Lovie Simone Wishes She Knew What Happened to Mary Simms
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If American history was told like it is in Manhunt, Apple TV+'s thriller about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and hunt for John Wilkes Booth, actress Lovie Simone thinks she would've paid more attention in school.
Manhunt is this "cat-and-mouse chase," she tells Town & Country. The story is "very digestible, and it makes it easier for you to [learn] history." She's a fan of procedural true crime shows like Criminal Minds and Law & Order, and there's an element of that to the show. "It's definitely for people who like suspense and action—it gives history a less boring feel; it sticks with you more."
Simone, who made her television debut in the Oprah Network drama Greenleaf, chats with T&C about what made her decide to join the cast of Manhunt, what stories get lost to history, and why she sees herself in Mary.
What made you want to play Mary?
What made me want to play her was that this story wasn't so centered around her trauma; it was centered around her being a bright young, promising woman and it just happened to be in that time period [right after the Civil War]. I wanted to see what it would look like. And then, also, knowing that there were so many stories and so many lives that were not documented because they were not white—it was just another reason to be a part of this.
The reason we know about Mary's story is because she testified at the trial of Lincoln's conspirators. What do you make of her decision to do testify?
I think it's a very big decision for her to make, especially in that time. It is her saying like, 'I do think that truth and justice is way more important than my fears.' When we think of that as humans, a lot of the times the fears do win, because there's so much unknown around it. So for her to take that step and be like, 'Okay, well, if they don't listen to me, what could happen to me?' Especially in a time where oppression just wasn't mental, and it was physical as well. So just to see that change and that switch in her was really nice.
As an actress on set, playing a recently freed Black woman, how did take care of yourself? What were some ways in which you protected your own mental health during filming?
Well, whenever I could, I had to loosen my corset! Because I was wearing a corset and it was very tight! That was really the most uncomfortable portion of being on set. As an actor, you know with the actors that were on set, there's a certain respect and a certain way that everybody's handling their characters personally and individually. For me, it was a lot of internal like, 'I am a descendant of this time.' It was different, but it wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be, only because it wasn't trauma oriented.
Do you know what happened to Mary after the trial?
I don't know what happened to her; I do not. But I am curious, though. I am curious if there was any ease, if there was any pushback from anybody that was listening to her and didn't agree with what she said in the trial. I am curious about these things, but I do know that there is going to be just a lack of evidence for any of this, because she was Black. So that's why I'm like, 'I have to tell it!'
Did that responsibility of telling her story feel weighty to you?
It didn't feel too weighty, because to a certain extent I am Mary Simms. I do feel like Black women, we do see ourselves in one another often. A lot of the times it's like, 'Oh, that's me. That's an extension of me.'
The first four episodes of Manhunt are streaming now on Apple TV+. Shop Now
Photographs of Simone are by Katie McCurdy, shot for our April 2021 issue.
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