Alone with Merritt Wever, Fivel Stewart and Liz Flahive for “Roar”, a female kaleidoscope turned into a miniseries

How is a woman's experience defined from different scenarios and perspectives? The Irish writer Cecelia Ahern brought various answers to the world of literature on the pages of Roar, a collection of short stories that brings together stories characterized by drama, comedy, strangeness and a bit of the feeling of conquering women's freedom. On April 15, Apple TV+ will release a mini-series that adapts this book under the look at Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch, the writers who shot the famous Glow.

Through a video call connection, Infobae agreed to talk to Flahive and two of the actresses who made up the cast, Merritt Wever (Inconceivable) and Fivel Stewart (Atypical). Each of them shared their relationship with Ahern's novel and how they managed to build different stories in short episodes for a limited series format, which doesn't allow them to expand too much to develop a plot.

“We have very different brains, so when we respond to something together it feels special,” Liz Flahive admitted of her work with Carly Mensch, adding that the funniest thing about this proposal was that some chapters were too short or the names of the characters were unknown: “The thing we love about book is that stories are actually very scarce [...] There was a very sticky idea, premise or allegory in each of the stories that really get you.”

“And I think Cecelia was very open with us, she was happy that we took stories and completely ruined them and made them ours,” she said, recalling the start of the project. “What it also feels like when you're adapting work is a dance of 'how much do you want us to be here? ' She was very generous and said, 'No, take it. It's yours. ' And it's a different thing now, so that was exciting for us.”

The purpose of bringing Roar to the small screen was also justified in the great opportunity to write eight stories featuring women and that differ from each other. For the co-creator, it would be like a “kind of kaleidoscope” that stands out for its variety (of voices, ages and points of view), but without falling into a statement that this, as such, is all women are. Part of this vision was an inheritance of Cecelia Ahern herself, as she details.

When asked about her favorite episode of the entire season, Liz Flahive immediately protested: “I can't choose my favorite son!” However, he couldn't help but confess that he loves “The Woman Who Was Fed By A Duck”, starring Merritt Wever — whom he has known since Nurse Jackie — because in addition to writing it, he was also able to sit behind the cameras to direct it. The experience was... unique and extremely strange.

“When we did it, we didn't know what it would be like to see a woman and a duck being in so many scenes together,” he said. “It was exciting, because we were on the tightrope, you know? Sometimes when you do things, you say, 'This will work, because I've seen it before'. And when we planned it, it was like I haven't seen a scene like that before. I don't know exactly how to film a woman doing a sex scene with a duck, but we'll figure it out.”

The woman who “loved” a duck and another who loved horses

Merritt Wever, remembered for bringing Zoey Barkow to life in Nurse Jackie and for being the fearless detective of Inconceivable, stars in one of the most bizarre episodes of Roar. From the beginning, she considered that acting with a real animal was going to be the most difficult thing. Upon arrival on the set, the complicity between the protagonist and Justin, the duck, made possible the romance between these two characters. The complicated thing ended in the usual: acting and how to make him feel honest when playing a scene.

“Part of the narrative that I invented for myself is that this character is in a very uncertain place. She's very disconnected from the people closest to her, like she suffered a lot. And she meets this being that she believes is feeding her good things, that will help her,” she said of “The Woman Who Was Fed By A Duck”. “In the course of the episode, she realizes that he is feeding her very bad things and, at the end of the episode, she learns to feed herself.”

Wever also believes that this chapter echoes gaslighting, a type of emotional abuse that is very common in couples, but which, in this case, happens in a relationship between a woman and a duck. On the other hand, one aspect that he considered “challenging” of this television production was to deliver the story of this character to the public based on a rather short script.

“One of the difficult parts of this episode is that we're trying to tell a story about something that can happen slowly and suddenly over a period of time and we only have a realistic [time] limit that happened fast. So, I hope it still looks honest and credible. But I agree that half an hour or 30 pages is not a long time to tell a story and it takes a lot of skill to get it right,” he added.

Unlike his co-star on Roar, the Fivel Stewart episode is the only one that wasn't originally in the book and was pure writing for television. “The Girl Who Loved Horses” required hard training for the young actress, although she has been completely familiar with this environment since her childhood. Do you really love them in real life?

“Oh, yes! One hundred percent. I grew up with horses,” he revealed. “I knew how to ride a horse with an American saddle, so it was useful. And Jane, my character, rides without one, so I had to learn that style and that was a different world,” she highlighted about her experience on set that forced her to have about seven weeks of practice before filming. “I had a longer experience with Roar, more than a week and a half or go and shoot and finish [...] It felt like I was shooting a movie.”

In addition to fulfilling the dream of acting in a period piece, Stewart stressed that the main idea behind this story is that “violence is not usually the way”. At first, Jane seeks to take revenge against the man who murdered her father, but the pastor's daughter — who could be considered her friend — rushes in her attempts to get him to desist from this suicide mission.

“I hope that women or anyone watching this episode understands that even if you are hurt or so angry, just take a breath and understand the situation and that the right things will eventually happen,” he said. Although this fragment was not among the pages of Cecelia Ahern, she read it during the filming: “The stories in general are incredible and the fact that they are, but that it is also so shocking... She did an incredible job”.

Regarding her most recent role as Izzie Taylor in Atypical, we asked Fivel Stewart if she would agree to return with a spin-off focused on her fictional pair and that of Casey Gardner, Sam's younger sister. “I would do it completely. Working with Brigette [Lundy-Paine] on a series would be a dream,” he laughed. “I would have my life figured out. I'd say, 'OK, that's all I need. ' That would be amazing.”

All eight episodes of Roar will be available from April 15 on Apple TV+ .

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