Netflix will start streaming the miniseries, Alias Grace, on November 3rd. The story is an adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s novel by the same name. It’s based on an actual story of a young Irish servant who lived in the 1800s named Grace Marks who was accused, along with the stableman John McDermott, of murdering their boss and his housekeeper/lover. McDermott was hanged but Grace was given life in prison. As we saw with The Handmaids Tale, Atwood’s stories strike a cord within today’s political climate. Alias Grace deals with “female agency, abortion, immigrant rights and class tensions.” Grace is played by Sarah Gadon, who may be better known to many of you as Sadie Dunhill in Hulu’s 11.22.63. Gadon, who had not read the book before she was offered the role, became engrossed in the story and protective of Grace. She worked closely with Atwood to make sure she gave Grace the right voice in the miniseries.

“I think in light of all the discourse about sexual harassment, there’s something really important about the story we’re telling,” she says. “It’s funny, because I was an English minor and I remember reading Margaret Atwood in school and thinking, ‘This is too aggressive, we’re beyond this.’ But then I started to work, and I heard Margaret’s voice in my head and she was right. There are still so many issues that women face in society that get covered up or go un-talked about.”

“I became very analytical about Grace,” she explains. “I read the book a number of times. I read it and compared the differences between the novel and the script — what was dropped, what was kept. I really wanted to honor her because even though it’s historical fiction, it’s about a real person and the real events that happened in her lifetime. So I sat with Margaret and we talked about how important it was to keep the ambiguity. Did she do it? Did she not? And that conversation weighed heavily on how I ended up portraying Grace for the show.”

Working on Alias Grace was also, in its own way, a challenge to the status quo by virtue of the creative team led by director Mary Harron (Graceland) and Polley, a producer on the miniseries who has since come out with her own allegations of sexual harassment in Hollywood. 

The actress says that the two women “set the bar high for what they wanted me to achieve in terms of this character,” while lauding Polley, in particular, for her “bravery” in tackling the script and “lifting up other women’s voices” in the process of making Alias Grace. “The team of women behind this project was so intelligent, and the material was so complex, that they’ve set a high bar for what I work on next,” Gadon acknowledges.

[From ET]

I consider myself an Atwood fan – my favorite of her books is Cat’s Eye – but I’m ashamed to say I’d never even heard of Alias Grace before now. I feel like I should write her a note of apology. (I’ve already placed a hold on it with the library so this gaffe will be corrected!) Like Gadon, I used to feel the same about some of Atwood’s books while reading them, that we’ve moved so far past them. But when I watched Handmaids, I was shocked at how easily it not only adapted to today’s atmosphere and how convincing it was. I realized how naïve I had been when I was reading it the first time. I don’t doubt I will have the same feeling when I watch this series.

If you have a minute, there is a great story about the screenwriter, Sarah Polley, writing Atwood to ask permission to adapt this book when she was just 17. Atwood declined because she didn’t feel a teenager had “the wherewithal” to adapt it. Cut to today with Polley realizing her dream and getting on famously with Atwood while doing it. Like Gadon, Polley has only lovely things to say about Atwood’s involvement in the film. If Handmaids is anything to go by, having Atwood involved is a huge help to preserving the message of these stories.

Photo credit: WENN Photos