Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman tell 'Big Little Lies' on HBO

PASADENA, Calif. — Five actresses are telling Big Little Lies.

HBO’s miniseries adaptation of Liane Moriarty's bestselling novel, a murder mystery wrapped up in a story about five women, all moms of first-graders, is due Feb. 19.  Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman, both executive producers, star in the project, along with Laura Dern, Shailene Woodley and Zoë Kravitz.

When she read the novel, "I saw myself in various stages of motherhood all through my life," Witherspoon, who optioned the project, told TV critics Saturday. "There were so many aspects of it that were so relateable" in telling a story about women's lives. "It wasn't about (the women) being good or bad,” she says.

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After doing films where she was a rare female lead, “It was so refreshing to spend time with so many women; this is the greatest ensemble experience I’ve ever had.”

Adds Kidman: “It’s very rare to find five roles for women” that are all multi-dimensional.

The women don’t always get along, and neither do their husbands. Witherspoon describes her Madeline Mackenzie as a “bossy know-it-all” who’s “concealing” something. Woodley is a newcomer to town, and an outcast. Dern plays a villain.

But “as much as there’s conflicts between us when you see the full seven hours it’s about women supporting each other,” says Kidman.

A wrinkle: The series, which transfers the action to Monterey, Calif., from the book’s setting in Australia,  opens with a murder at a social gala, but both the victim and the culprit aren’t revealed until the end.

David E. Kelley, who wrote the adaption, says the project is similar to his earlier work on Ally McBeal and other shows through its mix of comedy and drama. But the biggest challenges were “living up to the book, living up to the complications of all the characters, and making cuts to the story line for television.”