‘State of the Union’: Nick Hornby on Covering an Entire Relationship in Ten Conversations

When Nick Hornby started writing the SundanceTV series “State of the Union,” he knew where he wanted the season to end.

At first, the endpoint he decided on may not seem all that revolutionary – but like most elements of the experimental, 10-minute an episode, 10-episode season, context adds so much more than that.“I wanted the last words to be ‘I love you,’ and for it not to be exactly as that seems,” Hornby said.But aside from how those last words are framed, it’s the format of the series that lends itself to something with additional insight than the usual “couple in strife” story.

In the show, Rosamund Pike and Chris O’Dowd play Louise and Tom, an on-the-outs, estranged married couple who meet once a week before their scheduled therapy session at a pub right across the street.Hornby wrote the entire series, which was in turn directed by Stephen Frears.

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