Warning! The following contains spoilers for the Snowpiercer Season 2 episode "Many Miles From Snowpiercer." Read at your own risk!
The latest Snowpiercer episode was a big one for Melanie Cavill, as viewers finally got to see her for the first time since she left the train in order to run tests at a facility on the recent snowfall on Earth. The episode brought some stunning new revelations to the table, and the process of filming brought on a pretty big gross-out moment for actress Jennifer Connelly.
I got a chance to speak with Jennifer Connelly about Season 2 of Snowpiercer, and our conversation led to whether or not she's had any gross-out moments on set. The actress revealed that Melanie's capture of the rat took at least a couple of takes to nail down, thanks in part to her uncooperative co-star.
The rat was pretty funny... I was really happy I decided to wear gloves in that scene. There's a scene where I'm carrying a rat in a bucket, and I don't know why I didn't think of this, it jumped up and like clung to the side of the bucket! [laughs] I literally screamed. It was pretty pathetic of me. It was more comical, honestly.
It was not at all obvious on Snowpiercer that Jennifer Connelly was uncomfortable with rats, especially after the scene in which we saw Melanie cooking one over a fire. Of course, I'm assuming the rat in that scene wasn't alive, and that can tend to make all the difference in these situations. I can't say I wouldn't have reacted the same way, though Connelly seemed to be in good spirits about the incident now that it's over.
This is not the first time Snowpiercer has relied on live animals for its production. When I spoke to Ruth actress Alison Wright in Season 1, she revealed that the crew actually used live cockroaches for that sabotage scene in the first-class dining car. Wright said that trainers were brought in to rile the bugs before the scene was shot to encourage more activity. I doubt anyone planned for the rat to try and escape in the botched version of the scene, so that may have just been a bit of improv the rat was trying out.
I can talk about rats all day, but obviously, I and many other Snowpiercer fans have to be wondering why the train blew past Melanie when she was supposed to be boarding. Making it 30 days in isolation and bad weather was bad enough for Melanie, to the point that if she can't make it back on board, I don't like her odds of survival. Of course, given that the train flew by looking like it was out of control, maybe her odds of survival on the train wouldn't be that much better?
Snowpiercer airs on TNT Mondays at 9:00 p.m. ET. Season 2 is barreling ahead like a runaway freight train, so be sure to read up on what Lena Hall had to say about Miss Audrey's mysterious powers before next week's episode.
