One Day - series adaptation on Netflix, starts Feb 8th

[Netaporter]

Anyone fancy a watch thread? Loved the book by David Nicholls, loved the film, but it’s never really gained a strong following for some reason? The series stars Ambika Mod (This is going to hurt) as Emma and Leo Woodall (The white Lotus) as Dexter.

Kate and William went to St Andrews, not Edinburgh. Just as posh though!

You may not be able to relate, but plenty of others can who wouldn’t be able to relate to a white woman 🤷‍♀️

The TV series is based on the book, not on the film. Was her race ever made explicit in the book?

I agree. You wouldn't have a white woman playing an Indian character.

This is one of my favourite books of all time and I feel like they've messed with it too much.

Raincloudsonasunnyday I said that I cannot relate to the new version of the film, not that I cannot relate to the actress. I don't think mixed-race viewers would be happy to see a white actress playing a part which was previously famously portrayed by a mixed-race actor. And Emma was not mixed race in the book.
I wish producers had enough brains and creativity to come up with original series than reshoot the old ones and make them contemporary by "adding diversity" to the lead couple.

What does Emma’s race have to do with anything? It’s not made explicit in the book. She is a British girl from Leeds. Does it matter what colour her skin is? It shouldn’t

mypafology Emma had "bottled-red hair" in the book so Caucasian

periodiclabel and Emma's eyes were "blue and green". The ethnicity is pretty clear.
The question is not about whether ethnicity should matter - matter for what? It should definitely matter if the series is based on a specific book and had a movie produced previously, and if it's about the casting of two lead characters. You wouldn't have Dex played by a young Denny De Vito.

Funnily enough I was curious to watch the trailer for the film & when I did I remembered exactly why I wasn’t bothered about watching it. Neither of the leads appealed to me & it looked really bland. The Netflix version appealed much more to me but I have never read the book. I think as others have said some will relate far more to Ambika Mod than Anne Hathaway. The interview with Ambika Mod in the Guardian was really interesting as she talks about feeling like an imposter & never expecting to get this role as a ‘brown woman.’

As an aside Ambika Mod is not mixed race. Both her parents are Indian immigrants.

I suppose it might appeal to young adults and those in their 20s who didn't see the film first time around (13 years ago)

I'm not sure if colour blind casting is the answer to under representation of BME people in the media. It might be.
I would hope though that if a decent author wrote a book that featured an Asian female lead character, that this would be part of her life experience and some mention of it made in the book. Perhaps the series will do this.

Dex wearing ring on index finger

I can’t comment on the description in the book but my feeling is that there are hundreds of adaptations with an all white cast (where people of colour have been airbrushed out). Take your pick. And presumably David Nicholls was fine with it since he’s an executive producer.

I think that when Netflix negotiated with David Nicholls and his agent the likely figure of six figures for the TV rights, he didn’t give a shit about who would later be cast as Dex and Emma. Let’s face it, in those circumstances, who would?

So the person cast as Emma must have exactly those coloured eyes and that colour hair mentions in the book? But it’s okay to cast as Anne Hathaway somehow? In nearly all books that are adapted for screen the actor doesn’t exactly fit the authors description of the character. I’ll say it again, I can’t see why the skin colour is a big deal. She’s young, she’s British. This is a story about people and their ethnic background is irrelevant in this context. The Danny DeVito comparison doesn’t work, they haven’t cast an old, fat woman as Emma.

Look I don’t think David Nicholls, when creating the character of a blue-green eyed Emma Morley born in Leeds in the mid-60s, was inviting the reader to picture a young woman of Indian heritage. But I don’t think that’s the point. (I also think Anne Hathaway was miscast and isn’t relevant).

It’s about difference, isn’t it? About two young British people meeting at university (only just, and their social circles had never overlapped) from vastly different backgrounds and with very different expectations of how they would use their education to shape their lives.

Nevertheless, for me there is still (by Ep 4) a lack of chemistry and “buy-in” to the particular relationship, but I will keep watching.

I am only on episode 1 but am enjoying it so far.

This interview with the casting director may be of interest:

https://www.spotlight.com/news-and-advice/the-industry/casting-director-rachel-sheridan-netflix-one-day/

I thought Ambika Mod was excellent in that Adam Kay thing, but I don’t think she’s any where near as good in this. Not because of being cast as Emma , she just doesn’t seem to be feeling it

Watching so far and will keep watching

Was her race ever made explicit in the book?

Yes it was.

One thing that struck me was that while we were very familiar with Dexters background and family , we had barely any insight into Emma’s . I wondered if this was because the book was the same , perhaps to illustrate that Emma was more of a bohemian free spirit or that she didn’t have the family support Dexter did? Or was this simply a scriptwriting decision to accommodate the decision to use an Asian actress and the complexities of writing in a new family that didn’t exist in the book?
It seemed a pretty glaring omission , particularly in the scenes where her loved ones gather to reminisce at the end.

This is my era and I knew quite a few lads wearing rings on their index fingers at this point in time. My second boyfriend did (he came from a family like Dex’s) and then a few from very different back grounds at a metal pub I used to go to. Based on my personal experience the ring was in keeping with that time period.

@Mrsloverlover
In the book you get more insight into Dexter family and background than Emma's, but you do still get Emma's parents and sister, IIRC. The TV series (and I think film too actually) did omit that - as far as I've seen anyway.

I'm on episode 7 now. I'm warming a little more to the casting but I still think the Emma Morley casting was utterly disastrous. It just doesn't work and I think is a really bizarre decision.

The 'Get In' scenes were really good in Episode 6 though. Ian is quite good in role too, poor guy.