While most quirks for Schitt's Creek's Rose family were laid out beforehand, Annie Murphy actually improvised Alexis’ most iconic character detail. Schitt’s Creek's six-season show is known for its memorable lines, outrageous backgrounds for the characters, and the Rose family’s socialite demeanors, all of which are used to paint a portrait of this incredible fish-out-of-water family. For Alexis Rose, she’s most memorable for having a ditzy yet caring socialite attitude, a checkered past with a long list of celebrity boyfriends and criminal experiences, and tacking on “David” to the end of nearly every sentence she says to her brother.
While the comedic details of the Rose family’s affluent attitudes and bits are typically written well in advance, the cast improvised a few crucial character traits. Catherine O’Hara, for example, improvised Schitt’s Creek’s most famous line with her pronunciation of “bébé,” along with much of her outrageous vocabulary. Aside from actually writing Schitt’s Creek’s hit song “A Little Bit Alexis,” Annie Murphy was also responsible for coming up with Alexis Rose’s most iconic and ever-present socialite character detail.
When crafting her Schitt's Creek character, Annie Murphy looked to the most famous modern socialites for inspiration, including celebrities like the Kardashians and Paris Hilton. There was one detail, in particular, that Murphy was drawn to, which was the peculiar way in which they held their handbags. In an interview (via KCRW), Murphy explained that this inspired Alexis’ iconic hand gestures, realizing that the socialites held purses on their wrists with their palms up in a fairly exaggerated manner. Schitt's Creek's Alexis Rose actress asked herself what it would look like with no handbag, deciding to flip her wrists in both hands with her palms down, in a look that she describes as “a T-Rex playing the piano.” This minor detail ended up encapsulating who Alexis was, perfectly adapting the socialite mannerism in a lovable way which is all the more iconic when paired with her vocal fry.
Alexis’ hand pose became an integral part of Murphy getting into character and almost always coincides with Alexis’ other memorable bits such as “booping” someone on the nose, cringing when she doesn’t know to respond to something or uttering her ever-iconic “ew, David” line. Murphy explained that the “T-Rex” gesture also came in handy when in doubt of what to do with her hands in any given Schitt’s Creek episode, deciding the limp wrist at a strange angle would always work as a character trait of Alexis. While Alexis’ hand pose is more reminiscent of modern-day figures like the Kardashians, Dan and Eugene Levy originally conceived the role as a “young Goldie Hawn,” which inspired Alexis’ vivacious enthusiasm and “shining light” character trait that makes her so lovable.
In keeping up with the exaggerated poses of their old socialite days, David Rose can also frequently be seen holding his hands in the same manner, typically when he’s in an uncomfortable situation or doesn’t know how to respond to something. As the Roses adjusted to life in Schitt’s Creek and abandoned their formerly pampered lifestyle, some quirks never left, with their inflated postures being a prime example. Just as Moira never stopped using her unidentifiable accent, Johnny never stopped wearing suits, and David never abandoned his fashion sense, Alexis never lost her upscale socialite gestures in Schitt’s Creek’s six seasons.