“Big Little Lies” returns this Sunday, June 9 on HBO!
The second season of this subversive, darkly comedic drama will explore the malignancy of lies, the durability of friendships, the fragility of marriage and the vicious ferocity of sound parenting. Relationships will fray, loyalties will erode…the potential for emotional and bodily injury shall loom. The Monterey Five – Madeline (Reese Witherspoon), Celeste (Nicole Kidman), Jane (Shailene Woodley), Renata (Laura Dern) and Bonnie (Zoë Kravitz) – are joined by Celeste’s visiting mother-in-law, Mary Louise (Meryl Streep), and their husbands, Ed (Adam Scott), Nathan (James Tupper) and Gordon (Jeffrey Nordling), in this seven-episode season. Created by David E. Kelley; teleplays by David E. Kelley; story by David E. Kelley and Liane Moriarty; based on the novel by Liane Moriarty; directed by Andrea Arnold; executive producers, Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, David E. Kelley, Andrea Arnold, Jean-Marc Vallée, Bruna Papandrea, Per Saari, Gregg Fienberg, Nathan Ross and Liane Moriarty.
We were on the red carpet at the New York premiere. Check out what the cast had to say below:
The Knockturnal: And so tell me what has the experience been like for you guys to be on this show?
Nicholas Crovetti: I mean, it was a very good experience because we got to meet a bunch of new people. We spend time with them a lot and when we weren’t filming, I mean, we go into each other’s trailers and we’d have fun with each other. I remember one night we went to Darby’s hotel room and we built a huge pillow fort. It’s really fun. It was a very good experience.
Cameron Crovetti: Especially working with all these big actors, it’s really fun and of course Nicole, she’s like a nice fun person.
Nicholas Crovetti: A lovely person.
Cameron Crovetti: Like a really, really nice person.
The Knockturnal: Then we meet your grandmother, Meryl Streep! What was it like with that legendary [actress]?
Cameron Crovetti: Awesome. She was like super nice. We didn’t know her at first but then our mom, she showed us a ton of movies like Devil Wears Prada and Death Becomes Her and then like right when we met her she gave us a Jenga set and she sat down and played with us.
Nicholas Crovetti: We played Jenga with her. It was fun. We bonded over that.
The Knockturnal: And tell me, what is like to return for another season?
Ivy George: It’s amazing. I loved seeing everyone again to reunite and stuff. It was just amazing to work with everyone again.
The Knockturnal: What can we expect?
Chloe Coleman: Again Skye is such a mellow and calm sweet young child … she gets what’s happening around her … which leads to a lot of twists and turns in the season. But it’s going to be a really great season, all the characters, something really special.
The Knockturnal: How has it been to work with Zoë?
Chloe Coleman: I mean, every day coming to set to work with her is such a pleasure. I love her so dearly. She’s such a lovely and beautiful sweet woman. I mean, she’s always so kind to me and everybody on set. She’s a really great example as an actor. I look like to her and I always love to be able to see her, and coming back for season two was awesome because I got to spend time with her. It was really amazing.
The Knockturnal: And what was the highlight for you working on the season?
Ivy George: Just to be with everyone because we don’t get to see each other a lot and just to work with everyone again was just my favorite part.
The Knockturnal: And we also meet your character’s grandmother this season. Tell us a little bit about that.
Chloe Coleman: I mean I can’t give away a lot of secrets but we meet my grandmother this season just like we meet Meryl Streep, and we meet her…She’s very sweet in the season, very lovely character and Skye dearly loves her. And not a whole bunch that I can say but she plays a really great new character in our season.
The Knockturnal: So tell me about the journey that we see you go on this season.
Darby Camp: So on this season, Chloe is still a little troublemaker. She’s still very sassy to her mom which makes me sad because I don’t want to be sassy to Miss Reese, but Chloe is the one being sassy, I’m not. But she’s still the same old sassy self and she has a phone this season, not an iPod, so she has like Twitter and all that stuff so she’s gotten a little mature but not at the same time.
The Knockturnal: And how was working with Reese once again?
Darby Camp: Working with Miss Reese again was so amazing. I was so excited when I found out there was going be a second season and to work with Miss Reese and my BLL family again … I was just so happy, I was like “wait no really oh my gosh.” You know I was so happy and to be here again also has been… just to see his family and friends again.
The Knockturnal: And you have a new director this season, Andrea Arnold. Can you speak about working with her?
Darby Camp: Miss Andrea, she was amazing to work with. She is super sweet and kind and during breaks between, she would get a speaker and play music and we would have a dance party which was amazing. She’s super sweet, love her.
The Knockturnal: What can we expect from you this season, your character?
Merrin Dungey: From me this season? Well, you can expect to see a little bit more of me this season.
The Knockturnal: That’s all you can say?
Merrin Dungey: That’s all I can say.
The Knockturnal: How was it collaborating with Andrea who is new as a director?
Merrin Dungey: You know she’s so wonderful and supportive and she plays a lot of music on set so that’s always fun to keep everybody moving and grooving. It was just a completely different vibe than working with Jean-Marc. You know, both wonderful but very different.
The Knockturnal: Were you surprised when you heard they were going to do a season two?
Merrin Dungey: I was surprised that they’re going do a season two, I was. I’ve been running into Nicole Kidman and she was like “we’re going to do a season two” and I was like “oh that’s so incredible, I can’t believe that’s going to happen,” and she’s like “hang in there” and I’m like “uh okay sure I’ll wait,” you know, and I was so happy to find out that they did one.
The Knockturnal: And so tell me a little bit about this season and what we can expect?
The Knockturnal: How excited were you when you found out that they were going to take this limited series and bring it back?
The Knockturnal: And how was working with Andrea this time because she was the new director on the scene?
Poorna Jagannathan: Kickass, inspiring to everyone. She was at everything, she directed all the episodes tirelessly and with the compassion and power that truth requires.
The Knockturnal: Anything else coming up that you’d like to share?
Poorna Jagannathan: I’m in a new HBO movie called Share that’s coming out in July which I’m really excited about it. It’s about sexual violence. It’s beautiful. I hope you watch it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCWevZV945M
