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THE NEXT CHAPTER
Elin Hilderbrand’s long road to Hollywood.
At cocktail parties on Cliff Road or lunches in ’Sconset, someone invariably drops Elin Hilderbrand’s name, either as a fan or a friend. For over twenty years, Hilderbrand’s novels have helped set the pace of summers here, each new book as regular a part of the seasonal rhythm as the waves on the beach or traffic jams at the rotary. A frisson of excitement ripples through the crowd when she appears in person—beautiful, blonde and looking like one of her heroines: effortlessly chic and sun-kissed. The media has crowned her “queen of the beach read,” and her 2019 novel Summer of ’69 debuted at number one on the New York Times bestseller list. Yet for all her popularity, none of Hilderbrand’s 28 books, set almost exclusively on Nantucket, have been adapted for film...until now.
"It’s classic Hollywood,” she says, describing the roller-coaster of a process by which her page-turner The Perfect Couple became her first book to be made into a miniseries by Netflix. She’s speaking from her winter hideaway in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
“After so many disappointments, it’s incredibly gratifying to have one of my novels make it to TV, and especially at this elevated level.” In a world of series backed by bibliophile Reese Witherspoon and the Hallmark Channel churning out rom-coms, it’s somewhat surprising that Hilderbrand’s prolific output over the past two decades hasn’t attracted more interest, although her first novel, The Beach Club, was optioned by Aaron Spelling.
“That never went anywhere, and then, of course, he died. After that? Nothing, until 2018, when someone optioned The Identicals. And that went nowhere,” she laughs. Lightning finally struck in 2019, when uber-producer Gail Berman (whose credits include Buffy the Vampire Slayer and last year’s Oscar-nominated Elvis) attached her considerable clout to the project. Still, there were false starts. “Gail had a deal with Fox, and they passed, and then in March 2020, COVID started,” she says. “I think someone thought our project was too similar to something Lee Daniels was doing for Fox, set on Martha’s Vineyard.”
Hilderbrand’s weary bemusement is palpable. “I heard nothing for a year, from March 2020 to 2021. Then Gail calls and says she showed it to her friend Marcy at Viu, which is the biggest streaming service in Southeast Asia. They green-lighted it, except that they wanted to film it in Bali, using Asian actors, speaking English.” So central is Nantucket to Hilderbrand’s stories that the idea seems ludicrous. “Up to that point, the director attached was Anne Fletcher, who had done Hocus Pocus 2, 27 Dresses and The Proposal, so she seemed like a perfect fit, but at some point in the fall, she dropped out.” It felt like another dead end, until scriptwriter Jenna Lamia said someone great was interested. “She wouldn’t say who, but if she took it, it was going to be golden,” Hilderbrand says. That someone turned out to be Susanne Bier, the award-winning Danish director, who finally moved the ball into the end zone. Hilderbrand got the phone call that the project was a go as she was boarding a flight to South Carolina, and on December 18—the last day anyone does business in Hollywood before the holidays—the deal was inked.
“In January, I got a call from Gail, saying we’d put an offer out to Nicole Kidman as the lead,” Hilderbrand recounts in disbelief. “Once she was cast, Dakota Fanning signed on, then Liev Schreiber, then Meghann Fahy,” fresh off her star turn in the second season of The White Lotus. Rounding out the all-star lineup are Omar Epps, Eve Hewson (aka Bono’s daughter) and Frances Conroy.
"The talent is just so deep, but I think the breakout star is going to be Ishaan Khattar, who’s a big star in India. Overall, it’s one of the best casts I’ve ever seen for anything,” Hilderbrand says.
By April, a sign saying “Nantucket Police” was being affixed to a vacant storefront in Chatham, which no doubt caused some head-scratching, and filming began in and around Cape Cod on April 3. For obvious logistical and financial reasons, filming on Nantucket was impossible. Hilderbrand serves as an executive producer and consulted with Lamia on the finer points, like whale pants. Lamia noticed Hilderbrand’s son wearing a pair in a photograph. “That makes me really happy,” she says. “They want it to look authentic. The story is about a wedding, and whale pants are just so Nantucket.”
As for Hilderbrand’s much lamented retirement, which she announced this year, she says, “I’m coming to the end of my plan. I’ve written a book per year since 2000. I’ve done it all, exhausted every scenario that could go in a beach read. I’m out of material. Five Star Weekend comes out June 13, and that’s the next to last.” In June 2024, the appropriately titled Swan Song will be released, ending Hilderbrand’s two-and-a-half-decade winning streak of Nantucket novels.
Fans who find that concept too disheartening to contemplate can buck up, though. Hilderbrand uses the term “retirement” loosely.
“I’ll still write novels,” she says. “I’m writing two books with my daughter about boarding school. She goes to St. George’s. And I have four other projects in development for an ongoing film series.” She is also launching a podcast in partnership with her dear friend and literary influencer Tim Ehrenberg.
In the meantime, you might catch a glimpse of her stretched out on the beach near Ram Pasture, engrossed in somebody else’s bestseller. And keep an eye out for film crews around the island this summer. “They’re sending the ‘beauty crew’ over in July, to film a few scenes and make sure they get the hydrangeas and roses. After all, it’s a story set on Nantucket. You need to see Murray’s and the front of the Lemon Press.”
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