Shailene Woodley Initially Turned Down Big Little Lies but Says a Call from Laura Dern 'Changed' Everything

big little lies’ The Monterey Five could have looked completely different.

Shailene Woodley, who played Jane Chapman in the HBO series alongside Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern and Zoë Kravitz, has just revealed that she was initially hesitant to take on the role in the show – so much so that she almost turned it down.

“I got the call, I’ll never forget it. It was November or October of 2015. I was very sick at the time and I wasn’t exhausted at all by acting or the art and the art of storytelling, but I was really exhausted by the act of Hollywood,” Woodley, 32, said in video for Vanity Fair as he looks back on the play.

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“And I got a call about a relationship Big little lies because Jean-Marc Vallée — our beautiful creator, director, who has since passed away — wanted me to play Jane. I was desperate to work with him, I thought he was such an amazing artist and director,” she said.

The only thing holding her back? “I was really determined to ‘find myself’.”

Laura Dern, Ivy George, Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley in “Big Little Lies” – 2017.

HBO/Kobal/Shutterstock

Her future colleague and friend changed her mind. “Laura called me [Dern] the day before I left for India — or maybe I was already in India and hadn’t turned off my phone yet. And she just said, ‘Listen, I know where you are in life. I’ve been there before. That’s a lot. This world is an illusion, but what’s not an illusion is what you love to do,” Dern, 57, remembers telling her.

“What I see in you, Shai, is that your purpose—at least at this point in your life—is to be a storyteller. And I think it’s a huge mistake for you to walk away from this opportunity that you should really lean into.'”

Woodley has Dern to thank for that invitation, which she said made her “leave India and come back to the United States” to take the job. – That changed my life forever.

“And so, in many ways, I’m grateful for Laura, but it was a huge moment of brave friendship to say, ‘I think you’re making a mistake and I’m going to be brave enough to tell you why, because I really see you and I see something that you don’t now. you can see in your life.'”

Shailene Woodley at the premiere of ‘Three Women’ in New York on September 9, 2024.

Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images

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Woodley called Dern “my sister” as she recalled the conversation that convinced her to take on the role of Jane, and also said Vanity Fair about her lasting friendships with other co-stars.

“Nice thing about the relationship Big little lies is that we’re all actually friends in real life,” she said of herself, Dern, Witherspoon, 48, Kravitz, 35, and Kidman, 57, before commenting on the show’s upcoming third season, which comes more than five years after the premiere of 2 . the season.

“We have a text message chain and we’re constantly checking back, every few weeks, ‘Hey, what’s new?’ “It’s still happening,” Woodley said. “They keep telling me there’s going to be a third season, but I haven’t read anything yet.”

Laura Dern, Nicole Kidman, Zoe Kravitz, Reese Witherspoon and Shailene Woodley pose with the award for Best Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for ‘Big Little Lies’ at the 2018 Golden Globe Awards.

Kevin Winter/Getty

Kravitz told PEOPLE in August that she also knows “nothing” specifically about Season 3 — which Kidman casually spilled the beans about last year — but is “excited to do it.”

“I’m waiting to see, like everyone else, the third season that happens … I’m waiting by the phone, waiting for the script to finish.”

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Seasons 1 and 2 of Big little lies can be streamed on Max.

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Source: HIS Education