I think any of us who have had children know what it’s like to be a new parent. Your whole world becomes your baby and you lose touch with a lot of things- your friendships, your sense of self, sometimes even your relationship. That’s why the weekend away is so important to Beth- that and supporting her friend Kate, who is going through a nasty divorce. The weekend away in Croatia is not just a fun girls’ weekend- it’s a moment for Beth to remember who she is, and to reconnect with her best friend Kate at the same time.
That is, until Kate goes missing. Stranded in an unfamiliar city without her companion, Beth gets to work trying to find her best friend. She calls on the taxi driver she just met to shuttle her around playing detective, even though all she wants is to get home. Then when her worst fear is confirmed, she’s left wondering- will she ever get home to her daughter? And what exactly happened on the night Kate disappeared?
About the Movie:
A weekend getaway to Croatia goes awry when a woman (Leighton Meester) is accused of
killing her best friend (Christina Wolfe) and her efforts to get to the truth uncover a painful
secret.
The Weekend Away was such a great movie from beginning to end. Not only is Beth incredibly relatable, but she’s likable, too. She’s independent but knows when to ask for help, and she’s been dealing with some stuff but she knows she needs to sort it out, too. She’s a good friend- even though she’s beating herself up for being too busy to be there for her friend lately- and she’s smart. She trusts her gut, which is very much a core lesson from the film.
Any mystery is going to have you guessing who the perpetrator is, but man did this one put me through the ringer {in a great way}! Basically throughout the film, I kept going, “I knew it!”- followed by “Oh. Wait.” just a few minutes later. This movie truly kept me guessing until the end and was not nearly as predictable as many other films in the genre.
I definitely recommend this movie to everyone, especially if you like mysteries, beautiful locations, and interesting characters. This is definitely a movie for the grown ups, so it’d be a great movie for a date night at home or even for a watch party with the girls.
Interview with Sarah Alderson
I recently had the chance to join a group chat with both the star of the film, Leighton Meester, and Sarah Alderson who wrote the screenplay as well as the book the movie is based on. Read on to find out the inspiration behind the film, the unique way that Sarah became a writer, and how Beth’s life mirrored Leighton’s!
Where there any scenes from the book that you would have liked to have put as a scene in the film?
Sarah Alderson: Actually, no. I think I’m lucky because I got to adapt my own book, so I got to put in all my favorite bits. That’s the joy of being able to adapt your own work is being able to do that. When I wrote the book, I was already imagining it as a movie, so everything key from the book really did go into the script.
Was it always your plan to turn the book into a film?
Sarah Alderson: I always hope that I can eventually adapt my books. I write them very much with that in mind. I’m lucky because I’m a screenwriter as well, so I think the craft of that feeds into how I write my books- so when I was writing the book I was thinking, “Okay, this is how it would work as a movie.”
I always imagine my characters as well on the page- I can picture it really well like which Hollywood actor is playing this character? So it was kind of magical when it actually did happen and it got made into a movie it was such a thrill. It was my first book actually to be adapted so it felt like a huge achievement.
I’d love to hear about the inspiration for your characters.
Sarah Alderson: Well, the book came about because I went on a weekend away with my best friend to Lisbon- the book is set there. While we were there I was like what would happen if Nicola went missing? I started to follow that train of thought, and I read a lot of news stories and that always gives me little bits of inspiration. That’s not to say they are the same person at all, but I tend to take elements of my friends in terms of physical descriptions more than personality.
I also used to work in London for a nonprofit and I worked a lot with refugees, so the characters of Konstandin who is a refugee in the book- and he becomes Zain in the movie, who is a Syrian refugee- he was very much based on the people I’d met during my work.
What inspired you to be a writer?
About 12 years ago, I worked in a nonprofit in London. My husband and I decided we would quit our jobs and go traveling around the world with our three year old, as you do. And I was like- I have no money; how am I going to add money on the way? I’ve got no skills. So I decided very naively that I would write a book because I was like, “Well, Stephanie Meyers [the author of Twilight] has made millions- how hard can it be?”
I literally started writing a book that night, and I wrote my first book, Hunting Lila. When we were traveling I got an agent, I sent it out, and she sold it to Simon & Schuster in a two book deal and then a three book deal came afterwards. So I was like oh, I’m a writer.
Interview with Leighton Meester
So you had just had a baby before filming this- I know it was your 2nd but did you bring any of that new mom experience to the table when channeling Beth?
Leighton Meester: Yes, absolutely. I think it’s inevitable, I don’t think that I could shed that sort of sensation and luckily I think that as it was written, and as the character was developed both in the novel and on the page of the script, that was such a huge part of her journey.
As a new mom, it was my second time but it feels new. I think that was an incredibly important fact, the number one important thing to me in researching and looking into the role and reading it. The first thing I saw was that she’s 35 with a 10 month old and that was exactly me. I was like how is this going to show up on the page? And it really did- the gamut of emotions that go along with having a new baby, the feelings of being away from them for the first time. The feelings of love.
Everything changed- my body and my relationship; my friendships; my view of myself, my freedom, my job; so you know the weekend away for her is a lot more than a weekend away. As we discover it obviously becomes a lot different, but it has a lot of meaning for her to be able to go and be away. And I think it adds such incredibly high stakes to the film and her journey and transformation because it is truly my nightmare, being in a situation like that thousands of miles away from my kids. So that desperation, I think it really plays out and really raises the stakes in a way that was a challenge, but it also gave me such weight.
What part of Croatia were you in?
Leighton Meester: We were in Split, so it’s a 2,000 year old Roman palace that was Diocletian’s vacation home, he’s a Roman emperor. It’s there, and then there’s beautiful beaches and islands and amazing food and wonderfully warm people so it was quite lovely. I’m always trying to find a way to get back there. It was so wonderful.
Have you ever had a girls trip?
Leighton Meester: I wish I could give you a really interesting answer and the answer is no. We fantasize about it, me and my girlfriend all the time. I recently went away with my husband for three nights which I was like- there’s no way I’m going to last for three nights and boy, that that third night came really fast. I was like oh, I gotta stay a week! Sleeping without a monitor next to me was a deeper sleep than I’ve known in a very long time, so I really did enjoy that and just like talking to my husband and not being interrupted. We’re just asking each other questions and just talking and I’m like oh, I like you, I remember.
How does your character development differ when taking on a character that was initially written for a book as opposed to a character that was directly written for the screen?
Leighton Meester: Well I will say that I feel like this was the best of all worlds because the book and the script were written by Sarah Alderson, both of them. The script is really written with so much between the lines, and I think because it has the support of having been a novel. Even though the novel is different- Beth is different, they’re in a different place- I think so much of it is still there. I was really lucky and it was such a collaborative experience with Sarah while making the film and during rehearsals.
You can watch The Weekend Away now streaming on Netflix!
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