Patricia Clarkson - Getty - H 2017
John Shearer/GettyHBO’s adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects is coming together.
Oscar nominee and Emmy winner Patricia Clarkson has booked a starring role in the straight-to-series eight-episode drama, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Published in 2006, Sharp Objects centers on reporter Camille Preaker (Amy Adams) — fresh from a brief stay at a psychiatric hospital — who must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. Trying to put together a psychological puzzle from her past, Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims a bit too closely.
Clarkson, who returns to HBO following her Emmy-winning turn on Six Feet Under, will play Adora Crellin, Camille’s mother, queen of Wind Gap’s highest society. She’s haunted by the untimely passing of Camille’s sister decades earlier, and her anxiety is manifested through an overbearing love and protection for her youngest, Amma (as yet uncast). The sudden return of her estranged daughter, Camille, provokes her subtle hostility that threatens Camille’s sobriety and sanity.
Sharp Objects was optioned six years ago by Jason Blum’s Blumhouse (The Jinx, The Normal Heart), before Gone Girl became a worldwide phenomenon. The project is being written by Marti Noxon (UnREAL, Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce). Flynn also will executive produce and pen multiple episodes. Noxon will serve as showrunner and exec produce. Jean-Marc Vallee (Dallas Buyers Club, HBO’s Big Little Lies), Blum, Charles Layton, Jessica Rhoades and Nathan Ross exec produce alongside leading lady Adams. Vallee will also be credited as a co-editor on the drama, which hails from Entertainment One Television.
Clarkson’s credits include her Academy Award-nominated supporting role in Pieces of April, her two-time Emmy-winning guest role on Six Feet Under and features Shutter Island and The Green Mile. She next recurs on season five of Netflix’s House of Cards. Clarkson is repped by CAA and Anonymous Content.
HBO landed Sharp Objects, with Adams attached to star, in April 2016. Adams was cast last February, and the package was first set up with Noxon and Blum attached in July 2014.
