Abhiroop Das
Helmed by Nimer Rashed and Isher Sahota, Netflix’s ‘Run Away‘ brings together a father’s journey of finding his lost daughter, and an ongoing investigation into a series of seemingly unlinked, but vaguely similar murders. While Paige Greene has been away from home for six months, the murder of her boyfriend put this all under the investigative spotlight. The prime suspect is none other than Paige’s father, Simon Greene, a wealth manager who doesn’t shy away from taking matters into his own hands when it comes to looking for his daughter. Still, with each episode of this thriller show, it becomes increasingly clear that this is a bigger case than Simon or anyone else could have anticipated. With Paige’s disappearance as its narrative backbone, the story offers a realistic glance into the insides of a complicated family.
Run Away is Based on a Fictional Novel by Harlan Coben
‘Run Away’ is a fictitious story based on the eponymous novel by Harlan Coben, which was then adapted to the screen by writers Tom Farrelly, Amanda Duke, and Daniel Brocklehurst. While the story itself is crafted, its inspiration came to Coben following a real-life incident. In an interview with Salon, the author recalled sitting in Central Park in Strawberry Fields on one occasion, when a street musician playing Beatles tunes caught his eye. The visual struck a chord within him, and the ideas for his novel soon followed. He explained, “I’m looking across at the guy, and I thought, ‘What if that was my lead character’s daughter? What if she was strung out and he hadn’t seen her in six months, and he finally found her?” This concept later transformed into the book’s opening paragraph, laying the foundations for the rest of the narrative.
Alongside the idea of a father looking for his child, Coben was also motivated by three different interests, all of which he seamlessly weaved into the story. While talking to The Strand Magazine, he revealed that he primarily wanted to write about a child struggling with drug addiction and how that would affect their family. At the same time, he was also fascinated with cults and how they came to be. Lastly, the advent of DNA and genealogy websites also caught his attention, particularly in the context of a father-daughter dynamic. For a while, Coben struggled to integrate these three ideas into the same narrative, and this is where the street musician from Central Park came in, acting as a catalyst to bring the story into existence.
Coben’s Story Reflects His Real-Life Fascinations
Although ‘Run Away’ is constructed as a collage of Coben’s brief real-life experiences and interests, the story itself is wholly a product of imagination, with each plot beat most likely originating from the novelist’s mind. Still, there is one particular incident from his personal life that Coben has connected to the story. Relating to his daughter, Charlotte Coben, who is also the associate producer for the Netflix adaptation, the writer mentioned in a conversation with Radio Times, “When my daughter Charlotte was young, I found some cannabis paraphernalia in her room, and my mind spiralled and went out of control.” While it is likely that he poured these parental anxieties into the book under a creative lens, the chances of the lead character, Paige Greene, being based on his own daughter are very slim.
While the overall narrative delves deeply into technology and how it has molded society, one particular aspect focuses on viral culture in social media and how misinformation can easily trickle down in everyday news and conversations. In Coben’s tale, Paige’s father, Simon Greene, quickly goes viral for attempts at rescuing his daughter, and both the show and the book explore an entire spectrum of possible reactions. Thus, on top of being a tight-knit family thriller, the show also employs social commentary, infusing more realism into the story.
The Cast of Run Away Added a Personal Touch to the Tale
Alongside the show’s writing team, ‘Run Away’ was also informed by inputs from the cast, who brought their own lived journeys and wisdom into the characters they essayed. Actor James Nesbitt, who takes the lead as Simon Greene, spoke to Radio Times about how his personal experiences molded the emotional core of his character. He stated, “It’s very easy to tap into the reality of the situation that Simon finds himself in (…) As a parent, it makes that (portrayal) easier, because you can obviously locate your feelings about your own children, and if something similar were happening to them. It makes you appreciate your own life.”
Minnie Driver, who essays Ingrid Greene, also shared how she has friends and known ones who have dealt with addiction, and has personally gone to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings with some of them. She recalled a sense of warmth and hopefulness from those meetings, which helped her understand the importance of support from loved ones in such scenarios. This added sense of perspective most likely helped her render the character of Ingrid with more empathy.
Read More: Where is Netflix’s Run Away Filmed? All Shooting Locations
