Connie Britton on the "ambitious storytelling" in "SMILF"
Connie Britton is no stranger to playing strong, admirable women but every once in a while the actress likes to go to the "dark side." As a self-consumed stay-at-home mom for Showtime's "SMILF," she does just that.
"I sometimes think of her as who I feel like when I'm on the worst day, you know what I mean?" Britton told "CBS This Morning" on Wednesday.
The Emmy-nominated actress is returning as a guest star for the second season of the Showtime comedy series which follows a single mom, Bridgette, struggling to give her son a better life. Britton portrays the main character's wealthy boss.
"I look at this character as somebody who gave up a lot … she was a very successful lawyer. She had all these dreams about what she was going to accomplish. She gave it up to get married and to have money and to be a mother and she's angry," Britton said. "She is somebody who is living much more in the victimization of her own flaws and of her own traumas, you know. The choices that she's made, she feels a victim to her own choices and that's an interesting thing -- it's an interesting psychology, but I think also something that might be very relatable to more women than you realize."
Her character is far from the only one who has issues. It's that complexity that Britton said drew her to the show and particularly to the voice of its creator and star Frankie Shaw.
"That's something important to the creator, Frankie Shaw. All the characters are flawed. And you know, they're trying to be kind of real explorations into … the complexities of being a woman," Britton said. "When I got this script, I was blown away by what different storytelling it was and what – what ambitious storytelling it was and it is."
As drawn as Britton is to powerful women – like the ones she's played in hits like "Nashville" and "Friday Night Lights" – she's also intrigued by the things that keep women from finding their power.
"I hadn't heard a voice like that for women really before," she said.
Britton also addressed a Hollywood Reporter report that described a production plagued abusive behavior and violations of industry rules, that specifically called out Frankie Shaw. Shaw allegedly pressured an actress into a nude scene despite her no-nudity clause. Britton was not on set when the alleged incidents occurred.
"I have a very different experience of being on that set. I find the set to be incredibly collaborative, and there's a really strong sense of mutual respect amongst everybody, the cast and the crew alike and, you know, I think Frankie has an amazing work ethic."
The new season of "SMILF" airs Sunday nights on Showtime, a division of CBS Corporation.