HBO is taking Gillian Flynn’s bestselling novel Sharp Objects to television. The eight episode limited series is already being compared to fellow HBO series Big Little Lies. Part of the reason these comparisons are made is because the Emmy winning (Lies) director Jean-Marc Vallée directed all the episodes for both series. Also, both stories are dark, twisted, and chilling. Marti Noxon (writer of Mad Men and Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum) will be Sharp Objects‘ showrunner. Sharp Objects creates Southern Gothic tone to go with its Missouri setting.
Amy Adams (five time Academy Award nominee) will have a duel role in the series by being both a producer and starring as Camille Preaker. Adams’ character is described as a scarred newspaper reporter that goes to her hometown to write about the murder of a young preteen girl and the disappearance of another. While attempting to work out your psychological puzzle about her past, she starts to identify with the young victims a bit too much. Preaker is a flawed character and viewers try to have a better understanding of her tragic past and how it affects her present.
HBO has also added an end card to the series because of its sensitive content. The end card is: “If you or someone you know struggles with self-harm or substance abuse, please seek help by contacting the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) 1-800-662-HELP (4357).”
Sharp Objects will become Flynn’s third novel to be adapted for the screen. The previous two (Gone Girl and Dark Places) were made for the big screen. The novel was also her first novel that she had published. It has since sold about two million copies. Originally people wanted to adapt Flynn’s novel into a horror movie. However, she was not did not want her book to be turned into that. She said, “I wrote Sharp Objects because I wanted to write about Camille, and I hid that inside of a mystery to trick people into reading about women and violence and women and their rage and how that looked and how that looked among three different generations of women.”
Adams said that it took some convincing for her to take on this role. She said, “They approached me when I was in the middle of working on Arrival, which was such a different character and a different story for me. So, wrapping my head around committing four or five months of my life as an actress to this type of character was something that I was hesitant about just because of my previous relationship with television.” And with Adams taking the lead role in the show, she was able to convince Vallée to join the series as the director.
There are also talks of having a second season even though this is advertised as a limited series. Both Flynn and Noxon both admit to having ideas for a second run. Flynn does admit however that talking about a second season is putting a “Cart before the horse.”
HBO releases Sharp Objects this coming weekend on Sunday July 8th at 9:00 p.m. and will continue to release every Sunday.
In case you haven’t seen it already, here is the trailer for Sharp Objects.