Irish author urges Netflix to get actors with ‘proper Irish accents’ for new adaptation

Stephen Porzio

‘I mean, the accents are just… I weep! I am corroded with pain!’

Earlier this year, Netflix announced it would be making a new series based on Marian Keyes’ 2020 novel Grown Ups and now, the Irish author has revealed that she has some requests of the streamer.

Casting has not yet been announced on the show. Yet, speaking at the Hay Festival in Wales recently, Keyes urged Netflix to employ actors on the adaptation that can actually do Irish accents.

According to multiple reports, the author said during a public talk with BBC Radio 4 broadcaster Kirsty Lang: “It would be so, so nice if they could use people who could do Irish accents properly. They don’t have to be Irish.”

Speaking about how terrible Irish accents can often be on-screen – something JOE has often highlighted – Keyes added: “I mean, the accents are just… I weep! I am corroded with pain!”

I had the pleasure of interviewing the wonderful Marian Keyes ⁦@hayfestival⁩ yesterday and the BBC kindly wrote up our discussion https://t.co/iCQAQvI5GI
— Kirsty Lang (@thatkirstylang) May 27, 2024

“If I really am executive producer of Grown Ups it means that I can choose,” the writer also said of the upcoming Netflix adaptation.

Keyes also stated that she and her mother would like a cameo in the show.

Described as an “ensemble family drama”, the series version of Grown Ups will revolve around the Caseys – a family consisting of three couples.

“Like most families, the Caseys are a complicated bunch. Ever-shifting politics. Old and new resentments. Arguments that blow over quickly and hurts that are nursed forever. They’re loyal. Noisy. And bound together by a whole lot of love,” the Netflix plot synopsis reads.

Speaking about the tradition of storytelling in Ireland, Keyes also told the audience at the Hay Festival: “We were colonised for so long, we were not allowed to speak our language, we couldn’t own property, we weren’t allowed to be educated, we weren’t allowed to practice our religion.

“Very little was left, it was basically music and words. Words are our survival.

“And as soon as the colonisers left, the Catholic Church moved into the vacuum. We’re constantly trying to be free.”

Grown Ups has not yet been handed a release date by Netflix.