Reese Witherspoon Produces ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’

By LILY TINOCO | Reporter

The first trailer for former Palisadian Reese Witherspoon’s adaptation of “Where the Crawdads Sing” was released Wednesday, March 23. The upcoming drama is based on the eponymous novel by Delia Owens.

The film—which stars Daisy Edgar-Jones (“Normal People”)—is slated to premiere in theaters on July 22.

“Where the Crawdads Sing” follows Kya (Edgar-Jones), a young girl in North Carolina who was abandoned by her family in the early 1950s. She learns to survive on her own, before becoming the prime suspect of the murder of a past lover.

Edgar-Jones is joined by Taylor John Smith as Tate Walker, Harris Dickinson as Chase Andrews. Olivia Newman (“First Match”) is the director, and Lucy Alibar (“Beasts of the Southern Wild”) wrote the script.

“We were so lucky to find Olivia,” Witherspoon said about Newman to Variety. “She’s such a dynamic filmmaker. She also just understands the scope of a story like this. And she has these beautiful vistas and sweeping shots that’ll just take your breath away … She just really built a world that you want to move inside of and be a part of.”

Witherspoon previously selected “Where the Crawdads Sing” as her ‘Book Club’ pick in September 2018.

“I read this novel probably in one day, maybe two days. I just couldn’t put it down,” Witherspoon said. “I fell in love with Kya as a main character, as a little girl who’s growing up in this very rural area, who’s shunned by society, and is trying to find a way to just save herself, just survive. And the way that Delia Owens wrote this book with such authenticity, you could just tell she really grew up in this place. She really appreciated the nature around her. “The book is a love letter to growing up in the South, which for me really resonated because I grew up in New Orleans and Nashville.”

Witherspoon’s company Hello Sunshine produced the film, and previously worked on her adaptations of “Gone Girl,” “Big Little Lies” and “Little Fires Everywhere.”