‘I remember Nicole said to me: ‘Oh, you should get excited’’: Real reason Nicole Kidman made Big Little Lies
Big Little Lies author Liane Moriarty reveals the life-changing advice Nicole Kidman gave her, as she unveils a new Australian TV series based on one of her books.
Stellar
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For her latest TV adaptation, acclaimed Aussie author Liane Moriarty insisted on doing certain things by the book.
Several of her novels have been adapted for the screen, but the action always shifted from its original suburban Sydney setting to US locales – Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers transported us to California (despite the latter being shot in Byron Bay), while Apples Never Fall moved to West Palm Beach, Florida.
The Last Anniversary is the first adaptation to keep its quintessentially Australian address, with the six-part mystery unfolding on the Hawkesbury River in New South Wales.
“I set all my books in Sydney – except my children’s books, which are set in space. But even then, the spaceship leaves from Sydney,” Moriarty says with a laugh.
“I never think of the setting as my strength. But the island in The Last Anniversary was a really important part of the book. I feel like it’s the one book of mine where the setting really mattered.”
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In the limited series, Sophie (Teresa Palmer) inherits a house on Scribbly Gum Island from an ex-boyfriend’s eccentric grandmother, Connie (Angela Punch McGregor), which triggers a series of events that threaten to reveal long-buried secrets and up-end the local community.
Palmer tells The Binge Guide she believes Moriarty’s work translates so well to the screen because she blends “the perfect mix of compelling characters, multi-layered narratives and tension which build in a cinematic way.
“Her stories are always so intriguing. She really is the queen of suspense and twists which keep audiences engaged.”
While Moriarty is attached to all the characters she creates, the older women of The Last Anniversary hold a particularly special place.
“When I was writing it, my grandmother was still alive, and I would call her and write down the things she said,” she recalls, adding that she weaved her grandmother’s conversational style into the voices of Connie, Rose and Enigma (Punch McGregor, Miranda Richardson and Helen Thomson).
“That was another reason why it was so important to me that it was set in Australia, with a [mostly] Australian cast.”
Once Moriarty knew the series would be made at home, she was happy to take a back seat, joking that her role as executive producer is “just a vanity title”.
In addition to finding set visits “really boring”, she says she prefers to stay out of the filming process because she cares too much about her work.
Believing screenwriters should bring their own flavour to an adaptation, she adds that when it comes to her own words, “there’s still a little sense of resistance”.
“I think that’s why I’ve deliberately held back a little bit, because I think if I was involved, then I would want it to stick to the book.”
It helps, then, that The Last Anniversary has the same “dream team” that brought Big Little Lies to the screen in 2017, with Nicole Kidman and Bruna Papandrea producing.
“To be honest, I didn’t really think they would do anything with it,” Moriarty says of Papandrea, Kidman and fellow executive producer and co-star Reese Witherspoon optioning Big Little Lies soon after it was published in 2014.
“My experience in the past was that my books get optioned but then nothing comes of it.
“So I thought, well, it will be a treat to meet Nicole Kidman, but I’m not going to get too excited.
“I remember Nicole said to me: ‘Oh, you should get excited. Because we won’t be optioning it for the sake of it.’”
True to Kidman’s word, Big Little Lies made Moriarty one of Hollywood’s most sought-after writers. And, more broadly, it helped usher in a new era for female-led stories on screen.
“I take a lot of pride in that,” Moriarty admits.
“Especially considering that I was probably looked at as just a chick-lit writer.
“And that, in the end, became a strength, because that is what [Kidman and Witherspoon] wanted.
“The fact they did [it] so fantastically was proof it was something viewers wanted as well.
“I guess it gave me a new validation and pride in the novels I wrote.”
The Last Anniversary premieres at 8.30pm on Thursday on Binge and Foxtel and is also available on Hubbl.
Read our exclusive interview with Liane Moriarty in today’s The Binge Guide. Inside The Sunday Telegraph (NSW), Sunday Herald Sun (VIC), The Sunday Mail (QLD) and Sunday Mail (SA).
For more from Stellar and the podcast Something To Talk About, click here.
Originally published as ‘I remember Nicole said to me: ‘Oh, you should get excited’’: Real reason Nicole Kidman made Big Little Lies
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