TV fans were introduced to the twisted town of Wind Gap, Missouri in HBO’s newest limited series, Sharp Objects, which premiered in Austin, Texas at the Paramount Theatre during the ATX Television Festival.
The eight-episode series is based off of the book by best-selling author Gillian Flynn, who also wrote Gone Girl. The story follows Wind Gap native Camille Preaker, played by the phenomenal Amy Adams, who is forced to return to her hometown to cover a possible serial killer for her St. Louis newspaper.
Camille has to not only figure out who is killing preteens in the small middle-of-America town, she also has to deal with the demons she left behind.
After the screening, Flynn and Adams were joined onstage by showrunner Marti Noxon, director/executive producer Jean-Marc Vallée, executive producer Jason Blum, David Levine (EVP, HBO Programming) and Pancho Mansfield (EP/President of Global Scripted Programming, Television eOne).
The panelists each discussed their role in bringing the story of Camille and Wind Gap to life. From writing the book to making the series, Flynn says it’s been a 12-year journey. Sharp Objects was originally seen as a film, but producers realized that Camille’s story needed a longer time to develop and this led them to create the limited series.
“No one wants to hear this kind of story,” Flynn said. “No one wants to hear about women we can’t root for.”
Showrunner Noxon added that stories with complicated female leads don’t get support, but, following the success of Big Little Lies, a lot of that changed.
Not only will Sharp Objects fill the void that is the dark world Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman brought to our small screens last year, but you’ll see similarities in the storytelling. That might have to do with the fact Jean-Marc Vallée is in the director’s chair.
Advertisement
Vallée was the mastermind director behind Big Little Lies and did a fabulous job bringing out the dark side of the many talented women in that show. Unsurprisingly, he has done the same thing with Adams’ character and the other complicated women in Sharp Objects.
While the show has multiple dark undertones, one of the lighter parts of the panel was when they were discussing shooting locations. Even though the series was set in Missouri, the series was shot in Barnesville, Georgia. Adams, Noxon, and Vallée joked about how it might be hot in Texas at the moment, but it doesn’t compare to Georgia weather.
When asked one word to describe working on the series, Vallée joked, “buggy.”
Sharp Objects premieres on HBO on July 8.
Advertisement
Advertisement