Grace Van Patten is squinting into the sunlight when she joins our Zoom call from her front steps, taking in LA’s midafternoon sunshine. A New York City native (and LaGuardia High School alum), she seems to have fully embraced the relaxed, Angeleno way of life, reclining in a faded black Blondie T-shirt, her long waves appropriately beachy.
Though she’s a brunette in The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox, which airs its eighth and final episode on Hulu on October 1, today Van Patten’s hair is Lucy Albright–blonde—the shade belonging to her character on cult-favorite drama Tell Me Lies. The series, on which she stars opposite boyfriend Jackson White, has just wrapped filming the breathlessly anticipated third season.
Taking in her bright Zoom square, I’m suddenly self-conscious of my own background—gray, fluorescent, sad—and tell her as much, gesturing to the crude backdrop with my best Vanna White.
“Sexy, I love it,” she jokes in her husky tenor. She seems completely at ease, probably because she’s been doing press all summer for The Twisted Tale, and also because, at 28, she’s been at this for a while. In addition to Tell Me Lies, Van Patten’s credits include season 1 of the Hulu drama Nine Perfect Strangers and beloved films like The Meyerowitz Stories and Under the Silver Lake. Her very first role, which she landed at eight years old, is another flex: a small part on The Sopranos. (Her dad, Tim Van Patten, directed several episodes of the iconic HBO series. Grace, remarkably, has still not watched the series. “It’s offensive at this point,” she admits.)
As Amanda Knox, she’s stepped into her most challenging role yet. Knox became a tabloid fixture in the late 2000s after she and her boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were falsely accused and convicted of killing Knox’s British roommate, Meredith Kercher, while both women were studying abroad in Italy. She and Sollecito were exonerated and released after four years in prison following an appeal, where the court found that Italian authorities had grossly mishandled the case.
Playing a real person is an ambitious endeavor, one that often requires a physical transformation and a careful study of the subject. But Van Patten had the additional pressures of learning Italian for the role and also performing in front of Amanda Knox herself, who, alongside Monica Lewinksy, was an executive producer on the series.
Like Lewinksy, Knox has, for the most part, successfully reclaimed her narrative. However, there are and always will be those who choose to believe the tabloids’ sensationalized version of events. And so, getting Knox’s story just right was imperative for the project. And according to Knox, Lewinsky, and critics, Van Patten knocked it out of the park.
“The most valuable response to the show to me has been Amanda’s, and the fact that she is happy and feels like this did her and her story justice,” Van Patten says. “That’s the best thing that came out of it for me.”
Despite the heavy tone of the project and the many, many scenes where the audience watches Van Patten, as Knox, experiencing the worst day of her young life, the team was able to find levity in certain moments—which Lewinsky says is a testament to Van Patten’s skill.
“Something that Grace had to balance was, this is a very heavy topic, and yet there are strands of whimsy that come through the show,” Lewinsky tells Glamour, reflecting on a scene in episode one where Knox licks her dinner plate clean in front of her, let’s say, curious roommates. “We’re traversing many tones and making sure everything always felt grounded and cohesive.”
“It was a moment that Grace embodies Amanda, where you don’t feel someone’s performing,” Lewinsky adds. “It’s not on her, it’s coming through her. And she did an extraordinary job of that. She just brought so much professionalism. We truly couldn’t have done it without her.”
Ahead of the series finale of The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox, Glamour spoke with Van Patten about her onscreen transformations, her family’s love of cinema, and what audiences can expect from Tell Me Lies season 3.
Glamour: The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox is a very emotional show. As an actor, what is that like for you? Do you try to step away from the character and then get back into it every day?
Grace Van Patten: It was just as intense making it as it probably is watching it. It’s a super-emotional, tragic story that involves a lot of pain. It was so important to everyone to just approach it with as much sensitivity and safety and comfortability as possible.
Working on it was very emotional, but so creative for me and such a collaboration. Everyone involved was just so passionate about it and really wanted to tell this story as authentically as possible. So, it was emotional, but also one of the most fulfilling things I’ve ever done.
In episode 7, Amanda looks constantly on the verge of tears. I imagine that must be physically draining as well. Did you have any way to unwind, to step out of the character after you were done shooting each day?
I was just work, sleep, work, sleep. I would have these long, emotional days and come home and try to stay as calm as possible. My building had a pool in it, and I would find myself swimming a lot, which really calmed me. I’ve never done that before or after the show, but it was something specific through that process that really calmed me in a way that I didn’t expect it to.
Did you get any time to enjoy Italy at all while you were there? Or was it just work?
I was working pretty much the whole time, but we wrapped in Italy on the day of my birthday. My sister [Anna Van Patten] was there because she was working on the show with me. My parents and my other sister flew out, and we stayed an extra night and hung out and celebrated my birthday there, which was very, very nice. Rome is my family’s favorite place in the whole world, so we were all so happy to be there together.
My dad worked in Rome when I was eight years old, and we all fell in love with it and have tried to go back as a family almost every year. Sometimes we can’t because of everyone’s schedules, but for the past four years straight, we’ve gone every summer. We do the same trip, and Rome is a part of that, so it’s really a special place to me. Being able to work there was very surreal and magical.
Do you and Amanda still chat regularly?
We catch up every once in a while, especially as the episodes air. I hope she’s in my life forever. She feels like a friend now, which is so nice.
You said in a previous interview that you told your agents years ago that you wanted to play Amanda if there was ever an opportunity. Is there anyone else, either real or fictional, that you’ve raised to your agents?
I can’t think of any existing person in the world right now, but I definitely have always wanted to play a superhero or supervillain. I am not a comic-book person. I don’t know all the characters, but it’s just my dream to do some action type of thing.
Are you athletic? Do you want to do a bunch of stunts?
Yeah, I love that. I grew up playing sports and love them so much, and I always felt like doing an action movie would be the perfect hybrid of both things I love—being very active and acting.
You’ve also talked about how you almost didn’t recognize yourself onscreen as Amanda because you had the blue contacts and the dark brown hair. Over the years you’ve been a blonde, a brunette, a redhead—is there a hair color that feels most like you?
Probably blonde.
Are you a natural dirty blonde?
Light brown, dirty blonde. It’s so funny, I’ve had to dye my hair for roles, but I also like to dye my hair in real life, especially after a project. When I’m on a job, knowing that I cannot alter my appearance in any way, I get like, ‘My God. I can’t get a piercing! I can’t dye my hair or cut my bangs!’ So as soon as a job’s over I tend to do something that I wasn’t allowed to do for the months that I was working, whether that’s a piercing or I dye my hair. It feels like a way of shedding off the character too.
Did you get a post-Amanda piercing or something?
Well, I had to go right to blonde for filming Tell Me Lies season 3. So, that felt like my change. But I just wrapped Tell Me Lies, and I’ve been thinking about a piercing because all of mine have closed up.
You learned Italian for this role. Was there anything that you struggled with particularly about the language?
Thankfully I’ve been surrounded by Italians my whole life. My dad is Italian and speaks a little bit, but I have family that are fluent and really close family friends. It was also so helpful to be learning it while I was in Rome; the majority of the crew were Italian. Being able to practice all the time and be fully immersed was so helpful.
But, it was super challenging. The fear of thinking that I wasn’t going to learn it fast enough was scary to me. I had to remind myself, I do not need to learn this whole language. I need to just really understand what I’m saying. And that’s what I tried to focus on—not only, yes, learning the lines in Italian, but really understanding what I was saying as opposed to just reciting Italian lines that I’d memorized.
What was it like working with Monica Lewinsky, who is a producer on the project?
I feel so lucky to have gotten to meet her and work with her and now have her in my life as a friend. I find her so inspiring. I will endlessly be grateful for her because she is the reason why I am a part of this and the reason why Amanda wanted to tell her story in the first place.
She’s such a strong, powerful presence, and I’m so in awe of her ability to reclaim her story—both her and Amanda, not letting this horrible thing that happened to both of them define them or defeat them. It’s just so, so inspiring to watch them navigate life in a really confident and powerful way.
Beanie Feldstein played Monica in a series about her life, and you’re playing Amanda. Was there anything that Monica took from having her story televised that she told you about playing Amanda?
I definitely spoke to her a lot about how surreal that must’ve felt, from her perspective. Because I was talking to Amanda about that all the time, how this must feel so surreal and crazy to watch somebody reenact the most traumatic part of your life.
I couldn’t imagine going through the things that both of those women did and then having to relive it. But also, what a beautiful thing that there’s an outlet to tell their stories with them involved and help them reclaim it. So I feel so honored to have been a part of something like that.
You’re a little bit young, so maybe you won’t have an answer for this, but I wanted to ask: If they were to make a movie about your life, who would you want to play you?
My mind went directly to my little sister, who’s 15 years younger than me. I mean, there’s not going to be a movie about my life.
What does your little sister think of your acting career? I know you come from a Hollywood family. Is she trying to be an actor too? Does she look up to you?
She goes through phases, which I really hope she sticks with, but she’s an unbelievable basketball player and is really trying to pursue that at a young age. I have fantasies about sitting courtside, watching her on the New York Liberty. But there is a bug in the family, the acting bug, so we’ll see if she gets bit by it. For now, she’s really into basketball. So we’ll see.
Do you have any idea what you would want to do if you weren’t acting?
As a kid, I always had this dream about being a detective. I really thought it would be cool to be a PI, like a private investigator, to the point where I took some classes in criminal psychology. I think that would be really interesting and cool, and I feel like I’m a good detective in everyday life, so I can bring that to it. And then, I think a chef would be really interesting. I love cooking, not that I think I’m capable of being a chef at all, but I like the idea of that. I’m just spitballing here now.
You mentioned in a Jimmy Kimmel interview last year that you’ve never seen The Sopranos, even though that was your first acting gig and your dad directed several episodes. Is that still true?
Yeah, I really have to [watch it]. I just need to dedicate a time where I literally sit at home and binge it all.
What do you remember from the role?
I was so young. I think it was in the last season. I was eight years old.
Did you have a little New Jersey accent?
No, I don’t think so. I had two lines, and I still remember them to this day.
What were they?
“Mommy, Daddy, why are you guys fighting?”
That’s so sad.
So sad. But I do really need to watch it. It’s offensive at this point.
Your dad is a prolific director. Is there any advice he’s given you about show business that’s stuck with you?
I get endless, great advice from my parents. I really look up to them a lot. My dad has taught me to do things that I am passionate about. I’ve seen him do that my whole life, just only working on things that he feels strongly about and feels connected to. That’s how I like to choose what I do, and I really don’t see any other way.
Sex, lies, and toxic boyfriends.
You just finished filming Tell Me Lies season 3. Is there anything that you can tell us about the plot? If you could sum it up in a sentence, what is season 3 about?
I would say that people can look forward to something a little bit different than the other seasons. Season 3 really dives into the other characters, other than Steven and Lucy. You really start to see everyone’s web get more and more tangled until we’re all one messy, entangled web, which I think will be really interesting. I would say it’s not just Lucy and Steven making bad decisions this season.
Everybody’s making bad decisions.
Yeah, that’s all I’ll say.
Does the cast of Tell Me Lies have a group chat? And if so, what is the name?
We do, and I think it was created in season 1. It’s called Telling Lies and Shit.