Hulu’s Phony brings two White Lotus alums together in a way you’ve never seen them before. Sam Nivola plays Sonny, a young man who awakens after a tragic accident only to be met by a mother, Connie Britton’s Ellen, who doesn’t seem like his mother. Is he just imagining it, or is something sinister afloat?
The thriller pushes both actors into deeply uncomfortable and thrilling new territory that leaves the audience guessing. It's really uncomfortable, really," Britton told Newsweek. "It isn't horror for horror's sake at all." Instead, the tension comes from the bizarre reality her character has to face head on.
For Britton, it’s a role unlike any other she’s held before. Playing a wealthy resort guest in White Lotus or Texas football royalty on Friday Night Lights is familiar territory, but here she is actively running in the opposite direction to keep things interesting. "I find that every single character that I've been able to play has just been such a complete, full experience, and I feel so incredibly fortunate to be able to do it," Britton said.
But she knows fans always want to talk about her past hits. "White Lotus, you know, I loved that experience and that character so much. And so that, therefore, I always try to go as far away from it as I can, you know what I mean?" For her, this bizarre new project is about flexing a totally different muscle.
"I'm going to discover something new," she noted. "I'm going to try something different with this character than I did with those other characters. And certainly, Phony is no exception.
Scary, but more in that way of like, it's jumping into the unknown and not knowing quite how to get there." And Phony marks the real introduction of Nivola as a leading man after he skyrocketed to fame on The White Lotus. Stepping into the spotlight meant taking on a much heavier narrative load, but it was a welcome shift for the rising star. "It's just the best of both worlds," Nivola said.
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