The Time Traveler’s Spouse started as a ebook earlier than being tailored right into a film, and now Audrey Niffenegger’s novel is getting the TV collection remedy, courtesy of exec producer/author Steven Moffat (Physician Who, Sherlock) and EP/director David Nutter (Sport of Thrones).
The HBO adaptation, premiering this Sunday at 9/8c, stars Theo James (Sanditon) and Rose Leslie (Sport of Thrones) as Henry and Clare, a pair whose relationship is examined by a genetic dysfunction that causes him to time journey.
When the challenge reached James, who learn the ebook in his twenties, “I assumed, ‘Oh s–t. Steven, David, HBO, The Time Traveler’s Spouse. That’s f–king cool,’” the actor tells TVLine.
Leslie, too, was drawn to the collection by “the character of Steven’s writing,” the actress says. “The type of lightheartedness, the type of peppering of comedy all through the collection, actually stored it attention-grabbing and entertaining to play. But additionally, there’s an undercurrent of tragedy for these two lovers, and in consequence, I simply thought it was an interesting challenge to be part of. There’s so many various avenues to probe for every character, not simply due to the age vary, however due to the extraordinary state of affairs that Clare finds herself in by being one-half of a time-traveling couple.”
Under, the celebs, plus Moffat and Nutter, preview 5 issues you might want to know concerning the adaptation.
THIS ONE’S FOR THE BOOK FANS | Moffat despatched the present’s scripts to Niffenegger and would “speak her by means of the issues I modified or why I used to be doing issues the best way I used to be doing, and generally she’d be silent, after which sometimes she’d get in contact,” he says. However general, the ever-busy writer was hands-off, telling Moffat, “‘What I need you to do — no strain — is make an enormous hit like Sherlock or Physician Who. I don’t need you to do what I let you know,’” he recollects.
A self-proclaimed fan of the novel, Moffat sought to stay devoted to the supply materials, even whereas adapting Niffenegger’s story to suit the construction of a weekly TV present. “It’s not about altering. It’s not about I picked up that ebook and thought I wish to repair this. The ebook is ideal,” Moffat insists. And in comparison with the 2009 movie that starred Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana, the HBO collection will get to dig deep into the ebook’s central themes. “I preferred the film and lots of people love that film,” Moffat says. “It takes us in all probability three episodes to nail down how the time journey actually, actually works and ensure the viewers is assured with it. By which period within the film, you’ve barely acquired any time left to lavish on what it’s actually about, which is about being the time traveler’s spouse and what the connection is like, and above all, what’s love like, what is sweet love like, which is the theme of the ebook, which it explores brilliantly.”
CHEMISTRY IS KEY | When it got here time to learn collectively for the producers, Leslie and James discovered themselves attempting to create chemistry by means of pc screens, because of the pandemic. “The audition course of was actually unusual,” Leslie describes. “I’ve by no means accomplished a chemistry learn by way of Zoom. The world that we have been residing in proper then was December 2020 by the point that I acquired to the chemistry stage, and so very, very odd to attempt to type of join with somebody on the opposite facet of a webcam.” Fortunately, the celebs had one thing going of their favor: a little bit of shared historical past. “I informed Rose she’d be studying with Theo James. A spark of curiosity type of sparkled in her eye. I went, ‘OK, what’s that each one about?’” Nutter recollects. “Then I spotted that they type of knew one another from Downton Abbey a few years in the past. I don’t even suppose they acted collectively. However there was some heat emotions between the 2 of them, they usually have been very optimistic. So I believe that we felt and noticed one thing type of spark there and we paid consideration to these first impressions, and it was actually fairly, fairly particular.”
ONE HENRY WAS MORE DIFFICULT AND MORE FUN | Of all of the completely different ages at which James portrays Henry, the actor discovered the twentysomething model “the hardest as a result of I didn’t wish to overplay that he’s younger and rambunctious. However on the identical time, he must be completely different,” James says. For Leslie, nevertheless, enjoying reverse that individual Henry was essentially the most enjoyable. “[He’s] type of frivolous and untethered and a nihilist,” the actress says. “And in consequence, I simply actually loved that as a result of he’s only a little bit of a prick, and it’s simply moderately enjoyable to play off that, and there was a large amount of power.”
IT HURTS TO TIME TRAVEL | Each time Henry is transported to the long run or the previous, he will get dropped, actually, with an enormous thump into that point interval. “It was painful, and I had plenty of bumps and bruises,” James says of filming these scenes. “I type of needed that in a method. There was some softer landings. I keep in mind there was one which I pleaded with David to reshoot as a result of I needed each time…to really feel like, ‘Ow! Jesus!’ This isn’t only a type of enjoyable romantic-comedy machine the place somebody falls by means of time. It’s one thing the place he will get actually f–ked up. So sure, it damage in actual life.”
THE GROOMING CONCERNS | One of many factors the place the ebook has been criticized is the truth that an grownup Henry repeatedly visits Clare when she is a toddler, elevating issues that he groomed her. “That’s not what the story is within the ebook or the movie or the TV present. He’s married to her,” Moffat counters. “He meets her as an grownup, he falls in love along with her, he will get married to her after which he’s flung again in time, by means of no fault of his personal, and is confronted with the childhood model of the girl he already loves. Much more so within the TV present model, he completely makes it clear that he’s only a buddy.” Moreover, the Henry who visits younger Clare is “a accountable man, so he has tremendously strict guidelines about this,” like that he won’t ever reveal who he’s to her sooner or later.
The 2 characters even have a dialog about who groomed whom in one of many episodes. “If certainly one of them modifications the opposite, Clare modifications Henry,” Moffat provides. “Clare is precisely the identical particular person as a little bit lady as she is while you see her in her seventies. Henry flows round Clare like a river round a rock. He makes himself the person she needs him to be as a result of he loves her.”
