The new Amy Adams. Sharp Objects, HBO’s latest miniseries, is based off the book of the same name by Gillian Flynn. Flynn wrote the novel in 2006, yet 12 years later, it’s more meaningful than ever – and there’s a reason it took so long to make. The story focuses around Camille Preaker (Adams), an unhappy newspaper reporter who returns to her hometown to cover multiple children murders. While home, she uncovers the her dark history may be much worse than she ever knew.
Us Weekly caught up with Flynn ahead of the show’s debut.
Us Weekly: Why do you think this worked as a TV series?
Gillian Flynn: Having it as a TV show really let us give it the air it needed to keep Camille as the single figure. When I wrote it, I was really trying to write about female rage and what that looked like over the generations. You have Adora (played by Patricia Clarkson), Camille and Amma (played by Eliza Scanlen). I worry that if we did it as a film, it might lose that and it would become a police procedural or a mystery. So doing it as a TV show, let us do the narrative and dissect the issues. It shows Amy in all her dark glory and really dig into the character. You’ll see her as you’ve never seen her before.
Us: What is it about Amy that made you cast her?
GF: She and I had been wanting to work together for a while. She had circled around Dark Places, my second book. Then she got pregnant and was like, “I don’t want to go to the dark place right now,” and did the Muppet movie instead! I’m like, “Totally smart move!” But we had been wanting to work together. To me, it was like, there was a reason the book didn’t get made for 10 years. It was almost as if it was waiting for Amy. She has this amazing vulnerability and this empathy that you feel for her on screen. She’s also completely unbreakable. She has a steal smile, and that’s exactly what you need for Camille. She’s beautiful.
Us: And Patricia Clarkson seems like the perfect Adora! How did that casting work?
GF: We talked to her on the phone, even just hearing her voice, I was like, “Patricia, will you do this?” She didn’t have to audition. We just wanted her. It was just hearing her voice, hearing her talk about Adora. Adora is a woman in charge!
Us: Was there anything that didn’t make it in the show that you wanted?
GF: No because we had so much room. We were even able to make up and create. We had one paragraph, in fact, a single paragraph in the book, that’s now an entire episode.
Sharp Objects premieres on HBO Sunday, July 8, at 9 p.m. ET.
