Liev Schreiber Was Hesitant to Join ‘The Perfect Couple’ Because His Character Is ‘Such a Douche’

In “The Perfect Couple,” Liev Schreiber stars as the picture of American aristocracy, Tag Winbury, whom Schreiber describes as a “combination of a deeply narcissistic child and a profoundly passionate and loving husband.” In short, Schreiber identifies Tag as a “douche,” which initially caused him to hesitate about taking the role.

“I had my doubts in the beginning — you know, the character’s such a douche,” Schreiber told TheWrap. “I was like, ‘Do I really want to do this?'”

His doubts were quickly quelled by his on-screen partner-in-crime Nicole Kidman, who stars in the Netflix murder mystery as Tag’s wife, Greer, the matriarch of the Winbury family. While Schreiber and Kidman had been friends for years, they hadn’t had the chance to work together yet, and with director Susanne Bier — whose work was admired by Schreiber — onboard, Schreiber was sold.

“[Bier] really opened it up and said there would be improv [and] we’d be able to find the sort of comic elements of it and the duality and the fullness of it, and it just sounded like it would be really fun,” Schreiber said. “I’m thrilled with how it turned out for the most part.”

Though Schreiber admitted he and Kidman worked through that “first awkward moment the first day when [he] kinda grabbed her as [his] wife,” their level of familiarity off-screen facilitated their on-screen dynamic.

“I didn’t expect her to be that loosey-goosey,” Schreiber said, noting he enjoyed playing around with their comedic timing and improvisation. “Whenever you go through that with someone … it’s so potentially embarrassing and humiliating and risky to walk the plank of improvisation, and I was just so impressed with her commitment and how much fun she was having with it. We raised each other in every scene.”

As Kidman and Schreiber developed their characters’ dynamic as a loving couple with a treasure trove of secrets just below the surface, Schreiber said the pair talked “constantly about [their] kids and [their] marriages.” As he studied Tag and Greer’s relationship more closely, Schreiber likened Tag and Greer to the Macbeths in the way that “they absorbed each others’ sins over the years.”

“The title of ‘The Perfect Couple’ obviously has some irony in it. Whenever you see that word ‘perfect,’ it’s always worth being careful — something’s not going to be right,” Schreiber said. “But that thing that is so deeply human is people staying together and working it out through everything.”

The illusion of perfection extends beyond just Tag and Greer, with the Winbury sons — Thomas (Jack Reynor), Benji (Billy Howle) and Will (Sam Nivola) — embodying varying degrees of “American aristocracy, entitlement and generational trauma that repeats itself,” which Schreiber said was important to Bier and the cast to get across.

Schreiber applauded Bier for encouraging the actors to improvise within that structure, which led to them coming up with “incredibly inappropriate stuff which was really, really appropriate to this kind of family.”

“I loved going through that process with each of the actors, imagining our origin stories,” he said.

While Benji and Will are challenged to think outside the bounds laid out by their family, Thomas seems to relish the traditional path laid out before him. “They’re both browbeaters — they’re both narcissists,” Schreiber said. “I think they both are deeply cynical and dark characters.”

Thomas’ wife, Abby (Dakota Fanning), maintains the image of perfection curated by Greer and the men in the family, but Amelia (Eve Hewson) refuses to conform, creating a headache for Greer — even before a dead body is found on their property the morning of Amelia and Benji’s wedding. Despite their distinct approaches to entering the Winbury family, Schreiber admits Tag likely doesn’t give Abby nor Amelia a second thought.

“For the most part, Tag is so profoundly narcissistic that he doesn’t really notice either of them that much, as much as he probably should,” Schreiber said. “But I imagine he’s probably pretty impressed with them by the end.”

“The Perfect Couple” is now streaming on Netflix.

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