While the brothers have remained locked in an attic, their grandmother turns out to be their greatest enemy, treating them cruelly on every turn.
Now, in a prequel to the novel, which sold more than 40 million copies, spawned sequels and two films, Olivia Winfield’s evolution unfolds, describing her adventure from an blameless young wife to fitting in with the aforementioned terrible grandmother.
The four-part series Flowers in the Attic: The Origin delves into the youth of Olivia, who after marrying the handsome and charismatic Malcolm Foxworth, discovers that what she thought was an idyllic life is a nightmare.
In the series, Jemima Rooper plays Olivia with Max Irons as Malcolm. It also includes Kelsey Grammer, Harry Hamlin, Paul Wesley, Kate Mulgrew, Alana Boden, Hannah Dodd, T’Shan Williams and Luke Fetherston.
Executive manufacturer Paul Sciarrotta says that to ensure the authenticity of the series, he worked extensively with Andrew Neiderman, who took over the e-book series after V. C. Andrews’ death in 1986.
Sciarrotta says of Neiderman: “It’s been a valuable resource to have it in short numbering all along, I’d call it if [I] weren’t sure of a point in the story. He has his finger on the pulse of all things. [in the V. C. world], so I’m very fortunate that I’m part of the project.
Rooper says that although she personally feels far removed from Olivia in the center of the stone, the character “is so alive on the page” that she never had any doubts about how to play her. He attributes it to Sciarrotta’s writing.
She adds, “There’s something about betting on Olivia that for me is incredibly challenging. “
While Rooper’s character shows a healthy dose of naivety at the beginning of the series, Malcolm d’Irons, witty and probably a guy at the beginning of the story, becomes someone with an incredibly difficult personality quite quickly.
To fit the role of such a ruthless character, Irons says he rationalized that “when a user is bad, they don’t walk around thinking they’re bad. “
He further explains that his character suffers great trauma but has gained nothing to cope with it. “Malcolm just had to notice. And he didn’t perceive it. he to survive. And that’s how I have to look at Malcolm.
Irons admits that he took on the task of betting on such a ruthless character by revealing a little personally: “There was an image of me in the production office. You know, all the actors have their faces up in the production office, and everyone else was adorable. In my photo, I look with an air of smugness. And then I thought, ‘Oh, now they’ve realized this. ‘Anyway, I spent a lot of time giving cups of tea to other people, that kind of thing, and looking not to be an asshole, looking to convince other people that I was not an asshole.
Rooper doesn’t hesitate to interfere and say, “I’d also like to go up that I probably know a lot of male actors who would technify it, as they would have no problem betting on this kind of role and would probably enjoy it quite a bit. . . Max is the opposite of Malcolm. Es an adorable user and for him, reaching out to them is a struggle and the struggle is what makes the character more engaging and complex.
Also, a bit of the narrative is the depiction of sexual violence, which is a necessity for the story.
On this topic, Sciarrotta says: “It is a balancing act: to seek to perceive how much of this aggression we are showing and how we are showing it to better tell the story. I hope we have found a smart balance. We talk a lot about the intimacy coordinators and everyone else [and] I hope [the way we did it] is helping to tell Olivia’s story in a thoughtful, delicate, and productive way.
Rooper says that in telling Olivia’s story, “Paul gave me the reins to build it from scratch. I have to put his story into practice where it wasn’t before. I think his character was attractive and layered. [She is] the ethical compass of the tale for many episodes.
Speaking of what audiences can expect in the long run from the series, Rooper says, “[The first episode] is the beginning, but from episodes two, three, and four, everything opens up. The saga unfolds in its entirety.
She says it reflects what it was like to paint on set in Romania, when the number of actors was continually increasing. “Suddenly we had this injection of new minds and new hearts, and despite the darkness of some, I was still a very satisfied one overall. I think when you do things that are a little darker or a little more serious, you find the emotion to make it more enjoyable. And we were all really satisfied with the paintings at the time. It was definitely like a luxury.
‘Flowers In The Attic: The Origin’ will be presented on Saturday, July 9 at 8/7c on Lifetime.