EXCLUSIVE: Here are a couple of exclusive images of Inglourious Basterds star Diane Kruger in buzzy Paramount+ series Little Disasters.
Cannes Award-winning actor Kruger plays Jess in the adaptation of the Sarah Vaughan novel. When she takes her baby daughter to hospital with a head injury that she can’t explain, her close friend and on-duty A&E doctor Liz must make the excruciating decision of whether to call social services on her longtime friend. This decision sets in motion a chain of events that show how one moment can fracture and nearly destroy entire families and friendships. The show also stars Jo Joyner (The Wives, For Her Sins, Shakespeare & Hathaway), Shelley Conn (Gen V, Alex Rider, Bridgerton), Emily Taaffe (The Rising, The Beast Must Die, War And Peace), JJ Feild (Turn, Austenland, The Peripheral), Ben Bailey Smith (Star Wars: Andor, The Split, Brief Encounters) and Stephen Campbell Moore (The History Boys, Masters of the Air, Criminal Record).
Diane Kruger and JJ Field in Little Disasters. Image: Roughcut / Paramount Global / Kristóf Galgóczi Németh
Kruger has had far more movie roles than TV but she did play Detective Sonya Cross in FX’s version of The Bridge last decade. The German actor, who broke out in 2004’s epic war film Troy, was described as an “intelligent and dynamic actress, whose sheer presence brings with it a unique quality that leaves you inspired” by Little Disasters director Eva Sigurdardottir.
“Attaching Diane allowed me to explore sides of Jess’ character in deeper ways than I had anticipated,” she added. “Little Disasters is a story of a warm and loving mother who is hiding a dark secret, and Diane navigated that character so elegantly, with relatable and warm performances, as well as truly haunting and thrilling moments.”
That relatability attracted Sigurdardottir to Little Disasters, she told us, along with a “tension and thriller engine rooted in very relatable and familiar domestic settings.”
“I am a filmmaker who is drawn to brutally real and gritty stories, and here we had a glamorous and aspirational setting, yet with a terrifying central conflict – a hurt child,” she added.
Marianna Abbotts is producing for Big Boys producer Roughcut TV, which has recently moved into drama. She said she “fell in love with” Vaughan’s novels after reading Anatomy of a Scandal. “Sarah often writes about professional women who are forced to make impossible decisions. At the heart of Little Disasters is a really difficult moral dilemma when one friend is forced to call social services on another,” she added.
To aid with tackling these sensitive topics, the Roughcut team worked closely with Vaughan along with multiple advisors. “We wanted to portray the issues in the book accurately and it was extremely important to get that right,” said Abbotts. “We consulted medical, police and social service advisers who guided us with accuracy and sensitivity while understanding the need to tell a dramatic story.”
Little Disasters is a six-part series for Paramount+ UK and Ireland. Ruth Fowler and Amanda Duke adapted the series for the screen with Roughcut Television EPs Ash Atalla, Alex Smith and Abbotts on board alongside Vaughan. Simon Judd EPs for Fremantle, Sigurdardottir is the director and Myf Hopkins serves as the producer. The series was commissioned by Sebastian Cardwell and Paul Testar and will premiere next year. Fremantle is handling global sales.
