Jennifer Morrison Talks Directing“ Five Star Weekend ”and Honoring the ‘Heartbeat’ of Elin Hilderbrand’s Book“ ”(Exclusive)

NEED TO KNOW

• Jennifer Morrison directed four of the eight episodes of The Five Star Weekend, the Peacock adaptation of Elin Hilderbrand’s 2023 novel

• “It really just started from me loving the book and loving the concept, and then just kind of fighting my way to get in there because I really believed in it,” she tells PEOPLE of how she got involved

• The Once Upon a Time star also reflects on the month-long shoot on Nantucket, finally meeting Jennifer Garner and whether she’s still interested in working in front of the camera

Whether or not Jennifer Morrison was involved in The Five Star Weekend adaptation, she was eager to see one of her favorite books come to life on screen.

The Once Upon a Time star, 47, directed four episodes of the Jennifer Garner-led Peacock series and tells PEOPLE she was already a big fan of Elin Hilderbrand‘s 2023 novel when getting involved.

“I had read the book and loved it, because I just thought the concept of putting these five friends together from different times in your life was just so relatable and immediately gripped me. So when I heard that there was a show being made of it, I was all over it,” Morrison says. “It really just started from me loving the book and loving the concept, and then just kind of fighting my way to get in there because I really believed in it.”

In the series, Garner plays famous chef Hollis Shaw, who, amid her grief over her husband’s sudden death, invites her dearest friends from throughout her life to her Nantucket beach house for a weekend getaway. Those pals include her first friend, Tatum (Chloë Sevigny); her college bestie, Dru-Ann (Regina Hall); her mom friend, Brooke (D’Arcy Carden); and new pal Gigi (Gemma Chan).

Morrison had never worked with any of the actresses before, but had “always wanted to work with all of [them],” she says. “They’re all incredible. Everybody brought such specific and unique talent to the character.”

“Jen Garner and I have several friends in common,” she adds. “We were one degree of separation for a very long time, and have heard about each other and heard of each other, so it was exciting to really get to meet and be together on set and collaborate. Everyone’s like, ‘You guys would love each other,’ and then we loved each other.”

The cast and crew spent a month on Nantucket to film, making the series the first production to film on the island for so long. “I think they had one other production that was there for two or three days once. So it’s a very untouched place to see on camera, and so that was incredibly exciting as a filmmaker to be in a space that just hasn’t been captured over and over again on camera,” she says.

There were challenges, of course, and Morrison says the crew was “always chasing the sun” and navigated some “really tricky” scenes — particularly on the ferry — but the benefit of being in the real place outweighed the uncertainty.

“Nantucket is very much a character in the book, and it’s very much a character in the show,” Morrison says. “So to be able to actually be there, and have all of the texture and detail of the reality of authentic Nantucket, was huge.”

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Morrison “kept rereading the book” over the course of the process, and says that having Hilderbrand accessible was a massive help. “I am so inspired by her,” she says of the author. “She is so thoughtful, so smart, and also just an advocate of creativity in a way that is really exciting to be around. And she was so additive to the process.”

“She was so supportive of the concept of evolving things. She kept being like, ‘I know it’s different when you’re looking at it. Do what you need to do. I’m here to support it.’ So it was really awesome to have her energy around,” Morrison adds.

Hilderbrand’s presence made Morrison and the rest of the team feel confident that the adaptation “was true to the heartbeat” of the original story.

The Peacock series is Morrison’s 13th directing credit, and she says she’s spent the last 10 years “mostly focused on directing because I’ve been in a really nice momentum with it.”

“I feel very fulfilled and satisfied doing that, and it doesn’t mean I don’t love acting,” she says. “[Directing] just gives me a little bit more, I don’t know if the word is control or freedom, to just feel like I’m choosing the environments that I’m in. Ultimately, I would still love to do things on camera. It just needs to be the right thing with the right people.”

The Five Star Weekend is now streaming on Peacock.

Read the original article on People