Abrahamson and Norton pay tribute to series producer Catherine Magee who navigated Covid protocols, whilst keeping respect and affection. Unlike Bobbi in the book, Lane is a Black American, an alteration that was made to reflect diversity in modern Ireland.ĭespite an initial ambition to shoot in September 2020, the 20-week shoot finally took place at the end of April 2021. While Jemima Kirke as Melissa and Sasha Lane as Bobbi had the power to play two strong women. Joe Alwyn as Nick has “a wonderful vulnerability,” says Abrahamson. ![]() When it came to casting, newcomer Alison Oliver who plays Frances came from the same drama school as Paul Mesclun in Normal People. ![]() You also have quite complicated relationship dynamics and issues that are being explored around ideas of monogamy and what shapes relationships can have and still be good.” in terms of structure a more complex story, although centred on one character Frances….There’s a quartet around that solo instrument that’s very different. That said, Conversations with Friends is mapped quite differently. And the ideas and the character shifts happen through a closely observed, patterned series of events, often there are make-ups and break-ups, cycles that happen.” This cadence lends itself to a multi-part treatment. Sally’s writing has similar qualities in both novels, says Abrahamson, “they’re very low key, very intimate, there’s a real attention to detail and nuances of character. Norton and Chelsea Morgan Hoffman, Element’s head of development, co-ordinated the scripts for consistency of voice. The production began with a writers’ room and then divided episodes between the team, which included first time screenwriter Meadhbh McHugh. Instead, there were four writers to wrangle Rooney’s first-person narrative. But this time around Rooney, whilst being involved with key decisions, was not as close to the project. Writer Alice Birch was again central to the screenplay. ![]() But where Normal People focuses on a boy and a girl, Conversations with Friends is the story of the spikey relationships between four people – the narrator Frances, her best friend Bobbi and married couple Melissa and Nick.įor Element’s adaptation, the core production team was the same, including director and exec Lenny Abrahamson. The central character is a young woman, it’s set in Dublin and there’s plenty of sexual tension. There are essential similarities between Conversations with Friends and Normal People. “We were very keen to capitalise on the momentum of Normal People,” says executive producer Emma Norton. The team was tuned into adapting Rooney’s work and a decision had already been made in January 2020 to switch to the same twelve by 30-minute format for Conversation with Friends. Element felt confident that they could ride the wave. The BBC in the UK and Hulu in the US wanted more. Pippa Considine reportsĮlement Pictures had already optioned Sally Rooney’s debut novel, Conversations with Friends, and was developing it as a feature with BBC Films, before its 12-part adaptation of Rooney’s second novel Normal People hit our screens, in April 2020.Ī runaway lockdown hit, Normal People was the most streamed series of 2020 on the BBC, with over 60 million views from April to November. ![]() After the huge success of normal people, Element reassembled the team for its next Sally Rooney adaptation.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |