There’s a mystery within the marshes in the new film Where the Crawdads Sing.
The movie is based on the book of the same name and stars Normal People actress Daisy Edgar-Jones as Kya, a girl who raised herself alone in the marshland of North Carolina.
It’s the kind of role that comes with expectations, especially due to its popularity – the book has spent 168 weeks atop the New York Times best seller list and has sold over 12 million copies worldwide. So, did Edgar-Jones feel pressure taking that on?
“It is such a beloved book for so many reasons. You want to do your best to capture it in the film,” she told ABC Audio.
And while they did their best to capture the book, Edgar-Jones also hopes the film “can just offer a different angle into those characters, and that they can complement each other.”
Her co-star Taylor John Smith, who plays Kya’s love interest, Tate, agrees. “Getting the soul of the character, the way they make you feel, I think is very important. We all had great leadership and a team around us to make sure we got those specifics right,” he said.
That leadership included none other than Reese Witherspoon, who served as a producer and adapted the book to the screen through her media company, Hello Sunshine.
Edgar-Jones was complimentary of Witherspoon, primarily of “her company’s ethos and what she wants to do with putting complicated women at the forefront of stories.”
“On this job, most of our heads of department were women. And, for a story about female empowerment, to have women feel empowered behind the camera was really just so exciting,” Edgar-Jones said.
Where the Crawdads Sing is out now in theaters everywhere.
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