Amy Adams has climbed aboard the lit-adaptation train (again) for Nightbitch, a film based upon the satiric debut novel from Rachel Yoder. The book has entertained countless reading clubs since arriving in 2021, and Searchlight Pictures will distribute the sure-to-be-a-smash new project produced by Annapurna Pictures and Adams’ own production company. As a several-time Oscar nominee and blockbuster A-lister, she surely enjoyed appearing in a twisted dark comedy that, like adaptations tend to do, will arrive with a rabid built-in audience who is already familiar with the source material.
The Fighter, Sharp Objects, and Junebug actress has come a long way since her early acting days and even since her breakout role in Enchanted, and now, she’s embracing the truly bizarre with Nightbitch, so let’s get prepared on what to expect from this experience.
Plot
Nobody was more surprised to learn that Nightbitch would become a movie than Rachel Yoder. “It never crossed my mind,” she recently told Vanity Fair, “that someone could make a film version of Nightbitch. It’s so internal. I think it’s a huge challenge.” What won’t be “internal”? The tail, fur, and additional nipples that Adams’ character, “mother,” will develop while beginning to identify with dogs as a stay-at-home mom living in the suburbs and raising her toddler while her husband (Scoot McNairy) travels for work.
Adams is well aware of the story’s “unique and otherworldly” nature of the story, and she also spoke with Vanity Fair (which has published exclusive film stills, including Adams running with a dog pack) to explain why she wanted to option the book: “The thing I really attached to is this idea of loss of identity.” Of the “Nightbitch” transformation, she added, “It felt so organic, because there’s many a day where I look at myself and I’m like, ‘Well, that’s new. What’s that?’ … It just sort of became an extension of the way our bodies evolve as we go through different metamorphoses, be it childbirth or aging.”
As for Director Marielle Heller, she had a more graphic story to offer:
“I have this memory of having food poisoning when my son was really little. I was throwing up, and he toddled in and started nursing on me while I was lying on the bathroom floor.” She felt emptied, “like I had nothing left. Just like, ‘My body is not my own anymore. This is so f*cked up.’” At the same time, she couldn’t imagine delegating his care to another person. “It felt like I was a bear and I had this cub, and the cub wasn’t supposed to go very far away from me. I needed to be connected physically to him at all times.”
Been there? Close. As it turns out, Adams’ character will receive her nickname after her husband mentions that she behaved like a “bitch.” Nothing like embracing labels and taking ownership of them, right? The film’s logline certain promises the unexpected while summarizing how the leading lady “slowly embraces the feral power deeply rooted in motherhood, as she becomes increasingly aware of the bizarre and undeniable signs that she may be turning into a canine.” This film will generate plenty of relevant discussion to our times and, surely, significant box-office receipts as well.
Cast
In addition to Adams as Nightbitch, the case includes Zoe Chao, Jessica Harper, Ella Thomas, Mary Holland, and Laura Meadows. Oh, and Scoot McNairy portrays Adams’ husband, and it’s nice to see him pushing past his plethora of 1980s-focused projects for broadened horizons.
Release Date
The film will debut in September at the Toronto International Film Festival and release into theaters on December 6. That theatrical run is a relatively new development for a project originally intended for streaming-only release as a Hulu Original. Eventually, however, Hulu will be the film’s streaming home.
Trailer
Since no trailer has surfaced yet, here are a few videos of Adams showing off how well she can cry on cue, including while thinking about sriracha sauce.