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Big Little Lies author Liane Moriarty has revealed how Oscar-winner Meryl Streep joined the cast of the hit drama’s second series. Sydney-based Moriarty said she wrote the role – of Nicole Kidman’s mother-in-law, Mary Louise Wright – with Streep in mind, and Kidman played a huge role in securing the Hollywood icon. “I was about half way through (writing) and I was talking to the producers and I said, I’ve got this role of Perry’s mother and … not quite believing my own audacity, I’d like Meryl to play this character,” Moriarty said. “And the producers were laughing at me because they were saying ‘you’ve become so Hollywood’ … as in, picking up the phone and saying, ‘get me Meryl.’” “They were teasing me … but then they were saying, it’s not beyond the realm of possibilities because Nicole and Meryl are friends,” Moriarty said. The Australian author — who penned the book Big Little Lies on which the HBO series was based — named the character “Mary Louise” after Streep and said Kidman was instrumental to Streep joining the cast. “Nicole sent me an email saying, ‘ask and you shall receive,’” Moriarty said. Moriarty said Streep’s character was a “significant role”. Mary Louise (Streep) is the mother of Perry (Alexander Skarsgard), who was married to Celeste (Kidman), and was murdered at the end of season one. “She deeply loved her son … as much as any mother can love her son,” Moriarty said, adding Streep’s character was “deeply grieving” . “She had a slightly fraught relationship with her daughter-in-law, so it’s a very complicated, difficult time. “When I was writing it, I was calling her ‘Meryl’. But then I thought Meryl didn’t suit the character. “So I looked up to see what Meryl’s middle name was and then I saw that, actually, her real name is Mary Louise. And Mary Louise fits the character perfectly.” HBO previously announced that “most” of the cast from season one would return for the seven-episode second season, including Kidman and Reese Witherspoon as executive producers. Production on the second season is due to begin in March and the series will air in 2019.
