Here’s a reader wondering about Marielle Heller’s upcoming “Nightbitch,” starring Amy Adams:
Hey Jordan, just wondering if you've heard anything about Searchlight's release plan for Nightbitch. Seems weird to me that they'd spend $25 million in a competitive bidding war for the film.
What I keep hearing is that “Nightbitch” will first premiere at TIFF in September before any decision is made in regards to its release strategy. It’s a smart move on the part of Disney. Screen it and then decide. If it gets panned then there is absolutely no reason for them to waste money and release it in theaters.
This past week, Disney upgraded Fede Alvarez’s ‘Alien’ movie from Hulu to theatrical, so it’s not without hope that Heller’s film will indeed receive the same fate. If anything, it does sound like the kind of idiosyncratic film that deserves to be seen on the big screen.
“Nightbitch” test-screened in March. It does sound like a real narrative risktaker. The two reactions I had received were polar opposites:
Reaction #1: I liked it a lot. Surreal feminist fable that somehow worked. Not sure how to describe this movie, other than despite the outrageous concept I found it had a lot of insight about motherhood and shattered the preconceptions we might have about it. Amy Adams kind of owns this movie. It doesn’t strike me as an “Oscar movie,” but neither did EEAAO. Definitely veers into genre territory.
Reaction #2: I’m still not sure why someone decided to make this movie. I love Amy Adams and she’s great as always here but it’s super strange just for the sake of being strange. Some odd storytelling and unnecessary subplots. She literally feels and turns into a dog and it’s supposed to tell us something about motherhood. It’s also a very ugly movie to look at.
Back in July of 2020, Annapurna Pictures won an auction and landed the rights to Rachel Yoder’s debut novel, “Nightbitch”. Then Searchlight Pictures acquired the film from floundering Annapurna, Heller was then announced as the writer-director.
The film’s plot is total dark absurdism. A neo-horror thriller starring Adams as an overworked woman who is convinced she's literally turning into a dog.
Here’s a more descriptive plot synopsis:
“Exposing the absurd and feral truths of motherhood, Nightbitch is a darkly comedic telling of an unnamed woman and former artist, thrust into stay-at-home domesticity after the birth of her son, who becomes increasingly worried and convinced that she may be turning into a dog.”
Heller’s debut was Sundance sensation “The Diary of a Teenage Girl.” This was followed by the critically-acclaimed “Can You Ever Forgive Me.” She then dabbled into mainstream filmmaking with the mostly-enjoyable “A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood.”