Melanie Lynskey is no stranger to the true crime genre, having starred in “Heavenly Creatures” as a teen. She was first drawn to “Candy” by the compelling storytelling in the scripts, in which frequent shifts in perspective and timelines add to the suspense. “Honestly, the thing that attracted me initially was how well-written the scripts were,” she said. “I couldn’t put them down. I wanted to see what happened next.”
But what truly drew Lynskey in was the character of Betty Gore herself — a timid, socially awkward Texas housewife desperately seeking the affection of her distracted husband and the friendship and acceptance of the women in her church. “I felt moved by a lot of aspects of her personality. She was a very shy person who felt quite awkward in a lot of situations, which is how I feel myself,” Lynskey said. “I felt like I knew her on a cellular level. I was like, ‘I understand this person.'”
