Shailene Woodley Initially Turned DownBig Little Liesbut Says a Call from Laura Dern 'Changed' Everything

Mar. 15, 2025

Taylor Hill/FilmMagic; Dia Dipasupil/WireImage

Big Little Lies’Monterey Five could have looked completely different.

Shailene Woodley, who played Jane Chapman in the HBO series alongsideReese Witherspoon,Nicole Kidman,Laura DernandZoë Kravitz, just revealed that she was initially hesitant to take the role in the show — so much so that she came close to turning it down.

“And I got a call aboutBig Little LiesbecauseJean-Marc Vallée— our beautiful creator, director,who has since passed— had wanted me to play Jane. And I was desperate to work with him, I thought he was such an incredible artist and filmmaker,” she said.

The only thing holding her back? “I was really dead-set on ‘finding myself.'”

Laura Dern, Ivy George, Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley in “Big Little Lies” - 2017.Hbo/Kobal/Shutterstock

Hbo/Kobal/Shutterstock

It was her soon-to-be costar and friend that changed her mind. “I got a call from Laura [Dern] the day before I left for India — or maybe I was actually already in India and I hadn’t turned my phone off yet. And she just said, ‘Listen, I know where you’re at in your life. I’ve been there before too. It’s a lot. This world is an illusion, but what isn’t an illusion is what you love to do,” she remembers Dern, 57, telling her.

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

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

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

Shailene Woodley attends the New York City premiere of ‘Three Women’ on Sept. 9, 2024.Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images

Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images

Woodley called Dern “my sister” as she recalled the conversation that convinced her to take the role of Jane, and she also toldVanity Fairabout her lasting friendships with her other castmates.

“The beautiful thing aboutBig Little Liesis that we’re all actually friends in real life,” she said of herself, Dern, Witherspoon, 48, Kravitz, 35, and Kidman, 57 before weighing in onthe upcoming third season of the show,which comes more than five after season 2 premiered.

“We have a text chain going and it’s constantly a check-in, every few weeks, ‘Hey, what’s the update?’ ‘It’s still happening,'” Woodley said. “I keep being told that there’s going to be a season 3, but I haven’t read anything yet.”

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

Kevin Winter/Getty

In August, Kravitz told PEOPLE she also knows “nothing” concrete about season 3 — whichKidman accidentally spilled the beans on last year— butshe’s “excited to do it.”

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Seasons 1 and 2 ofBig Little Liescan be streamed on Max.

source: people.com