Big and Little Anticipation

[Meredith Quill]

Anticipate Here!

[Athena]

Currently filming, this limited series HBO show is based on the Liane Moriarty book of the same name. It is being produced by David E. Kelley, Nicole Kidman, and Reese Witherspoon. It also stars the latter two alongside Shaileen Woodley, Laura Dern, Alexander Skarsgard, and Adam Scott.

 

The cast is definitely intriguing.

[Ms Blue Jay]

Thank you for starting this! Currently reading the book right now. Don't worry everyone, I hate spoilers!

[Ms Blue Jay]

Here's the Cast and Characters list from Wikipedia:

 

Big Little Lies is an upcoming American television comedy series created by David E. Kelley, based on the book of the same name by Liane Moriarty. The series will air on HBO.[1] The pilot episode was written by Kelley. 7 episodes will complete the limited series' first season and all of them will be directed by the Canadian director Jean-Marc Vallée.[2]

 

Cast[edit]
Nicole Kidman as Celeste Wright[1]
Reese Witherspoon as Madeline Mackenzie[1]
Alexander Skarsgård as Perry Wright[3]
James Tupper as Nathan[3]
Shailene Woodley as Jane Chapman[4]
Laura Dern as Renata Klein[5]
Adam Scott as Ed Mackenzie[5]
Zoë Kravitz as Bonnie Carlson[6]
Kathryn Newton as Abigail Mackenzie[5]
Iain Armitage as Ziggy Chapman[7]

 

I like how they cast Zoe Kravitz as Bonnie!  Bonnie is a tattooed, cool, pleasant, hippie, young second wife so that's some nice casting for diversity.   I expected Perry to seem way older than Alexander though.....  

 

Just to give you what I expected:

Celeste is supposed to be otherworldly beautiful, so I guess I expected a Charlize Theron type.

Madeleine is kind of the protagonist, she's very confident, goofy, and cool so I think I expected a Sandra Bullock.

Jane Chapman is supposed to be an incredibly young, plain mother so I expected a young Lori Petty type.

 

I'm only a quarter of the way through so I don't know much about the character of Ed, but Adam Scott is always great.  Picturing Adam Scott and Nicole Kidman as a couple is a little funny though.  I guess I shouldn't complain about super young men being cast, when normally it's super young women!

Edited January 18, 2016 by Ms Blue Jay

[Ms Blue Jay]

Sorry messed that up.  The couples would be Reese Witherspoon and Adam Scott, and Nicole Kidman and Alexander Skarsgård.

Edited January 24, 2016 by Ms Blue Jay

[Ms Blue Jay]

So, I finished the book!  And I love, love, loved it.  I really recommend it.  I want to devour all of Liane Moriarty's other books now!  Apparently they are also adapting another one of her books, "What Alice Forgot" into a movie starring Jennifer Aniston.

[Wouldofshouldof]

I read the book a while ago.  Though I don't remember much of the story, I know I liked it.  I've always liked Nicole Kidman, and am a newly-minted Alexander Skarsgard fan.  I never watched True Blood, then I binged the entire series 3 or 4 times in Nov-Dec last year (yeah, I got a little obsessed).  So I'm anxiously awaiting this series, as well as Tarzan in July, LOL.

[chocolatine]

On 1/16/2016 at 1:49 PM, Ms Blue Jay said:

Just to give you what I expected:

Celeste is supposed to be otherworldly beautiful, so I guess I expected a Charlize Theron type.

Madeleine is kind of the protagonist, she's very confident, goofy, and cool so I think I expected a Sandra Bullock.

Jane Chapman is supposed to be an incredibly young, plain mother so I expected a young Lori Petty type.

Totally agree with you about Celeste as a Charlize Theron type. I hate to be lookist/ageist, but Nicole Kidman is plain too old and has had way too much plastic surgery to be believable as Celeste. If they wanted to make her work as Celeste, they should have cast someone much older than Alexander Skarsgard as Perry.

Madeleine is supposed to be brunette in the book, but otherwise she's the kind of spunky and a tad dramatic personality that Reese Witherspoon plays so well.

I think Shailene Woodley is great casting for Jane.

Spoiler

She'll be able to handle the heavy material (i.e. Jane's rape and the aftermath) really well.

Zoe Kravitz as Bonnie is also great casting, IMO. I thought it was one of the most hilarious details of the book how much Bonnie's "serenity" drives Madeleine up the wall, so while she's a minor character, I look forward to seeing how Zoe is going to portray her.

Laura Dern as Renata: I guess I could see Renata having had children really late, and Laura Dern looks younger than her age (49), but it's going to be weird, after seeing her as Reese's mother in Wild, to see them as peers having children in the same kindergarten class.

Edited December 16, 2016 by chocolatine

[Ms Blue Jay]

Zoe as a young, Millennial hippie- it's totally believable.  I love that they went with her for the role.  

Aleksander is 40.  He skews really young I guess.  Nicole is 49.  It's not what I expected.  Sure I love an older woman-younger man couple, but for THIS pairing?!  Aleksander has the power in this relationship so yeah, not expected.

I also feel that Adam skews younger than Reese, and yet, he's older!  He's just so boyish.

Unfortunately, I tried some of Liane Moriarty's other books.  This is by far my favourite.  I'd rate Big Little Lies a 5 out of 5 personally.  Here's my others if you're interested.

Truly Madly Guilty - 2.  Ugh. I hated this one.  I've seen some good reviews, but for me this was such a bore.
What Alice Forgot - 4.  I liked this one.  Interesting and creative.
The Husband's Secret - 3.  Depressing as hell.  Dealt with themes I really don't enjoy reading.  Tough for me.

Edited December 16, 2016 by Ms Blue Jay

[Atlanta]

On 1/30/2016 at 0:23 AM, Ms Blue Jay said:

So, I finished the book!  And I love, love, loved it.  I really recommend it.  I want to devour all of Liane Moriarty's other books now!  Apparently they are also adapting another one of her books, "What Alice Forgot" into a movie starring Jennifer Aniston.

The rumor is that Alice will be a single mom. WTH :/

[Ms Blue Jay]

But in the book, isn't it that

Alice is a single Mom because her husband, Nick, is divorced from her?

[Atlanta]

7 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

But in the book, isn't it that

 

  Hide contents

Alice is a single Mom because her husband, Nick, is divorced from her?

Spoiler

They are separated but not divorced.

[Ms Blue Jay]

Okay, so she's a single mother either way.  Not sure what I'm missing