Paula Brancati is a tried and true staple of the Slasher anthology series. Most might know Brancati from her memorable turn as Jane Vaughn in “Degrassi: The Next Generation,” but her work in Executive Producer/Creator Aaron Martin‘s and Executive Producer/Showrunner Ian Carpenter‘s Slasher anthology series has more than proven she’s got the range and isn’t afraid to go there when the role calls for it. Now, Brancati is going back in time with the Slasher team for SLASHER: RIPPER as the seemingly affluent Viviana Botticelli.

As viewers will learn within the first two episodes, there is more to Viviana than the pleasant veneer she projects in public. In fact, she’s rocking a real Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde type of personality. This personality is part of what excited Brancati when she agreed to take on the role. “It was really exciting [to take her on] because Aaron and Ian have written me such incredible women to play every season, and she’s starkly different again, from the other people I’ve played,” shared Brancati. “It was an actor’s dream to read this and [realize] we can go to town with her.”

“Their baseline place as writers is to write fully fleshed out characters, and [that] should just be the bar. But as someone who’s worked for a long time, it’s not always the case, especially when you’re reading women in genre pieces. Everybody has a really rich arc, and I’d love to see a full series about any one of these people. I do think that’s what sets this show apart, honestly.”

Viviana’s darkness in SLASHER: RIPPER

When we meet Viviana Botticelli in SLASHER: RIPPER, she comes across as friendly and personable. She’s put together and projects the air of someone of her station. However, in the first two episodes, we see this is not the case. The Botticelli sisters are hanging by a financial thread and, without a husband or male figure to support them, they are in danger of being turned out to the streets. This wasn’t wholly uncommon for the time period. With that, there’s an air of desperation for Viviana in securing a husband.

“Being a woman of that era, she’s kind of old by those standards to be unmarried and unwed. She’s working really hard on her hair and makeup to keep up appearances,” explains Brancati. With the arrival of their half-sister, Verdi Botticelli (Sadie Laflamme-Snow), we start to see the veneer crack with the attention Verdi receives. This reveals the darker half of Viviana’s self.

“She’s such a great example of our public persona versus private persona,” Brancati elaborated further. “When she’s out in the world, her voice is a certain way, and then when she’s inside and those doors are shut, that’s really her. She’s gluttonous and selfish and quite immature, actually.”

Public vs Private Personas

The idea of public persona versus private persona is nothing new to the Slasher series. We’ve seen this played with most notably in Slasher: The Executioner, and have seen how this plays a destructive hand to the victims of The Executioner there. Connecting back to the larger picture of The Widow, the private lives of the wealthy versus the public personas they portray may be the through line in this latest anthology addition.

In the case of Viviana in SLASHER: RIPPER, it’ll be interesting to see how this duality of Viviana plays out. An upper-middle-class woman working to secure the means to keep her family thriving is already an interesting dilemma to play around with. Throw in Viviana’s age, her loneliness, and her natural desires, it creates an exciting package ripe for exploration. It also leads to a couple of questions. Will her loneliness be sated? Will her true self be revealed to the public? We have to wait to see in future episodes.

---

Ready to dive into the dark, gory world of SLASHER: RIPPER? The first two episodes are now available on Shudder and AMC+ with new episodes rolling out weekly on Thursdays.