Where the Crawdads Sing
Director Olivia Newman’sWhere The Crawdads Singadapts the best - selling novel by Delia Owens to the grown screen . go down in the 1950s and sixties ' North Carolina marshlands , Where The Crawdads Singstars Daisy Edgar - Jones ( Under The Banner Of Heaven ) as Kya , a immature woman orphaned since she was a trivial little girl who has subsist in the swamp .
commingle elements of a murder mystery story and a courtroom drama with a coming - of - eld account and a romance , Where The Crawdads Singaims to entrance the flavor of the novel , which has sold over 12 - million written matter .
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Screen Rantscreened 30 minutes of footage fromWhere The Crawdads Singand took part in a roundtable consultation with manager Olivia Newman . In an in - deepness discussion , Newman describe her involvement inWhere The Crawdads Sing , shape with ace Daisy Edgar - Jones andexecutive manufacturer Reese Witherspoon , the challenges of accommodate the beloved , well - selling novel , and what she hopes audiences will take away from her film when it ’s released in theaters on July 15 , 2022 .
Can you babble out about how you came on board to directWhere The Crawdads Sing ?
Olivia Newman : It was in the middle of the pandemic . July 2o20 . I was sent the script and the script ; I read the book in two days . It feel like something I just had to be involved with . I just fell forefront over heels for it . So , I put together a rake and met with [ producers ] Lauren Neustadter and Erin Siminoff . From there , I started pitching up the ladder and got the line of work .
Was Daisy Edgar - Jones already attach ?
Olivia Newman : She was not . She was the first mortal that we cast .
What was it about the book that really captivated you ?
Olivia Newman : I ’m the youngest of five kids . I grow up in Hoboken , New Jersey . My father is a huntsman . He would go to Mississippi every class to trace and when he would come back with venison , it was a big deal . We would all sit around the table with the venison but it was really about hear the story of the Leigh Hunt . For us city kids , it was hearing about how he would account the woods . There was this mystic , folklore - ish character to his tale . finally , he buy land in upstate New York and he build a cabin . We were a gravid kinfolk and it was a position we could all go and spend the weekend in the summertime .
For me , spending prison term in the Mrs. Henry Wood and stories about the Ellen Price Wood has always been part of my childhood . I was just sweep up in this narration of this vernal girl who is left alone in the woods and , against all odds , manage to come through . It just really tapped into something that , as a kid , was the ultimate tale .
The character of Kya is fabulously lively . She ’s so resourceful . I bang that even though she ’s vulnerable and very sore , she also has unbelievable long suit at her nub . I loved watching her make grow this mother wit of self - worth and see , through her own artistic skills and her scientific studies , who she is and what her vox is . [ She ’s ] a character that ’s very universal in her journey .
What was it that attracted you to Daisy ?
Olivia Newman : It ’s funny because when the pandemic strike in 2020 , all productions close down and we were looking to develop textile because there was nothing shooting . I was getting direct a lot of gloomy , psychological thrillers . And I run to be drawn to very glowering material in general . But at the meter , life was so dark , I really need[ed ] a unspoiled Romance language . I need to hang in love . A friend of mine say , " Have you watchedNormal multitude ? " It was on the button what I needed . It was just going through that shine - in - dear experience through Daisy ’s incredible performance . It was like practice of medicine for the somebody .
When [ Daisy ’s ] name came up when we were blab about who was gon na trifle Kya , I [ said ] I love this young actress . But can she play a use like Kya ? It ’s very dissimilar from her role in Normal People . I have to say , her first recitation add all of us to tears , admit Delia [ Owens ] . It felt like we were watching Kya ’s vocalisation come out of this beautiful British actress . It felt like Kya was just come forth from her mouth .
Did she do the accent in that reading ?
Olivia Newman : She did , yes . And she is incredible with accents . She has an unbelievable hang for dialects .
The film has such a great atmospheric state . Was there something you remember reading in the text that influenced how you wanted to adapt it ?
Olivia Newman : One of the most unbelievable parts of the book is the way Delia draw the marsh and describes the landscape painting . That comes from being a naturalist herself . Her scientific voice is one of the things that is so unique in the storytelling of the novel . For me , it was so significant that we capture Kya ’s worldly concern , the fenland and the swamps , and the different textures of those backdrops really specifically .
We look at Terrence Malick ’s work ; we face at Jane Campion ’s oeuvre . The way of life Jane Campion captured the landscape painting in The Piano - of course of action , The Power of the Dogwasn’t out yet . We look at our neat Hero and how they painted that portrayal of landscape as its own character when we were talking about how we wanted to shoot the fenland . I worked with an incredible cinematographer , Polly Morgan . We looked at painting , we looked at photography , and we drew from all of the mediums .
In the book , Kya ’s verse is constitutional to the story . Is Kya ’s poetry going to be incorporate into the film?(Screen Rant )
Olivia Newman : You ’ll have to see the movie to find out . [ laughs ] I ’ll say that we go for her poetry come through in the visual linguistic communication , in the voiceover , and in her vocalism . [ Kya ’s verse ] fare through in that way .
What does Reese Witherspoon institute as an executive producer ?
Olivia Newman : Reese had the cacoethes for the book from the first . That warmth carries all the way through . She ’s so smart and she was implausibly supportive . I have to say , from the very first meeting I had with her , she say it was one of our missions to give cleaning lady opportunities that they have n’t yet been given .
This is my first studio moving-picture show . Reese enunciate , " How can we endorse you in make that leap ? " That was her position from the beginning . Her whole team at Hello Sunshine are there for you every gradation of the agency and [ they ] really had my back . It ’s because of who ’s at the top .
Was it scary for you since Delia has an huge fan club for the book ?
Olivia Newman : Yes , every time I differentiate someone what I ’m mold on , they say , " That was my favorite book . " And my stomach turn . [ express joy ] The book is incredible . I hope everyone reads the Christian Bible . The book is what I fell in sexual love with that take me to the project .
I do think that hoi polloi will experience like they were carry when they see the flick in a interchangeable way that you were transported when you interpret the book . It was my hope to enchant [ its ] essence , and the soul , and that journey that I went on when I read the book . I require to check that I capture that same emotional journey in the movie . And I intend it does .
Did you know what crawfish are ?
Olivia Newman : [ laughs ] Now I do . I ’ve eaten them . We ate a lot of crawdad in New Orleans . The record book is dress in North Car0lina in the 1950s and ' LX . We want to make certain we could enamour standardized landscapes . We did shoot at the coastal parentage of North Carolina , because you just ca n’t replicate that , but it was actually voiceless to recover some of the landscapes that were in the book that have rest undeveloped .
We terminate up notice the marshes and the swamps in and around New Orleans . So , we got to have both grain of the braggart , blanket marshlands and the moss - covered tree , and the old oak tree trees .
What was it like shooting during COVID ?
Olivia Newman : It was hard . It switch things , for sure . We follow the most rigorous rule and we never got shut down because of COVID . We got shut down because of torrential rains , floods , and lightning tempest . But never COVID .
How Byzantine was Delia in the film ?
Olivia Newman : She was involved every step of the way . She read every draught of the script and give notes . She view every actor we cast . She was extremely supportive . I opine she translate that the movie is going to be its own medium but that we all came to it with such a love and passion for her book . We wanted to check that that we did it justice .
Delia came to set and inflict . She was just so excited and supportive the whole mode . She ’s just a delicious human being . And she was a great resourcefulness to us anytime we had doubt .
It ’s so coolheaded you gotTaylor Swift involve . [ Swift wrote and execute an original song , " Carolina , " for the film ] . How did that find ?
Olivia Newman : She had scan and loved the leger so much that she felt compel to write a song for it . And it was before we had even shot the motion picture . When I try the song , I could n’t believe it was tonally so perfect . It is so beautiful . Every prison term the movie ends and that Song dynasty comes on , it catch the feeling where you need to sit and digest what just happened . The song is the perfect vessel for those feelings . It sets exactly the right timbre .
But [ Sceloporus occidentalis writing a strain ] was very serendipitous because we had n’t frivol away the movie yet . For it to be such a perfect match was a giving . What a gift .
Did Daisy do her own stunt ?
Olivia Newman : She love doing all of the piece of work . She learned how to labour a boat , she learned how to fish . She did a lot of apparent movement work to learn to take the air around the marsh barefoot . She make love doing stunts . Whenever we had a stunt successiveness , we had our stunt double ready , and Daisy would always sail through it on the first take . Daisy was a diver in high schooling . Kya does a lot of swim and underwater work . Daisy was just incredible doing all of her own stunt . I do n’t recognize if there ’s anything Daisy ca n’t do .
I think of , Daisy dive into the waters that have alligators in them . And she as ready and unforced . Of course , we had animate being safety to make certain that it was good . But she dive into that swamp .
What do you most desire audiences take away from the film?(Screen Rant )
Olivia Newman : I hope that it ’s transportive . I call up that Kya is a character that anybody can colligate to . There ’s something very cosmopolitan about her struggle to exist , and to find her voice , and to claim her self - worth . And it ’s an epic Romance language , as well . I hope - I know - that people are run to fall in passion with Kya and Tate [ played by Taylor John Smith ] . [ The film ] is such an ode to nature . I suppose that ’s something people love about the book . Delia ’s making love for nature is so palpable . Kya ’s relationship with the marsh and all that it brings her is really special .
I hope it ’s the form of movie that people can go and see with their families and with have a go at it ones . I sat in the editing room for a yr with this footage and I miss it . It ’s a world that you do n’t want to leave because it ’s so singular . [ Kya ] is such a specific and unique character that I hope people will need to come back and revisit her .
But at the same clock time , it ’s also a thriller . It ’s a mystery - thriller .
Was it a challenge to equilibrize those elements?(Screen bombast )
Olivia Newman : Yeah , and that ’s what made it such a unique and exciting task for a director . It has this mystery story - thriller at the meat driving the history . And then it has these romance , and it has this survivalist story and this unbelievable landscape . It has all of these elements that appeal to a very broad audience . There ’s something for everybody in it .
Where The Crawdads SingSynopsis
abandon by her kinfolk , Where the Crawdads Sing is a come of years story of a young girl raised by the marshlands of the south in the 50 ’s . Watching many years past , when the township hotshot is plant dead , and inexplicably linked to Kya , the Marsh Girl is the premier defendant in his slaying case .
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Where The Crawdads Singarrives in theaters on July 15 .
