‘Where the crayfish sing’ comes to life and hits the screen

The coastal swamps of North Carolina take on a mythical quality in Delia Owens’ “Where the Crabs Sing.” That’s where the protagonist, Kya, grows up alone after her family leaves. They are also the source of her artistic inspiration and her social isolation from the people of the nearby town of Barkley Cove.

“Marsh is not a swamp,” Owens’ book begins. “Marsh is a space of light, where grass grows in water, and water flows to the sky. Slow-moving streams wander, carrying the orb of the sun with them to the sea, and long-legged birds rise with unexpected grace, as though not made to fly against the roar of a thousand snow geese.”

He’s as important a character as anyone in the book, and the filmmakers behind the big-screen adaptation, which opens in theaters across the country on Friday, weren’t going to risk recreating that vibe on a soundstage. They, too, would go to the swamp: oppressive heat, swarming insects, menacing alligators, unpredictable weather, flash floods, thunderstorms, and all, to bring the story to life. New Orleans plays the North Carolina coast in the film.

Reese Witherspoon and producer Elizabeth Gabler (“Life of Pi,” “Hidden Figures”) were the first champions of “Where the Crawdads Sing,” which became an unlikely publishing phenomenon, with more than 12 million copies sold and a record 191 weeks. on the bestseller list. They set out to make a feature film and enlisted “Beasts of the Southern Wild” Oscar-nominated screenwriter Lucy Alibar to try and adapt the lyrical novel, which is itself a romance, coming-of-age story, courtroom drama, a mystery and a celebration of the natural world.

Director Olivia Newman had already decided she had to avoid the book when she heard an adaptation was in the works. She wanted to preemptively avoid the anguish of not being able to direct it herself. Then her agent told her that she was still looking for a director. She read it in two days, prepared a speech and, with an image of Terence Malick’s “The New World” in her head, landed her dream job.

“We really wanted it to feel timeless,” Newman said. “While the book really is based on a specific time and place in American history that was so important for us to capture authentically, the ‘Swamp Girl’ story also felt like a bit of folklore to me.”

The story follows “the girl from the swamp” Kya from the age of 6, when her mother suddenly leaves and her brothers and father leave soon after, through her adolescence into adulthood, capturing her evolution as an artist and various romances. Her freedom and her future are in jeopardy when one of her suitors is found dead and she is assumed to be the cause of it. Daisy Edgar-Jones, the English actress who rose to prominence as Marianne on “Normal People,” was cast as Kya.

“I feel very lucky to have been able to play women who are real and complicated,” said Edgar-Jones. “Kya and Marianne aren’t just one thing. They’re both vulnerable and kind people, but they’re also incredibly sharp at times and also very flawed.”

Edgar-Jones immersed herself in Kya’s world, which required her to adopt a mid-century Carolina accent, learn to navigate a swamp boat, and often be barefoot outdoors, which was generally fine. , except for the red ants everywhere. Arriving in New Orleans, she was transported by the environment and its wild, natural beauty. One of her fondest memories, she said, was the first time he saw the shack the production built in a nearby state park for Kya’s home.

“I felt like it really came out of my imagination,” Edgar-Jones said.

The filming was timed to capture the spring greenery before the rains came. They planned to shoot exteriors in May and interiors in June, but nature had other plans. Record rain in May meant that the production had to constantly rearrange, sometimes on location, when there were sudden thunderstorms. There were also unique challenges shooting a good portion of the film on the water, which had the entire production, from the actors and cameras to the props and portable toilets, in small boats in the swamp.

“It was stressful at times,” said Taylor John Smith, who plays Kya’s friend and first love, Tate. “But being outside in the humidity when the air is super thick and hearing cicadas and frogs croaking and seeing snakes and alligators come at you in the middle of a scene. It was great that we were able to play in that environment.”

Newman said she has a bit of PTSD from the experience, from chasing daylight to running from storms. And he felt like a cruel stunt when, after the rains, they had five days of great weather but couldn’t shoot as much as they needed to because of all the flooding.

“It was very challenging…but at the same time, there was no way to tell the story without being right there in the setting. It’s as beautiful as it is because we shot on location and dealt with the elements and captured that.” landscape exactly as it is,” Newman said. “We wanted to tap into the natural beauty of your world, of the bog, of the swamps and really bring out how beautiful that landscape is without touching it, using natural light and just choosing the right time of day to shoot”.

The team spent nine months editing the film and everyone is excited to finally release it to the world on the big screen. Newman was heartened to learn that Sony Pictures always intended for it to be a theatrical release, which is increasingly a rarity for major studios focused on franchises, tentpoles, and superheroes, especially in the summer months.

“I think there’s a real thirst for these kinds of great dramas, romances and thrillers,” Newman said. “We need more stories like this, and we need more movies like this in theaters.”

“I think there’s a lot to get out of a character like Kya,” he continued. “I think we’ve all felt underestimated. We’ve all felt a little left out for different reasons. She gives us a little bit of hope that we are stronger than we think. This is a time when women especially need reassurance.” . “

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