Alligators, thunderstorms, flash floods: Where the Crawdads Sing cast and crew talk about filming in New Orleans
- Daisy Edgar-Jones, who plays the lead role, director Olivia Newman and actor Taylor John Smith talk about bringing the bestseller to the big screen
- Filming in New Orleans brought its own problems, and Newman says she has a ‘bit of PTSD’ from the experience, but it was all worth it
The coastal marshlands of North Carolina take on a mythic quality in Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing.
They are where the protagonist, Kya, grows up alone after her family leaves. They are also both the source of her artistic inspiration and her social isolation from the people in the nearby town of Barkley Cove.
“Marsh is not a swamp,” Owens’ book begins. “Marsh is a space of light, where grass grows in water, and water flows into the sky. Slow-moving creeks wander, carrying the orb of the sun with them to the sea, and long-legged birds lift with unexpected grace-as though not built to fly-against the roar of a thousand snow geese.”
It is a character as important as any in the book, and the filmmakers behind the big screen adaptation, released in the United States on July 15, were not going to take any chances recreating that environment on a soundstage.
Seeing snakes and gators come up next to you in the middle of a scene? It was great that we were able to play around in that environment
They, too, would take to the marsh – oppressive heat, swarming bugs, looming alligators, unpredictable weather, flash floods, thunderstorms and all – to bring the story to life. New Orleans plays coastal North Carolina in the film.