Adams Heads to TV With 'Sharp Objects'

Manuel here with some actressexual news to get your week started. Jean-Marc Vallée, who’s been busy lately helping Reese Witherspoon nab her second Oscar nomination, filming the HBO TFE dream-cast miniseries Big Little Lies with his Wild star, Nicole Kidman, and Laura Dern, and letting loose with Jake Gyllenhaal (in the soon to be seen Demolition) is teaming up with Amy Adams for another HBO show: the adaptation to Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects. The project, which has been in talks for a while, finally landed at the cable network after a heated bidding war (we almost got a chance to binge it with Netflix narrowly missing this acquisition!)

Per Deadline’s description:

Sharp Objects centers on reporter Camille Preaker (Adams) who, fresh from a brief stay at a psychiatric hospital, 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.

Amy, with a sharp object

I’m most intrigued because it sounds like a welcome departure for Adams. Not only does it mark her return to television (let us not forget she was Jim’s girlfriend on The Office), but she hasn’t really yet played within the psychological thriller genre. I have an inkling it might give us a chance to see the actress anew, a nice welcome change from her recent work. Also, we know Vallée is great with actors so I'm curious to see what he brings out in Adams.

The project, ordered to straight-to-series (we're getting 8 episodes), will be executive produced and co-written by Flynn and Marti Noxon, who’s been on a roll lately what with UnReal and Girlfriend’s Guide to Divorce. Speaking of Noxon, she’s readying her directorial debut, To The Bone, a film based on her own experiences with anorexia. Lily Collins has signed on to play the leading role of Ellen, while Keanu Reeves will be playing Dr. William Beckham who’s intent on getting the young woman to get better. As someone who’s loved Noxon’s work for close to two decades—this is the woman, after all, who gave us Buffy’s “The Wish” and Mad Men’s “The Gypsy and the Hobo”—I’m excited to see what she does with this very personal story.