At the Sundance Channel’s Television Critics Association panel last week, everyone was buzzing about Top of the Lake, Jane Campion’s epic seven part miniseries starring Elisabeth Moss and reuniting Campion and her The Piano star, Holly Hunter after 20 years.
Top of the Lake follows the disappearance of a 12 year old girl, who is five months pregnant, in a small New Zealand town. Moss describes the production as the “most comprehensive documentation of modern New Zealand that's ever been done at such a large scale.” She also adds that Campion also shows “very different, much more modern, much grittier, much more raw side of it.”
For Moss, her character, investigative detective Robin Griffin, was a departure from Peggy Olsen who she plays on Mad Men. In a clip shown to critics at the panel, Moss’s character is shown hitting a man in the bar with a glass, an encounter that Moss noted was “very hard technically.”
Hunter, who at first was hesitant to join Top of the Lake, said that working with Campion is unlike any experience.
It’s an indescribable thing to work with Jane to begin with. She’s such an utterly silly persona, and she brings that silliness to the set, and she has wisdom that I think is hard won in her life… her sense of humor is equal to her wisdom.
However, Hunter added working with Campion is like “falling in love with somebody, but you are falling… it is deep and dark and fun. You can’t say no to Jane.”
Top of the Lake premieres on Sundance on March 18th. It will also screen at the Sundance Film Festival.
Sundance Channel's 'Top of the Lake' Highlights Grittier Side of Elisabeth Moss (The Hollywood Reporter)
Holly Hunter On Working With Jane Campion Again – "You Can't Say No" : TCA (Deadline)
