Apple TV’s adaption of Cecelia Ahern’s collection of short stories, presenting the stories of eight women who face various challenges. The show tackles shame, guilt, fear, racism, death, love, and many other themes, using magical realism to tell each protagonist's story.
The quirky storylines all offer a different element and genre, which means that there’s an audience for each episode. Creating a show that tells the story of what women face in today’s society takes the right creators. The creators of Emmy award-winning comedy-drama Glow, Carly Mensch and Liz Flahive bring Roar to life through the action behind the scenes.
Producers Were Hesitant About The Duck Scene
Merritt Wever plays a woman who falls in love with a duck from her local park. If that isn't strange enough, there's also a sex scene with the duck. Co-creator Liz Flahive told strange sex scene was challenging to make. Producers at Apple were hesitant to include the scene., but Nicole Kidman convinced them to keep it.
“Nicole, in particular, was very vocal being bold and not shying away from the things that were more subversive,” says Flahive. “When you have a really big movie star, E.P. championing an episode about a woman getting into a toxic relationship with a duck very loudly on a phone call, it’s really helpful.”
They Used A Real Duck
The directors were very intentional going into the duck scene. Although the idea of a woman in a relationship with a duck is absurd, they treated everything like they would any other scene. Flahive told Indie Wire that it was a closed set, and they had an intimacy coordinator.
Justin Kirk, who did the duck's voice, was on set doing the voice off-camera. Wever was able to look at a real duck as Justin performed. “We recorded his performance on stage. He did the rehearsals with her. I literally have pictures of him squatting down, so he’s at least at the right eye line as Merritt standing up,” Flahive said.
They Changed One Episode Theme From Ageism To Racism And Sexism
Issa Rae’s episode is about an author who was offered to turn her book into a movie. After meeting with White executives, she realizes that they want to turn her book into a VR reality experience instead. Once she starts giving the team , they stop seeing and hearing her.
In the book, the story is about an aging academic who’s becoming invisible to society. Flahive told Showbiz Cheat Sheet that playwright, Janine Nabers, adapted the story from the book. “When Janine read it, her twist on it was turning it into a Hollywood cautionary tale about the commodification of Black art in the wake of Black Lives Matter," Flahive said.
Meera Syal Didn’t Have To Audition For Her Role
Meera Syal plays a woman who returns her husband to the store. Syal told A.V. Club that after talking to the show creators and the writer of her episode, they asked her to do it. She didn’t have to go through the audition process. Vera Santamaria knew who she wanted Anu to be and thought Syal was a great match.
“I can't tell you how rare it is to get a part with this much range-the lows and highs of the tragedy and comedy-for a woman who looks like me and is my age,” Syal said.
They Used Rice Paper For The Photographs
Episode 2 of Roar introduces viewers to Robin, played by Nicole Kidman. Robin’s mother, Rose, has dementia and plans to move in with Rose and her family. While packing up her mom’s house, she finds a photo album and decides to eat one of the photographs. When she eats the photograph, she experiences visions from the time pictured in the photo. This continues throughout the episode.
Flahive told Indie Wire that director Kim Gehrig researched to figure out how Nicole Kidman could really eat photographs. They had photographs printed on rice paper and another set printed on marzipan. When she was eating several photographs at once, she was eating rice paper, although it was more brittle.
One Of The Episodes Was Rewritten Four Times
Writers of “The Woman That Was Kept on a Shelf” rewrote the episode 40 times because they didn’t want to come off as judgmental. Co-creator Carly Mensch told the Los Angeles Times that at one point they thought the episode should be about Melania Trump.
“It was so new for us. It was a visual from the book that really stuck with us and that we loved that felt like an amazing cinematic dare,” Mensch shared. “We couldn’t figure out the best way to honor the metaphor without denigrating trophy wives,” she said.
The Bite Marks Told A Story
In Cynthia Erivo’s episode, bite marks that could be found in the goriest movies appear all over her body. Rashida Jones, director of the episode, Erivo, and Quyen Tran, director of photography, worked together to figure out how the bite marks would progress. The scars started as human bite marks, but then grew into something more grotesque. They tested bite marks until they conveyed the emotion of maternal guilt.
As her guilt progresses, it should get more out of control. The less she talks about it, the more she represses her feelings of guilt, the more aggressive the bite marks become. And it’s not until she actually talks about it fully that they recede,” Flahive said in an interview with Indie Wire.
They Filmed At A Costco
Episode 7 of Roar starts with Anu finding her “husband warranty” and returning him to the store. Anu finds out that she can’t just return her husband. She has to exchange him for a new one.
Syal told AV Club that the store scenes were shot at a Costco. The crew created a husband’s aisle and placed a price tag on each husband. The store was opened during filming, and fans inquired about the show. Syal shared that one woman jokingly asked if she could drop her husband off too.
Playing A Ghost Was A Test in Self-Confidence
Alison Brie plays a ghost who must solve her own murder. Brie told Collider that performing without anyone interacting with her was a balancing act. She often tries to get someone’s attention, but everyone acts like she isn’t there.
“If anything, it really connected me more to the character because I was experiencing it,” she explained. “In trying to perform this character, I was going through what she is going through as a character, which is obviously not being seen or heard.
The Episodes Were Hard To Execute
Flahive and Mensch naturally write stories about women because they’ve worked on women-centered shows throughout their careers. Roar is aligned to their past work, but they found the episodes hard to execute.
Mensch told Los Angeles Times that each episode had something challenging about it. They shot the Western episode during a 100-degree heatwave while the actresses wore leather and period costumes. They had to figure out the shelf logistics for episode three, and they had to train seven ducks to interact with Wever. “It felt like we almost never got a break,” Mensch said. Although they