"Get me Meryl!" - Liane Moriarty on the Graham Norton Radio Show with Waitrose

Virgin Radio

25 Sep 2021, 15:23

Best-selling author Liane Moriarty joined Graham to chat about her brand new novel Apples Never Fall, turning her work into TV and the role she wrote specifically for Meryl Streep.

Apples Never Fall was is out now in hardback, and follows Liane's usual style of mystery. The story takes us behind the closed doors of seemingly tranquil family life, when a mother goes mysteriously missing. With unravelling lies, questioning family members and odd signs pointing to what could have happened, it's another gripping mystery that will leave you wanting more.

"I started listening to true crime podcasts and sadly there are multiple cases when you're listening to true crime podcasts where a woman goes missing and the main person of interest is often the husband" she explains, when asked what her inspiration was for Apples Never Fall.

"Invariably they're described as a loving father, so that got me thinking - how would I feel as an adult if my mother went missing and everybody was saying that my father was responsible."

"Then I started thinking, if I had multiple siblings then I could have factions form. One sibling says 'That's not possible', another says something else. So that was all I had.

"The other thing was I asked my sister, when I wasn't meant to be starting a new novel, to send me some writing prompts, and she sent me just a couple of lines describing a bike lying on the grass, with some apples lying next to it."

"So I was meant to write a short story or something, but I'm not good at short stories. So that became the opening chapter."

And it's not just her sister's writing prompts which inspire her stories.

Chatting about the adaptation of her 2014 novel Big Little Lies, which made it onto HBO and Amazon Prime, she explained that despite usually remaining uninvolved in the adaptation process, she was asked to input on the series which continued past the story of the book.

"I really let go, except that I've been really lucky in that even though I was asked to write the screenplay and I didn't want to, because for me part of the pleasure in writing is finding out what's going to happen and I already know what's going to happen with my book... I was really lucky that they kept me involved in such a lovely way, just as a really interested bystander"

"So I wouldn't have wanted to adapt my own book, but when they said 'Have you got any ideas for Season Two?' I said 'Yes, maybe you could do this, maybe you could do that' and they said 'Well, do you want to get involved?' So I did write a novella, not to be published, and I wrote that with an American accent, with Reese Witherspoon's Madeleine in mind"

But it wasn't just plotlines that Liane extended herself to in the continuation of her original book.

"I came up with this character and I thought 'I'm going to write a role for Meryl Streep', and I thought I'll find out what her middle name is and, for my own pleasure, call that character by her middle name."

"That's when I found out that Meryl's real name is Mary Louise, which really suited this character, and I can always remember calling up the producers and saying 'I've got this role for Meryl Streep' and they said 'Oh Liane you've become so Hollywood, getting on the phone and saying 'Get me Meryl!' she laughs.

And the rest of history! Let's stay tuned for potential future novel adaptations and cameos from Liane's favourite celebrities.

Apples Never Fall is out now in hardback.

Listen to The Graham Norton Radio Show every Saturday AND Sunday from 9:30 am on Virgin Radio.