“Tiny Beautiful Things” is a product of love. In an exclusive conversation with Variety, the women of the Hulu series opened up about how it all came together and how big of an impact the story has had on each of their lives.
“In this lifetime, to have a writer like you in this world to help us synthesize the human experience, because we all go through pain, suffering, joy, happiness, humanity, those experiences through your eyes has changed my life,” executive producer Reese Witherspoon told author Cheryl Strayed during the conversation. “And the book ‘Wild’ literally changed my life by making that movie with you. But through that experience, we started talking about ‘Tiny Beautiful Things’ and how important that is, that people feel seen and heard and not alone in this world.”
Laura Dern, who starred in the film adaptation of “Wild” alongside Witherspoon and is also an executive producer on “Tiny Beautiful Things,” noted that the book became a Bible.
“Each of us found it in some magical way at the very moment we needed it, which is how ‘Tiny Beautiful Things’ comes to you,” she said. “The show is doing the same. It is a gift for all of us to see ourselves in.”
Liz Tiglaar, the series’ creator and showrunner, had admired Strayed’s books for years when the folks at Hello Sunshine suggested her to adapt the collection of essays. Then they had to search for their leading lady, the person who would play Clare — a version of Cheryl. Kathryn Hahn was the perfect fit.
When she read the book, she felt less alone. “We’re in this era of a messy, flawed heroin as a person to be as a woman, which is so interesting to me because I feel that what’s so beautifully captured in Liz’s adaptation and so tricky, and so beautiful and singular and honest, is that you scratch the surface of any single person on this planet and everyone’s a disaster underneath,” said Hahn.
Witherspoon, who played a version of Strayed in “Wild,” now feels a connection to Hahn. And knows just how difficult the character is.
“It’s not easy. It’s raw. It’s probably the most vulnerable I’ve ever felt in my entire life,” said Witherspoon. “I cried almost every day off-camera. It challenges your ideas of self and you’re challenged to not judge yourself. You’re in your messiness and it’s hard to go there and let people see you be messy.”
Hahn learned a lot from playing Clare; as she’s approaches her 50th birthday, she says she’s found her power in a new way. “I wish I could take that younger self and be a little less tough on her,” she explained.
One of the big themes in the show is around what one would tell their younger selves — and each women had very strong advice. For Hahn, it’d be to stay true to yourself. “Women are pretty adept shapeshifters. We adapt for who we’re talking to instead of holding true to who we are with whoever that audience is,” she stated. “That’s what I’m trying to teach my daughter and something I would have told my younger self.”
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For Witherspoon, she’d remind her younger self, “You don’t know who you are, it takes a minute. Just follow what you’re good at — not your dreams, but what you’re good at. You’ll figure out who you are but you’re gonna make some mistakes and that’s okay too.” She later added, “There’s real beauty in self-discovery. It’s kind of your job on this Earth to figure yourself out and have compassion for yourself and save yourself. Because you can really drown in that or you can reach for something better… That starts with asking big questions.”
Dern noted the importance of embracing the flaws within yourself and other young women: “There is nothing meaner than a middle school girl. We can talk about the boys but also talk about how we have the opportunity to champion each other in the most difficult moments and celebrate that in each other. The more compassionate we can be in our sisterhood the better off we’re gonna be.”
Tiglaar added, “I want to tell everybody in their 20s, especially women, stop obsessing and being consumed with who is going to love you… just figure out what you love!”
For Strayed shared one of her most powerful memories that happened in her own life and was in the pilot of the show. At her low point, she was on the bus and a little girl got on and handed a purple balloon; she didn’t want to take it because she felt she didn’t “have the right to such a tiny, beautiful thing.”
“We always have a right to take that balloon,” Strayed said. “And so my best advice to my younger self and all of our younger selves is take the balloon.”
Watch the full conversation above. All episodes of “Tiny Beautiful Things” is now streaming on Hulu.”
