Saint X | Michael Park & Betsy Brandt | Exclusive Interview
“Saint X” is the latest psychological drama from ABC, which is told via multiple timelines and perspectives, explores and upends the girl-gone-missing genre. It’s a show about how a young woman’s mysterious death during an idyllic Caribbean vacation creates a traumatic ripple effect that eventually pulls her surviving sister into a dangerous pursuit of the truth.
Recently, I got to speak with Michael Park and Betsy Brandt, who play the parents of the two girls in the show.
What attracted you to your roles in “Saint X”?
Michael Park : Well, I felt that I had so many things in common with Bill as opposed to being a commercial real estate agent, but I had so many things that we were so much alike in the sense that love our wives, love our kids, travelled together with them all the time. The unthinkable happens on this thing. And I felt that Bill dealt with it in a way that I believe I would do the same. And it was very cathartic for me at moments. It was therapy in a way. Betsy was just… It’s so wonderful to do these very hard scenes in general, but when you have people around you that you feel safe with and to be vulnerable in front of them, incredible. I got very, very lucky.
Betsy Brandt: Listen, I would never say it was fun. We had so much fun and we did have fun, but doing these scenes that Michael’s talking about, that’s what drew me to this. I read the book and I related to Mia because it’s every parent’s worst nightmare, but also all of the material after they lose their daughter. And in putting the pieces together and how it affects their relationship, their relationship with their other daughter, there was so much about this that fascinated me. I knew I wanted to play her and to do the scenes, those big heavy scenes, whatever the reason is that makes us crazy people, we want it. It’s why we want to do this.
What was your highlight on working on “Saint X”?
Betsy Brandt: This group was an amazing group to work with. I feel like everybody always says this, but this is true. This show would not be what it is if it wasn’t for the cohesiveness and the talent with this casting crew. And it’s a great story. It’s a great story. There were a lot of challenges. We’re anytime you’re not shooting on the lot, it gets harder. We are way off the lot. We’re in a different country. We were out in the Dominican Republic, which was great to shoot there, but you’re not in Hollywood. It’s a little bit harder. But this group, especially with the material, I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else.
Michael Park: Piggyback on what Betsy said. It was an exceptional group and we became very, very close, very quickly thrown into a very dicey situation. Dicey situations, every now and then. You need people who are not going to panic and freak out when that happens. We had the perfect crew, we had the perfect cast for those situations. We’re talking about torrential downpours at any second of the day and what’s going to happen. We all work together to make this happen. But for me, I loved the debrief at the end of the day with my good friend Betsy Brandt. We really were going through it together.
The first three episodes of “Saint X” are coming to Hulu in the United States and on Disney+ in Canada on Wednesday 26th April 2023, with new episodes being released weekly. The entire series will be available to Disney+ subscribers in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand on Wednesday 7th June 2023.
Are you looking forward to watching “Saint X”?