How Reese Witherspoon made ‘Big Little Lies’ happen

‘Big Little Lies’, a seven-episode series is based on Liane Moriarty’s bestselling novel about three mothers of first-graders whose apparently perfect lives unravel to the point of murder. Comprising of a cast with Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley, Alexander Skarsgard, Laura Dern, Adam Scott and Zoe Kravitz, the dark dramedy was set in motion back in 2014 when a friend slipped Witherspoon an early galley of Moriarty’s ‘Big Little Lies’.

“Liane’s writing is so enthralling; I was hanging on every word. I read it in one night,” said Witherspoon.

Her producing partner, Bruna Papandrea, called Kidman — a longtime friend since the women were teenagers — and said simply: “I’ve found the thing for us all to do together.” Kidman (who also read the book in a single sitting) said, “I said to her, ‘If you give us the rights to the book, we can get it made.”

Within 18 months, a staggering number of A-listers were heading into production. Witherspoon and Kidman were joined by Woodley in the lead roles. David E Kelley (Ally McBeal) signed on as an executive producer and wrote all episodes.

Jean-Marc Vallée fresh off his Oscar-nominated film ‘Wild’ agreed to direct every installment, too. “This is all Reese’s fault,” said Vallée with a laugh. “I was about to take a vacation, and I was so tired. But then I read it, and I couldn’t abandon it after I started.”

‘Big Little Lies’ premieres on Star World Premiere HD on February 21.