Eve Hewson is a rising star who has recently appeared in Bad Sisters and Behind Her Eyes. Born in Dublin, Ireland, and the daughter of famed musician Bono, Hewson is making a name in her own right as a dramatic actress and one who appears in comedic roles. She costars as the bride in The Perfect Couple series, which is a murder mystery centered around Nantucket and an adaptation of Elin Hilderbrand’s novel. N Magazine sat down with Hewson to discuss the filming of the series, and her interactions with Nicole Kidman and author Elin Hilderbrand.

Have you ever been to Nantucket? If not, is it on your bucket list?

Well, what was so disappointing was that we never had enough time to go over to the island. We shot in Chatham, basically. And we had a weekend to go over to Nantucket but the weather changed so much when we were shooting that our schedule kept moving around. We ended up having to shoot Saturdays and so we never got to make it there, which was ridiculous because we were acting as though we were on Nantucket. We were so close, but so far.

Elin Hilderbrand, who wrote The Perfect Couple, is obviously very well known on Nantucket and has been coming here for a long time. Did you get a chance to meet her?

She was fantastic. She’s one of those dream writers where it’s their story and it’s their book, and they sort of pass it along to us. She was very cool about being “this is your thing.” She was such a champion and a cheerleader, but she wasn’t overly involved. She just came to set to bring her family, meet all of us and is a ray of sunshine. That woman is just so delightful, and so we were all kind of starstruck to meet her when she came.

How exhausted does your father (Bono) get by being asked “aren’t you Eve Hewson’s dad?”

Exhausted, he is just exhausted by it (laughing).

In terms of the characters in the show, there’s something ironic about your role. You’re playing the simple outsider and obviously your life is probably the exact opposite. Was there anything in that plotline that you particularly identified with?

Yes, I actually really do relate to being an outsider in so many ways. I never grew up in sort of a waspy, affluent culture. I grew up in Dublin, which is a very different kind of place. I’m Irish, I haven’t spent a lot of time in America, which is a completely different culture to me. So I’ve always felt a little bit far removed from the environments that I’m in. But not when I’m at home.

The thing that I loved about the character Amelia was that she was just such a free spirit, and she’s really not self-conscious. And that’s so different to, I think, Greer (Nicole Kidman). Greer has created this life for herself that is very image-conscious. Amelia doesn’t see the world that way and that’s the tension between them. Amelia kind of triggers something in Greer that she wishes she could be but never allowed herself to be. I thought that was really interesting, two women coming from very different places, trying to understand each other. So, Amelia is a real outsider. And when she enters this world depicted in this series, everything changes.

There was one scene where you are in the kitchen with Greer and she is staring at you. With this laser beam glare and you are staring her down. It was actually uncomfortable watching it because it felt so real. Was it easy to get into roll on that because it felt so realistic from the viewers’ perspective?

Nicole is such an incredible actor. She’s truly one of my all-time favorite actors on the planet. I was sent the script and I really loved the story; I thought it was so gripping. I was sent the first three episodes and I’ve always wanted to do a murder mystery type of show, so this was just a dream, and I had absolutely no idea that Nicole was going to play the mom. When they told me they got the role in the series, they kept talking about this Nicole person, and I said, who’s Nicole? When they said Nicole Kidman, I was completely shocked and excited. There’s nothing better than working with a fantastic actor like that because it can feel real in the moment in between action and cut. With someone like that, you don’t have to act so much, you’re just reacting because they’re giving you everything.

In defense of Nantucket, the portrayal of the value system in the show did not necessarily reflect life as we know it on the island. In fact, I think people aspire not to be that way.

They’re definitely fictional characters, for sure.

Can you tell us a little bit about the production? Elin said it was a virtual army of people who totally transformed the house in Chatham where the series was shot and actually built a second structure. You’ve seen a lot of productions. What was your assessment of how big an effort this was?

It was incredible what they did. They took over a lot of places in Chatham, but it was mainly the house that they rented for those three months. First of all, the house was absolutely stunning. I don’t know what it looked like beforehand, but apparently, it was a complete transformation. It was beautiful. And we spent most of our time in that house, which is really great. It’s such a luxury to be in one set and on such a beautiful set, as well. We spent a lot of time there, we had a green room up in the attic, where all the kids went up in between scenes and entertained themselves and we got to sit out on the beach during lunchtime to enjoy the sunshine. It was really beautiful.

You are from a very thoughtful, activist-engaged family. Is acting your ultimate goal in life? Or do you see yourself going beyond that, in terms of you as a person?

I love acting and it’s something that I need to do in order to understand the world and understand humanity. But I definitely want to have my own company and my own films. I want to make my own work, write and direct, because as much as acting is amazing—and I’ve been very fortunate—there’s a lot of your life that you’re not in control of. I would just like to sort of be my own boss.

Do you gravitate toward dramatic roles and is that what you find most fulfilling?

When I started out, I was definitely given more dramatic roles. I think maybe that’s the Irish in me. We have very dramatic faces or something. But for the last few years, I’ve done mainly comedy. So I’m coming back to the drama world in this show, especially with my character. I know we’re sort of a dark comedy, a lot of it is funny, but my character was dealing with something so intense for the six episodes. Going back into that dramatic part of myself I really enjoyed.

Elin is a very prolific writer. Could you see any other of her books, assuming this is successful, being turned into a series?

There could be an entire Elin Hilderbrand universe. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s already working on it.

If you were to create the ideal scenario for your next movie, does this experience inspire you to want to do more projects like this?

Well, I’m a huge, huge TV fan. I love doing shows like this that are murder mystery, binge-worthy with big characters, big stories, big drama. I really enjoy watching those series when they come out, so I was really excited to do this and be a part of it. A lot of my career has mainly been television, and I feel really lucky because I feel like we’re in this massively golden era of TV. And even though I grew up watching movies being the number one product coming out of Hollywood, I think it’s now TV and movies are getting less and less important. The storytelling in television is so creative but I’m open to any genre. I’m about to go do something that’s mainly comedy. I just did Bad Sisters, which is sort of a dark comedy. I’m always looking for what’s the best character, where’s the best writing, where is the best storytelling, and I think it’s in television. So I hope to stick to TV.

Is there any possibility of making a visit to Nantucket?

I hope so. They said to us that when we do the premiere, we’ll do a premiere on Nantucket. So, I’m waiting for the invitation.