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For the British author David Nicholls, the key to a good romantic story is avoiding the clich\u00e9s. \u201cThe first kiss, the first night together, the wedding day. There are all these landmarks which are quite familiar and quite obvious,\u201d he said recently.<\/p>\n
Instead, his 2009 novel \u201cOne Day\u201d follows its two protagonists, Emma and Dexter, on the same day each year for two decades, as they weave in and out of each other\u2019s lives as friends, partners and everything in between. <\/strong>What has happened on the previous 364 days is revealed slowly and indirectly, with many key moments left to the reader\u2019s imagination.<\/p>\n In 2011, the novel \u2014 which has been translated into 40 languages and sold millions of copies \u2014 was adapted into a film starring Anne Hathaway as Emma, and the story has now found new life as a limited series, created by the Scottish screenwriter Nicole Taylor and available on Netflix.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n While both adaptations closely follow the structure and plot of the novel, the show devotes the majority of its 14 half-hour-ish episodes to a different year in the pair\u2019s lives. The film\u2019s shorter run time meant significant cuts, so that it ultimately became a \u201clittle synopsis of the novel,\u201d according to Nicholls. (In a Times review, the critic A.O. Scott wrote<\/a> that the film \u201cturns an episodic story into an anthology of feelings and associations.\u201d)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The show\u2019s extended length allows more rounded characters to emerge for Emma (played by Ambika Mod, previously Shruti in \u201cThis Is Going to Hurt<\/a>\u201d) and Dexter (Leo Woodall, who was Jack in Season 2 of \u201cThe White Lotus\u201d). We meet them in 1988, on their last night of college, where Emma has kept her head down and worked hard on a double major and Dexter <\/strong>has been a popular party guy, achieving below average grades in anthropology.<\/p>\n Like in the film, Dexter is rich, handsome and can be arrogant, but Taylor said didn\u2019t want her script to make him an \u201carchetypal posh boy,\u201d but to emphasize his vulnerability, instead. We see Dexter on the verge of tears at a train station after a heated conversation with his father, and using a pay phone to leave a weepy message on Emma\u2019s answering machine, begging her to pick up the phone.<\/p>\n \u201cThe kind of vulnerabilities that Dexter has, Leo played beautifully,\u201d Taylor said, adding that the actor had \u201cbrought quite a different kind of a Dexter to the performance.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In an interview, Woodall said that playing Dexter had allowed him to experience \u201cthe deep depths and real lows of someone else\u2019s life.\u201d In his character\u2019s early years, \u201che wants just to have fun,\u201d Woodall said, but \u201cthe booze, the drugs, and his coping mechanism for grief and escaping,\u201d <\/span>get the better of him.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of sympathy that you can have for him,\u201d Woodall added. \u201cHe makes it difficult, but when you look at it through a long lens, he\u2019s trying really hard to stay afloat.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n For many \u201cOne Day\u201d fans, Emma is the more relatable character: an underdog fighting for a chance to get ahead. This was also true for Taylor, who was 29 when the novel was released, living in London and desperate to become a writer. \u201cI felt like I was trying to make something happen for myself in a world full of Dexters,\u201d she said. As a result, she said, \u201cthere\u2019s more Emma in the series than there has been in the film or maybe even in the book.\u201d<\/p>\n In the show\u2019s early episodes, Emma is guarded and lacks confidence, which Mod said felt \u201crealistic\u201d for a woman of color in her character\u2019s situation. \u201cMany people, when reading the book, wouldn\u2019t have imagined a brown Emma, but I think that, if anything, it amplifies and puts a spotlight on the things that make her more relatable,\u201d Mod said. \u201cThe world pushes us to feel small and stay in our lane, and Emma\u2019s lack of confidence and insecurity is definitely a result of that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n As the episodes and years go by, both Emma and Dexter grow: Dexter becomes more serious, and Emma feels more certain of herself. Taylor said she hoped that fans of the book will watch the show \u2014 which feels a little like a more upbeat \u201cNormal People<\/a>\u201d \u2014 and \u201cfall in love with Ambika and Leo, and feel like \u2018yes, there\u2019s my Emma and Dexter,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Nicholls\u2019s story has such longevity, Taylor said, because everyone has a relationship similar to Emma and Dexter\u2019s, even if it is not romantic. \u201cWe\u2019ve all got that one person that always brings you back to the best version of yourself,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n