Netflix’s latest steamy drama Sex/Life isn’t afraid to dig into the complicated lives of all of its characters. The series focuses on the character Billie Connelly (Sarah Shahi) and her struggles with motherhood as she begins to yearn for her old life.
Actors Adam Demos and Margaret Odette join the Sex/Life cast as Brad Simon, Billie’s bold ex-boyfriend, and Sasha Snow, Billie’s best friend and confidant. The two steal the scenes as their alluring characters dance around in Billie’s life while unabashedly living their own lives as successful and promiscuous New Yorkers.
Speaking about her character Sasha, Margaret Odette told us, “In one word, Sasha is bada**. You know, she’s this fun, feisty little firecracker of a woman. She’s the kind of girl that’s the last one on the dance floor. And then next morning, she’s the first one raising her hand in class.”
Odette added, “It’s really fun to play someone with that much breath to their character and in the world that they tap into.”
Adam Demos also shared his thoughts on his character Brad, specifically the different stages of his life that Sex/Life explores. Demos said, “Brad gets to do a lot of fun things. He’s a cheeky little bugger, but I appreciated the fact that I got to play him at two different points in his life. In one, he’s got his walls up and he meets Billie, and that love and connection is forcing him to face a lot of his issues. And then, present day, he’s dealt with them, but he has to live with the regret of not having done it sooner.”
Monsters and Critics had the opportunity to chat with both actors about their nuanced characters in Netflix’s Sex/Life.
On Sasha’s wardrobe
Monsters & Critics: Margaret, your character Sasha is a bit of a fashionista. Did you want to keep any of her outfits for yourself? In episode two, you wore these beautiful brown gloves and detailed coat that I was obsessed with.
Margaret Odette: So, fun fact about that scene. That was the very first scene that I shot of the entire series, before the pandemic. I had just flown into Canada and I’d been there for less than five hours before I was on set and ready to shoot that scene. The only reason why those gloves were added was because it was incredibly cold that day and raining. We had to add layers so that we could make it through the scene.
Any time that happened, throughout the production process, our costume team headed by Avery [Plewes] was on it. It was always going to be like to the ninth degree. It wasn’t going to be some old boo-boo gloves, it was going to be some fabulous brown leather gloves. But the fashion in the show is fantastic, especially for my character. It was really important that we incorporated as many designers of color and as many women designers and suppliers as we could.
On Sex/Life’s message
Monsters & Critics: Adam, your character Brad is a bit of a “bad guy.” How do you think fans will react to him?
Adam Demos: I think the great thing is they get to see him on that journey He’s not doing cheeky things constantly. You start to see that with Billie, he’s forced to see that he’s either going to lose her or he’s going to have to tell her why he acts the way he does, and show some vulnerability. People will hopefully understand that he’s just got issues that he just hasn’t dealt with.
Monsters & Critics: What is the most important message that you hope the audience takes from the series?
Margaret Odette: I hope that as people come away from Season 1, they really start having conversations about their own relationship and their friendships. Are they really living to their fullest degree within those? Are there things that they just have gotten complacent about and just accepted rather than challenge? I really hope that this just starts a lot of vibrant conversations in people’s lives.
Adam Demos: I think, it’s like, just because you enter the next chapter phase in your life doesn’t mean you have to throw away the old one. It doesn’t mean you have to become a completely new person. You’re allowed to become a more evolved version, with bits and pieces of all of your life. That’s the whole point. But we’ll see, I think everyone’s going to take something different.
Check out our whole conversation below.
Other interviews: Sarah Shahi from Sex/Life and Rose Matafeo from HBO Max’s Starstruck
Sex/Life premieres on Netflix on June 25.