Elin Hildebrand, author of “Five Star Weekend,” spoke to USA TODAY about the emotional moment she was pulled from her own life and the surprising reason she became so passionate about Nantucket.
Elin Hilderbrand explains changes to ‘Five Star Weekend’ TV
Elin Hilderbrand reveals the key changes in the adaptation of ‘Five Star Weekend’ and why the show needed flexibility to work on screen.
- Author Elin Hilderbrand has two novels made into films: The Perfect Couple and Five Star Weekend.
- Hilderbrand is retiring from writing typical summer novels set on Nantucket Island, and “Swan Song” in 2024 will be her last.
With over 30 books, many of them bestsellers, it’s easy to imagine that Hollywood has been knocking on Elin Hilderbrand’s door for years, hoping to adapt her story into a movie or TV show.
no.
One of her works finally hit the screen with her 21st novel, The Perfect couple. It had a megawatt cast (Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Meghan Fahey, Dakota Fanning, Eve Hewson) and earned impressive Nielsen ratings.
“The Five-Star Weekend” has appeared on Peacock. Adapted from Hilderbrand’s 2023 novel, the film follows Hollis, a best-selling cookbook author and food influencer, assembling friends for an over-planned and sometimes awkward girls’ weekend. The cast, including Jennifer Garner, Gemma Chan, Chloë Sevigny, Regina Hall, and D’Arcy Carden, reunited.
Hilderbrand, 56, doesn’t consider her characters to be actors while writing the script (“You never know what’s going to happen,” she says), but when Garner’s name came up during the show’s development, it felt like kismet.
“Partly because of her fake cooking show and partially because she’s the greatest human being in the world,” Hilderbrand told USA TODAY. And when the deal became official, “of course I screamed.”
Garner is also the show’s executive producer.
“She leads by example. She’s so thoughtful, intentional, inclusive, and generous of spirit. When you look at her, it’s all about the kind of person you see her as,” Hilderbrand says. “And I love having someone in the cast to take care of everyone.”
Hilderbrand’s only rule for Hollywood adaptations
The “Queen of Beach Reads” is unsentimental about how her books are being adapted for film.
“There’s been a lot of fuss recently about adaptations of other books saying this is different. People get upset,” she says. “People were upset about ‘The Perfect Couple.’ What happened with ‘The Perfect Couple’ was that Netflix wanted a six-episode murder mystery. The Perfect Couple has a really great love story, but it didn’t get as much airtime as it wasn’t what Netflix wanted. ”
Hilderbrand has made it clear that he has no problem with that. “I am a person who fully believes in the word adaptation.,“You have to change the book to make it compelling television,” she says. People can and want to go read the books, but the show needs to move at its own pace so that each episode leaves you wanting more. ”
On “Five Star Weekend,” she gave showrunner Bekah Branstetter a “blank slate” to make great television. “For me, it’s much more important to do a really good show that’s different from the book than a mediocre show that sticks to the book.”
What is non-negotiable for her? Nantucket Island. “The only thing I was worried about was Nantucket. I wanted to make sure Nantucket was authentic and done right,” she says.
Her dedication to the island goes back many years, in part because Nantucket has, in some ways, saved her during difficult times in her life. After spending three summers there, Hilderbrand went to the Iowa Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, which was “surrounded by cornfields and hog farms and silos, with no water in sight.” She had just gotten married, but her husband had returned to Nantucket.
“I was miserable, miserable” she says.
She took advantage of the university’s free therapy. “I would go every week and cry, and my therapist said, ‘I think you should start writing about Nantucket.’ This is what I thought. I said, ‘Yes, that’s special, so let’s write about it.”’ That eventually became her first novel, The Beach Club.
Even if the criticism at the University of Iowa was excruciating (“nobody liked my work”), Hilderbrand never doubted that he would succeed as a writer. “I received a lot of encouragement from a young age,” she says.
When she was in second grade, her teacher noticed her talent. “Every kid won an award. And at 7 years old, my award was for best writer. And I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m a writer. After all!'”
Her parents were also very supportive and she particularly remembers moments from her teenage years. “I was working at my father’s law firm over the summer, and I got in the elevator with one of his colleagues, and she turned to me and said, ‘So you want to be a lawyer?'” And my father said, “No, she’s too talented to be a lawyer.” She’s going to become a writer. ”
How ‘Five Star Weekend’ Reflects Hilderbrand’s Own Life
Hilderbrand’s father tragically died in a plane crash when she was 16 years old. And while grief is a theme in many of her books, she particularly poured her own memories into “Five Star Weekend.” Hollis’ husband dies and her daughter Caroline has to deal with her father’s death.
“Caroline was very easy for me to write because I lost my father when I was 16. There’s a line where Caroline says to[Hollis]’You can get another husband. I’m not going to have another father.'” I think that’s exactly what she said to her mother, Hilderbrand recalls. “I remember feeling like I had lost someone irreplaceable.”
Her fans, who call themselves “Hilderbaby,” may be feeling a little sad now that Hilderbrand has officially retired from writing novels about Nantucket. 2024’s “very intentionally titled” “Swan Song” was her last. Although she still plans to write (her second book with daughter Shelby is due out this fall), announcing her retirement was intentional.
“I wanted my readers to be prepared because they’re so loyal and dedicated that we’re coming to the end of the Nantucket Summer Book,” she says. “For 23 years, I’ve been delivering summer novels set on Nantucket Island. I wanted each novel to be unique, beautiful, wonderful, and engaging. I knew that at some point I would reach a point where I said, ‘I can’t do this anymore.'”
Hilderbaby can at least relive her beach ecstasy through the latest film adaptation. And perhaps more Hilderbrand books will come to the screen.
“I completely credit Liane Moriarty for my success. When Big Little Lies did well, my phone started ringing,” Hilderbrand says. “And my hope is that if Five Star Weekend does well, the phones will start ringing for other writers as well.”
