Marielle Heller’s highly anticipated “Nightbitch,” based on Rachel Yoder’s 2021 novel of the same name, had its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday, September 7. The Amy Adams-led thriller follows a woman who pauses her career to be a stay-at-home mom, before convincing herself that she is turning into a dog.
From Adams being announced to both star and produce back in the summer of 2020, the premise alone garnered chatter about a potential seventh Oscar nomination for the actress, who was most recently nominated for Best Supporting Actress in 2019 for “Vice.” It’s also worth noting, three out of four of the last Best Actress winners have also been from Searchlight Pictures films.
However, for Adams “it’s not something I think about when I approach a role or when I walk on a red carpet,” she told IndieWire. “I’m always happy if the film connects in a way that increases exposure for the film. I think with this film, I would love to hear different people’s perspectives of their experience watching this film. So the more that we can get it out there to get more eyes on it, the happier I’ll be.”
Director Marielle Heller is hopeful, but even moreso, had nothing but praise for the lead of her film. “I mean, listen, you heard the crowd out there, everyone’s shouting ‘Amy, Amy, Amy!’ She’s an incredible actress, obviously everybody knows that,” Heller said. “But I think this performance is going to blow people’s minds. She’s so real. She’s so raw, she’s so vulnerable. She’s so funny. I’m just thrilled for people to get to see her.”
Heller’s brother Nate has composed the score for all of her films, including this one, and even making a cameo as a children’s librarian musician. The brother-sister duo shared that while this is, of course, based off an adaptation, there was a great deal of personal storytelling injected into the script. “I mean, I think with a lot of the husband character, I see my brother in law reflected a lot, there’s a lot of co-parenting situations,” Nate said. “We both have kids. So there’s a lot of those situations where, our own lives, I worked out my trauma through writing the script.”
Marielle shared, “I mean, everybody I knew who read my script was like, ‘Oh my God, this must have felt so good to write.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, it did [laughs]. Everything from putting my son’s favorite book that I had memorized into the movie [to the] songs that we sang together.”
“Also conversations between me and my husband were dynamics that were sort of hard to pinpoint why I thought they were funny and painful,” Marielle continued. “But they were, and then I worked them out in the script, the mundane aspects of being in a family. I find the sort of minutiae funny and painful and horrific because it is a horrible.” She looks to her brother and says, “You were like, ‘Oh, you finally made your gross movie that really reflects who you are as a person.’ 100%, because I’m disgusting. Apparently I was always popping zits when we were little kids.”
Earlier this year, Marielle Heller told us that waiting for “Nightbitch” to be released was “kind of like having creative blue balls. We want this movie to come out and be in the world. I’m just so excited that it’s finally coming out and we’re going to get to share it.”
Separately, another matter was on our minds: Gillian Flynn, author of “Sharp Objects,” will soon return to HBO for a limited-series based off her book “Dark Places.” Alas, it doesn’t seem like Adams will reunite with the author of her 2018 Emmy-nominated role quite yet.
“You’re telling me all this new information and now you’re getting all honest, uncomfortable reactions,” Adams said jokingly. “No, I’m super excited. She’s bringing ‘Dark Places’ back to HBO? That’s really good. That’s going to be good. Yeah, I’m here for it. I’m tuning in. I’m in my seat.”
Searchlight Pictures is set to release “Nightbitch” in theaters December 6, 2024.
