says. “Any articles written, news footage, whatever we could pull about this world this time, this case, the characters…we did. But it’s not like we’re doing a story about Jackie Kennedy. This is not someone that is in the public eye. So there are only so many photographs or articles, and a lot of it is circled around this horrible tragedy in the murder. But, we did as much research that was available to us. We pulled as much photographs that was available and tried to create the world in as real a way as possible.”

Did the producers reach out to any of the real people still living?

No, Linka Glatter says, and here’s why: “It’s always so tricky with true stories and trying to deal with respecting [the families]. I think there are certain stories that people go back to because they want to explore what is truly inexplicable. How does this happen? So I think there’s some deep psychological disconnect that makes certainly me want to go and explore that. Why does this happen in a loving community? I think you have to approach that with a lot of respect and responsibility.”

How is Love & Death like Big Little Lies?

David E. Kelley created and wrote both shows from existing material (in the case of BLL, it was the novel written by Liane Moriarty; for L&D, it was inspired by the book Evidence of Love: A True Story of Passion and Death in the Suburbs  and a collection of articles from Texas Monthly, “Love & Death in Silicon Prairie, Parts I & II”). Executive producers Nicole Kidman and Per Saari were also involved in Big Little Lies.

Both series feature complex characters hiding their true intentions and desires, and we know early on in both that a murder takes place.

HBO Max

“What I fell in love with with Big Little Lies is the complexity of all the characters and that they had this community that they shared. And I think that’s very similar here. Again, these unknown secrets that people have and the damage that secrets can do. So you have this community you share in public. It’s somehow the disconnect between the private self and the public self. Candy’s the belle of the ball at church, but what’s going on inside is a whole other thing.”

Even the theme song and opening credits for both shows feel oddly similar. (The Animals’ Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood is used for Love & Death).

Music is a big part of Love & Death, from pop culture hits of the ’70s and ’80s to church music. “We tried to firmly put it in the era,” Linka Glatter says. “That was really important to me to create that world.”

 HBO Max
Jessica Radloff is the Glamour senior West Coast editor and author of the New York Times best-selling book The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series, available here.