Whatever you need from it, that's what you get from. 'It does a great job of meaning different things to different people. 'It changed me,' he says of the book, and one expletive-laden 'Dear Sugar' column. Plair says he and Hahn asked each other the 36 question to fall in love made famous by a New York Times essay to get to know one another - and their characters.īut he also enjoyed getting to know the real Strayed through reading 'Tiny Beautiful Things.' Quentin Plair, who plays Clare's husband, Danny Kinkade, says there was 'freedom' in playing a character created for the show. Cheryl Strayed at the 'Tiny Beautiful Things' premiere. Clare is able to give this advice is because she's not this like holier than thou person who's always made the right decision,' Pidgeon says.

You go to the person that's been heartbroken. 'It's like when you're going through a breakup, you don't ask your friend who's in the most perfect relationship like what to do. Merritt Wever plays a version of Bobbi Lambrecht, Strayed's mom who died when the author was 22 years old. Sarah Pidgeon as young Clare in 'Tiny Beautiful Things.' Elizabeth Morris / HuluĬlare, like Strayed, loses her mom at a young age.

But the life that then Kathryn Hahn plays that the older Claire is not my life at all,' she tells. The story Sarah Pigeon acts out is very autobiographical and extremely personal to me. 'It's such a strange experience for me to watch. Strayed, an executive producer of the show, says that watching these two Clares gave her 'whiplash.' In the show, Clare - a version of Strayed - is played by Sarah Pidgeon in her 20s and Kathryn Hahn in her 40s. Speaking to, the author says the Hulu show, based on her 2012 book by the same name, is a blend of biographical and fictional. This show is her 'ghost ship' life, answering the question, 'What if Strayed's now-familiar story had run a completely different course?'

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