Diane Kruger‘s preparation for her role in the upcoming psychological thriller Little Disasters was a reflective process.
“It’s a very weird time for any woman, right?” the Troy and Inglourious Basterds star tells The Hollywood Reporter about becoming a mother. “You lose control of who you were before. You fear you’re never going to get that back, and everything changes overnight.” She adds: “It’s wonderful and joyful and all those things as well, but it is definitely a strange time in your life.”
The Paramount+ U.K. & Ireland six-episode show, premiering this year, is based on the novel of the same name by Sarah Vaughan (Anatomy of a Scandal). Tackling postnatal anxiety, child abuse and maternal OCD, it follows four very different women — Jess (Kruger), Liz (Jo Joyner), Charlotte (Shelley Conn) and Mel (Emily Taaffe) — who become fast friends when they have not much else in common aside from their due dates.
But when Jess takes her baby daughter to hospital with a head injury that she can’t explain, the on-duty A&E doctor and fellow mother, Liz, is forced to make the excruciating decision of whether to call social services on her longtime friend, setting in motion a chain of events that show how a single moment can fracture and even destroy entire families and friendships.
“I love Liz,” Joyner (The Wives) says to THR on the Little Disasters set last year in west London. “She’s probably the closest character I’ve played to myself for a long time. I love that Liz dresses for herself, dresses for comfort. It’s really identifiable and real. And I loved the fact that they’re approaching post-natal depression, because it must be terrifying and it’ll be a good thing to be out there and for people to not feel alone if they are suffering from it.”
Kruger’s character, Jess, is a “very complex character”, the German actress explains. “I was incredibly drawn to her — the type of mother that she is aspiring to be.” (In 2018, Kruger welcomed a daughter with fellow actor Norman Reedus.) “I felt a lot of compassion for [Jess]. She is incredibly fierce, and would do anything for her children… It’s rare that you get offered a part that is equal parts strength and vulnerability and out of my own personal life, I could also bring a lot to the table.”
The quartet were quickly made to conjure up performances that convincingly portrayed a group of good friends. “It was very natural,” Kruger said. “I was very lucky — [Joyner, Conn and Taaffe] were very game. We didn’t have a ton of time to rehearse; we were all busy. But we all felt very compelled, because we felt like the most of the situations were very, very realistic.”
The group’s husbands are also entrenched in the drama. To give an idea of the complicated setting: Patrick Baladi plays Andrew, Charlotte’s lawyer husband who is hired as Jess’s defense when she is accused of harming her 10-month-old.
Meanwhile, Conn’s character Charlotte is sweet on Jess’s husband, Ed (played by J.J. Field). Baladi teases: “Charlotte went to university with [Ed] and she’s always had a soft spot for him. They end up going for drinks and getting very close.”
Field jumps in: “The question is, what can be an innocent action like going for a drink with a friend? Where is the line? And what are the repercussions of simply being absent — is being an absent parent a guilty parent?”
Discussing the main plot of Little Disasters, he continues: “As a parent, it’s your idea of hell. You take your child to the emergency room because they’re sick, and in the emergency room your best friend is the doctor. … But because of due care, the doctor has to call social services, and social services remove your children. It’s a story about eight great friends who pull the thread and everything falls apart.”
Field even tells THR that there will be a “million comparisons” to HBO’s award-winning Big Little Lies with Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Zoe Kravitz, Laura Dern and Shailene Woodley, which followed a similar plot of mystery and drama interwoven with a group of privileged women in California. “It’s similar ages, similar wealth… beautiful, successful people. But in the shit, you’re just a human being, and you have to answer for your actions. It’s a psychological, emotional mystery and how that unravels in the U.K.”
Baladi and Field, appearing as the husbands alongside Ben Bailey Smith (Star Wars: Andor, The Split) and Stephen Campbell Moore (The History Boys, Masters of the Air), describe Kruger as a “powerhouse,” referencing her performance of a woman breaking down and still giving “100% all day, every day.” Field says: “She is utterly exhausted. We all just get to be scared suspects, and she has to go through an epic emotional, psychological and mental journey.”
While it was difficult subject matter and mentally taxing, Kruger says the show’s attraction is that it speaks to anyone. “I think it’s loyal to the essence of Sarah’s book,” she explains when discussing what fans of the novel might think compared to viewers coming in with no expectations. “It’s a loose adaptation, but [Sarah] was very present on set and in the process of making this. People who don’t know the book will be taken on a journey that is really quite wild, a slow-burn, but as the episodes unfold, it accelerates in a way that leaves you breathless.”
Fremantle is presenting Little Disasters to buyers at their 2025 London Screenings event on Feb. 28. The series is produced by Roughcut Television in association with Fremantle who are also handling global sales. Ruth Fowler and Amanda Duke adapted the series for the screen with Roughcut Television executive producers Ash Atalla, Alex Smith and Marianna Abbotts on board alongside Sarah Vaughan.
Simon Judd executive produces for Fremantle, Eva Sigurdardottir is the director and Myf Hopkins serves as producer. The series was commissioned by Sebastian Cardwell and Paul Testar for Paramount+ UK & Ireland and will premiere in 2025.
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