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Everyone loves a good fictional mystery on film and that’s exactly what takes place in Where the Crawdads Sing. The 1950s drama is one of many films hitting theaters this summer, and ever since the trailer was released, many movie fans have been waiting to see what happens with the story of a North Carolina marsh girl that suddenly becomes a suspect in the murder of a man. Based on the Delia Owens novel of the same name, the film also includes a Taylor Swift song on its soundtrack, leaving her large amount of fans excited to see it as well.
Here’s everything we know about the mystery drama, Where the Crawdads Sing, including the release date, cast, and more!
Release Date & Where to Watch
Where the Crawdads Sing will officially be released on July 15, 2022. It was originally scheduled to be released almost a month earlier, on June 24, 2022, but was delayed and then moved up a week. The film will premiere at movie theaters across the United States.
Cast & Crew
Where the Crawdads Sing features a lot of talented stars, including Daisy Edgar-Jones, who plays the lead role of Catherine “Kya” Clarke, the young girl who gets engulfed in a murder trial, Taylor John Smith (Sharp Objects) as Tate Walker, Luke David Blumm as a young Tate, Harris Dickinson as Chase Andrews, the quarterback and Kya’s ex who is found dead, Michael Hyatt as Mabel, Sterling Macer, Jr. as Jumpin, David Strathairn as Tom Milton, Jayson Warner Smith as Deputy Joe Purdue, Garret Dillahunt as “Pa” Clarke, Ahna O’Reilly as “Ma” Clarke, and Eric Ladin as Eric Chastain.
The film is directed by Olivia Newman and the screenplay was written by Lucy Alibar, who also wrote the 2012 Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner, Beasts of the Southern Wild. It was also produced by actress Reese Witherspoon. Reese previously talked about how much she loved the novel the film is based on and why it drew her to produce it. “I read this novel probably in one day, maybe two days. I just couldn’t put it down,” she said after selecting the book for her famous book club, Vanity Fair reported.
“I fell in love with Kya as a main character, as a little girl who’s growing up in this very rural area, who’s shunned by society, and is trying to find a way to just save herself, just survive,” she continued. “And the way that Delia Owens wrote this book with such authenticity, you could just tell she really grew up in this place. She really appreciated the nature around her. The book is a love letter to growing up in the South, which for me really resonated because I grew up in New Orleans and Nashville.”
Storyline
Where the Crawdads Sing takes place in the small fictional town of Barkley Cove, and follows the young “resourceful” girl Catherine “Kya” Clarke as she grows up in a North Carolina marsh and is abandoned by her parents and older siblings in the 1950s. She eventually learns to survive on her own and is taught to read and write by her friend Tate Walker, who she falls for but leaves her behind for college. She then meets Chase Andrews, a quarterback who promises her marriage but goes back on that promise, causing her to break up with him. After he attacks her, she escapes, but when he’s later found dead, she becomes the main suspect in a trial that has a large amount of evidence against her.
Music
Taylor teased her brand new original song “Carolina” in the trailer for Where the Crawdads Sing, which was released in March. She took to social media the same day the trailer was released to share the video, and announced the song would be coming out in its entirety “soon.” She also revealed the song was produced by Aaron Dessner.
“Where The Crawdads Sing is a book I got absolutely lost in when I read it years ago. As soon as I heard there was a film in the works starring the incredible @daisyedgarjones and produced by the brilliant @reesewitherspoon, I knew I wanted to be a part of it from the musical side,” she wrote in the caption for an Instagram post that included the trailer. “I wrote the song “Carolina” alone and asked my friend @aarondessner to produce it. I wanted to create something haunting and ethereal to match this mesmerizing story. You’ll hear it fully soon, but for now check out the @crawdadsmovie trailer for a clip!”
Production Trivia
Confirmation that the film was being made happened in Jan. 2021 and production reportedly took place from March 30 until June 28, 2021 in New Orleans and Houma, Louisiana.