(L to R) Bing and Naomi Watts in Bleecker Street’s ‘The Friend’. Photo credit: Bleecker Street.
Based on a 2018 novel by Sigrid Nunez, ‘The Friend’ is a relative rarity in today’s Hollywood landscape: an adult comedy-drama about subjects like love, loneliness, relationships, grief, and loss. Reminiscent in some ways of several Woody Allen’s better efforts in this field, this adaptation by writers-directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel (‘What Maisie Knew’) is funny, moving, bittersweet, and completely absorbing, with a strong cast headed by an excellent Naomi Watts and Bill Murray.
It’s also a story about the wonder and mystery of the way in which humans and animals can bond, bolstered by a fantastic performance from a Great Dane named Bing. If there was an Oscar for “best performance by an animal,” this majestic animal would win hands down. He steals the show and will steal the viewer’s heart as well, making ‘The Friend’ one of the better movies we’ve seen about a person and their animal companion in a long time.
Story and Direction
(L to R) Naomi Watts and Bill Murray in Bleecker Street’s ‘The Friend’. Photo Credit: Bleecker Street.
After a brief opening scene at a very Allen-esque dinner party presided over by famed novelist Walter (Bill Murray), ‘The Friend’ flashes forward sometime later to Walter’s memorial service. It appears he has taken his own life, leaving behind two ex-wives (and a current one), a daughter he’s only recently reconnected with, several friends and former lovers, and a large Great Dane named Apollo (Bing), who he found while jogging under the Brooklyn Bridge one day and took home. But his third wife, Barbara (Noma Dumezweni), doesn’t want the dog, and as it turns out, Walter has bequeathed the canine – much to her shock and surprise — to his dear friend and former student, Iris (Naomi Watts).
Iris, a writer and teacher herself, lives alone in a tiny, rent-controlled Manhattan apartment, but sheltering a large dog like Apollo is a problem for her in more ways than one: the building doesn’t allow dogs, as the super (Felix Solis) constantly reminds her, and she could be in danger of losing her place if she doesn’t find a home for him. But even as Iris desperately tries to find a new home for Apollo, while also grappling with the aftermath of Walter’s death and the task of co-editing with his daughter (Sarah Pidgeon) a book of his voluminous correspondence, something strange begins to happen: she and Apollo, both heartbroken over losing their friend, start to form a bond – even if he initially wreaks havoc in her apartment, takes over her bed, and refuses to eat his food.
‘The Friend’ is about what it’s like to lose someone you love unexpectedly, and how you reconcile your feelings about that person with the truths you come to know about them. Walter is a difficult man and a serial womanizer, yet everyone in his orbit is in one way or another deeply affected by the gravity of his passing. Iris wrestles with the loss of her deep friendship with Walter, her annoyance with his flaws (in particular, his tendency to sleep with his female students), and the status of her own life, all of which become somehow crystallized in her developing relationship with the somber Apollo.
(Left) ‘The Friend’ co-writer and co-director Scott McGehee. Photo credit: Bleecker Street. (Right) ‘The friend’ co-writer and co-director David Siegel. Photo credit: Bleecker Street.
It’s a poignant but also funny tale, set in a community of academics and writers who take the craft of writing and its role in their lives seriously (which feels like a throwback in our current social media-besotted era). The movie is also a love letter to New York City, which McGehee, Siegel, and cinematographer Giles Nuttgens shoot fabulously: the many Manhattan locations are filmed in crisp, bright fashion, while places like Iris’s building and her apartment have a ring of realism that doesn’t always manifest in NYC-set movies. For anyone who has dealt with finding or keeping an apartment in the Big Apple, that aspect of ‘The Friend’ reverberates.
Most importantly, we come to care deeply for Iris, Apollo, and their shared grief and dilemma, while appreciating the presence of the many characters who are part of Iris’s life. The film’s only real stumble is in its final stretch: perhaps in a nod to the book – which is written as an imaginary conversation between the Iris and Walter characters (who are unnamed) – Iris has a sort of fantasy sequence in which her unspoken conflicts and feelings come to the fore. It’s stagey and artificial after the otherwise everyday texture of the rest of the film. And then there’s one final scene that feels shamelessly manipulative.
Cast and Performances
(L to R) Bill Murray and Naomi Watts in Bleecker Street’s ‘The Friend’. Photo Credit: Bleecker Street.
Naomi Watts, in some ways underrated these days, delivers a marvelous, stirring performance here as Iris. Pulled in several different directions, she provides a clear-eyed portrait of a woman who is holding things together even as she struggles with conflicting goals and priorities. Her natural warmth and humor shine through, particularly in her interactions with Bill Murray. Although only onscreen for a limited time, Murray is in relatively sober form here, while still infusing Walter with the wit, charisma, and huge personality that makes it easy to appreciate why so many people stay in his orbit.
The rest of the cast is filled out in excellent fashion, with Constance Wu, Noma Dumezweni, and Carla Gugino sharply defined as Walter’s three wives (it’s always nice to see Gugino in something outside a horror or action thriller) and Felix Solis affecting as Hektor, the guilt-ridden yet compassionate super in Iris’s building. But the VIP of the movie – next to Watts and Murray – is undoubtedly Bing, the dog who plays Apollo. With his big body and incredibly expressive eyes, Bing magically tells us everything we need to know about Apollo; and while many things about animals are truly unknowable, his initially painful grief and gradual affection for Iris are palpable and poignant.
Final Thoughts
(L to R) Naomi Watts and Bing in Bleecker Street’s ‘The Friend’. Photo credit: Bleecker Street.
Except for that wobbly ending, ‘The Friend’ is a profound, compassionate look at how we navigate change and loss in our lives as we get older. Scott McGehee and David Siegel have taken literary material that may not necessarily be easy to adapt and brought it to the screen in captivating fashion. And we dare anyone not to be moved by the relationship between Iris and Apollo, especially with the latter’s emotional life just as involving and complex as the actor starring opposite him. Keep your friends close, the story seems to say, but perhaps keep your animal friends even closer.
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What is the plot of ‘The Friend’?
Iris (Naomi Watts) has had a long, complex friendship with Walter (Bill Murray). Walter is an irresistible charmer, a brilliant author, a lover of many women, and a master at letting down loved ones. When he dies suddenly, Iris is left to deal with all he left behind — three ex-wives (Carla Gugino, Constance Wu and Noma Dumezweni) with unfinished business, his interrupted literary legacy, and his beloved beast Apollo (Bing). It’s not that Iris doesn’t like dogs, but this is Manhattan, and she’ll get kicked out of her building if they find out she’s pretty much trying to house a horse.
(L to R) Bill Murray and Naomi Watts star in ‘The Friend’.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Naomi Watts and legendary actor Bill Murray about their work on ‘The Friend’, Murray’s first reaction to the screenplay, the characters, Watts experience acting opposite Bing the dog, and working with directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Murray, Watts, and directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel.
(L to R) Naomi Watts and Bill Murray in Bleecker Street’s ‘The Friend’. Photo Credit: Bleecker Street.
Moviefone: To begin with, Bill, what was your first reaction to the screenplay and why did you want to be part of this project?
Bill Murray: Well, my first reaction was there was a lot that was going to be required that wasn’t written in the script that basically I had to be able to be a real, pretty good actor. But the script was, it gave you an opportunity to really bring as much as you were capable of to the job. I knew that if Naomi was going to be there, that she was going to be able to perform. She far overshot whatever I thought. Her performance in the movie is spectacular. It’s the only word for it. I haven’t seen anyone do anything like it in a long time. It’s an amazing piece of work, and I’m only in so many scenes with Naomi, but what she does in the rest of the movie is incredibly big and incredibly powerful. It’s a big deal. She does an amazing job. So, my job was just to feed her, and she took and smacked out of the park.
(L to R) Naomi Watts and Bing in Bleecker Street’s ‘The Friend’. Photo credit: Bleecker Street.
MF: Naomi, can you talk about how Iris’s life changes when she meets Apollo, and what was Bing like to have as a scene partner?
Naomi Watts: Yeah, it’s a terrible time for Apollo to just launch himself into her life, right at the point where she’s trying to grieve and the panic of losing her apartment, as well as the emotional side of things. It was just chaos and the constant reminder and the anger. Walter was her mentor. He was supposed to keep teaching her, and It’s very complicated. But it was wonderful working with this magical creature. Bing is a soulful, beautiful energy to be around constantly. He is highly trained, and they searched the nation far and wide.
(L to R) Bill Murray and Naomi Watts in Bleecker Street’s ‘The Friend’. Photo Credit: Bleecker Street.
MF: Bill, how would you describe the friendship between Iris and Walter, and why does he trust her to take care of Apollo?
BM: It’s bad enough when someone asks you to sort of house-sit their dog for a weekend or something, but she ended up with this giant dog, totally responsible for this thing that took over her home and her life and represented the person that she’d lost in life. It’s a big thing. The constant reminder of that emotion, that pain. You’re angry at the person you’ve lost. Yet, if you show the anger at this giant dog, the dog could eat you. You got to be careful.
(L to R) Bing and Naomi Watts in Bleecker Street’s ‘The Friend’. Photo credit: Bleecker Street.
MF: Naomi, Iris and Apollo are both mourning the loss of their friend, does that bring them closer together in a way because they are both grieving?
NW: You think it’s going to be her undoing, but it ends up being the gateway to opening to her grief and connecting with someone. This is a lonely woman who hasn’t had a proper connection with anyone for a while. She hasn’t felt connected to her craft. She hasn’t felt connected to a human, she hasn’t felt connected to her heart and soul, I suppose. He kind of opens that up and then all these other things start becoming more achievable.
(Left) ‘The Friend’ co-writer and co-director Scott McGehee. Photo credit: Bleecker Street. (Right) ‘The friend’ co-writer and co-director David Siegel. Photo credit: Bleecker Street.
MF: Finally, Bill, what was your experience like working with filmmakers Scott McGehee and David Siegel on this movie?
BM: Well, there were two. So, there was a good cop and a bad cop. The script they did was great and it’s nice if you’ve got a point and one of them doesn’t understand, you can go beg with the other one and say, “He’s such a jerk.” But they’ve made a bunch of good movies already. So, I think this is an amazing accomplishment because to take a good book, you can mess up a good book. This Sigrid Nunez book is a great book. You can take it and ruin, people do it all the time, but to take it and make it, to be able to bring it to life and to put pictures to it, to tell a story with words and pictures, it is just a different art, and they did it. It’s really a great achievement. It’s a great movie and they’re going to be rich and famous and then they’re going to be even more difficult to deal with. But it’s a great film, ‘The Friend’, and we’ve ended up becoming friends. So here we go. Now where do we go?
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What is the plot of ‘The Friend’?
Iris (Naomi Watts) has had a long, complex friendship with Walter (Bill Murray). Walter is an irresistible charmer, a brilliant author, a lover of many women, and a master at letting down loved ones. When he dies suddenly, Iris is left to deal with all he left behind — three ex-wives (Carla Gugino, Constance Wu and Noma Dumezweni) with unfinished business, his interrupted literary legacy, and his beloved beast Apollo (Bing). It’s not that Iris doesn’t like dogs, but this is Manhattan, and she’ll get kicked out of her building if they find out she’s pretty much trying to house a horse.
(L to R) Jon Robin Baitz, Diane Lane, Chloë Sevigny, Ryan Murphy, Naomi Watts, Tom Hollander, Molly Ringwald, Demi Moore, and Calista Flockhart attend the red carpet premiere of FX’s “Feud: Capote vs. The Swans’ at MOMA on January 23, 2024 in New York City. FX’s ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans’ premieres with two episodes on Wednesday, January 31 at 10pm on FX, next day on Hulu. Photo by Kristina Bumphrey/PictureGroup for FX.
‘Feud: Capote vs The Swans’ is a limited series based on Laurence Leamer’s best-selling book, ‘Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betray, and a Swan Song for an Era.’ The series focuses on writer Truman Capote and a group of elite socialites, how he became their confidant, and how their friendship ended with his ultimate betrayal in a fiery excerpt of his book. The women, or as Capote called them, “Swans,” band together to exile him from the high society that he loved, sending him spiraling into self-destruction.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of attending the virtual press conference for ‘Capote Vs. The Swans.’ In attendance were show creator/executive producer Ryan Murphy, writer Jon Robin Baits, director Gus Van Sant, and actors Naomi Watts (who also serves as Executive Producer), Tom Hollander, Diane Lane, Chloë Sevigny, Calista Flockhart, Demi Moore, and Molly Ringwald
Here are 10 things we learned from the ‘Capote vs The Swans’ virtual press conference:
1. Naomi Watts Had To Invent And Recreate the Likeness of Babe Paley’s Voice and Movement Through Only Photographs
Naomi Watts as Babe Paley in ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans.’ Photo: FX.
While the series is based on Laurence Leamer’s book, the cast of incredible actresses in the series did their research beyond written material – finding recordings, photographs, and more to bring them to life on screen.
Naomi Watts, who plays Babe Paley, and is also an executive producer on the series, talks about her research process as there were no recordings of Paley.
Naomi Watts: Laurence Leamer’s book was our source material, but then we had these wonderful writers as well, and so we really stuck to the scripts. But with Babe [Paley], there was no footage available that I could find, recordings or visuals, so trying to create a voice and her physicality was, you know, something that I had to invent through a multitude of wonderful photographs. You know, just how her hand was placed, perhaps, or how she held her cigarette; it was clear to me that there was never a hair out of place, never a wrong word spoken. So much effort put into her appearance and not just for her own vanity but how she designed a dinner table, who were the guests, what would the conversations be, what would the cutlery be, how it was placed. There was just so much time and thoughtfulness put into how each event would go, and yes, plenty to find on the internet, plenty of things to read. But there was this delicious writing that we could lean in on, so creating Babe was a complete joy for me.
Watts also serves as an Executive Producer on the series. When asked how she became involved in such a role, she says:
Naomi Watts: I had been working with Ryan [Murphy] on ‘The Watcher’ and really enjoyed that experience and established a nice rhythm and he’s very, very, very generous! So that is how I became an EP.
2. Tom Hollander on Why The Swans Befriended Capote
Tom Hollander attends the red carpet premiere of FX’s ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans’ at MOMA on January 23, 2024 in New York City. FX’s ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans’ premieres with two episodes on Wednesday, January 31 at 10pm on FX, next day on Hulu. Photo by Kristina Bumphrey/PictureGroup for FX.
Truman Capote’s close friendship with The Swans allowed him a look into their private lives and secrets, which would later lead to him exposing their secrets in ‘Answered Prayers.’ Actor Tom Hollander expands on why he thinks Capote befriended the Swans to begin with.
Tom Hollander: I think he was the greatest writer of his generation, so for a bunch of people that were very rich and fancy houses but kind of, at some level, disempowered by their marriages, to have the greatest writer of his generation in their salons made… he was an accouterment. He was a dazzling accouterment on their dinner table. Maybe he would celebrate them. So maybe at some level, their vanity was flattered by having him around and him understanding them and listening to them in a way that their husbands weren’t, didn’t have time for. He was filling a great gap in their emotional lives, and he was brilliant. He was an incredibly entertaining, perceptive, clever, interesting, singular man, so they were all- so I’d say that’s what they were getting out of it. Quite a lot. Until it went wrong.
3. The series marks Calista Flockhart’s return to television since ‘Supergirl’ and reunites her with Jon Robin Baitz
Calista Flockhart as Lee Radziwill in ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans.’ Photo: FX.
Playing Lee Radziwill, Calista Flockhart reunites with writer Jon Robin Baitz for the series. The two worked together on ‘Brothers and Sisters’ in 2006. Flockhart elaborates on working again with Baitz.
Calista Flockhart: I have been a fan of Robbie’s way, way, way back when we were doing New York theater together. I’ve done readings of so many of his plays. I remember in ‘Brothers and Sisters,’ we had a very collaborative relationship when we were discovering who Kitty was as a character, and so yes, I was excited to do this again with Robbie because I admire and love his talent, his intelligence, and also his sensitivity and humanity.
4. Diane Lane Had Access To Slim Keith’s Memoir
Diane Lane as Slim Keith in ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans.’ Photo: FX.
In her research on Slim Keith, Diane Lane was able to have access to her memoir, which allowed her to have a better understanding of the amount of anger Slim had toward Capote.
Diane Lane: The word that has been bandied about is ringleader, and I want to counter that with a little bit more nuance. I think that she saw from afar that Truman needed support and she was there for him in times—you know, he came to her to be an agent for the book, becoming a movie, ‘In Cold Blood,’ and until she could find him Swifty Lazar and help him to get a million-dollar deal, which at that time was pretty huge. I mean, historically there was a lot of loss in this betrayal that we don’t see on camera. I got the wonderful cheat of having access to her memoir, so I have an extra amount of compassion for the amount of anger that she is accountable for in this story because she did empower him and nurture his growth and was there for a lot of his formative time. They traveled the world together and she did seem to have a sixth sense about not trusting him with too much of her secrets, so when she was chosen to be the person quoted about other people’s indiscretions in the infamous ‘Answered Prayers’ article in Esquire, as though she were the one betraying the ladies who lunch and everyone else. I mean, he called her “Big Mama,” that was his nickname for her. So she was really baffled, and I’ll leave it there.
5. Ryan Murphy thinks The Swans would have been as influential as the Kardashians if they were living in this era
(L to R) Calista Flockhart, Chloë Sevigny, Diane Lane, Molly Ringwald, Naomi Watts and Demi Moore in ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans.’ Photo: FX.
As a group of extremely smart and capable women, they were brilliant in putting together many business deals that they were not given credit for. If they were alive today, it would be a completely different story.
Show creator Ryan Murphy elaborates on the topic of timing for these women.
Ryan Murphy: That’s actually something Robbie and I talked a lot about when we were first thinking of doing it, and I think the tragedy of that generation, which I would include my mother in, is a generation of women sort of caught between ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’ and the pill, who were, I think, very frustrated a lot of times with the misogyny of the society. I think all of those women in our show were so brilliant in their personal lives and so intelligent that I do think 10 years-post, they all would’ve had successful businesses or brands. You can just see that they were all so smart, particularly in the world of manners and society and beauty, and I think they all would’ve had skincare lines, I think they all would’ve had house care lines. I think they would’ve done a Kardashian thing, you know, which is a very brilliant business way of looking about selling an aspirational lifestyle. But some of them did have that—I mean, if you look at Slim, the tragedy of that is she was behind particularly, and so was Babe, so many incredible business deals that she helped put together professionally that she was not given credit for—both of them, I think. So I think the frustration and the sadness was baked into that time. I think, to answer another question, that’s one of the reasons they turned to Truman, because they were all in marriages or with men who constantly put them in their place and told them they weren’t enough. Truman was the one who said to them, “You’re actually smarter than your husbands, you control everything. All of these lives are because of what you’re doing.” There’s a baked-in sadness in that, that so many women of that generation, I think, that we wanted to write to. There’s nothing more depressing than lost potential, which I think they all really had.
Demi Moore chimed in on the topic as well:
Demi Moore: I don’t know if I can speak for all of the women, but I think that there was a great desire of beauty and, in an interesting way, I think that there was a great desire for connection with one another. While their life had certain limitations, I think that they were incredibly expansive in how they were living their lives.
6. The series touches on the LGBTQA+ community during that time
Gus Van Sant attends the red carpet premiere of FX’s ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans’ at MOMA on January 23, 2024 in New York City. FX’s ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans’ premieres with two episodes on Wednesday, January 31 at 10pm on FX, next day on Hulu. Photo by Frank Micelotta/PictureGroup for FX.
Truman Capote was openly gay, and the series leaned into homophobia during that time period. Ryan Murphy speaks on the including the use of the words “f*g” and “fa**ot” and how it was depicted in the show.
Ryan Murphy: In terms of the sexuality and the homophobia of the time, I think the most fascinating thing about that is we talked a lot about the use of those words, particularly the use of the word “f*g” or “fa**ot” and how it was depicted in the show. In the scene where Demi confronts him, you know, obviously it’s a word none of us like, none of us use, and we had a lot of conversation about it, but it was so important to him. It was the thing that he claims that she did and also that Lee did to him that broke his heart and broke his soul because he thought that was such a betrayal. It was a thing that ultimately turned him—when he talks about Demi’s character, it is the thing that he references where he decided to go after her. In the case of Lee, it’s an offhand remark that she made about a lawsuit he was in, and he was so stunned and hurt. So for us, as difficult as it was to articulate, being true to the characters and the time and the power of words. So we researched that quite heavily and we had a lot of conversations about “Should we leave it in? Should we take it out?” But ultimately, we did [leave it in]. As a gay person who that word has been used about since I was three years old, I really understand the wound of it and the pain of it and how it really can turn your life upside down. So we decided to be honest.
Director Gus Van Sant elaborates more on queer culture in that time period.
Gus Van Sant: I think in the time period that we’re depicting, there is an emerging gay culture. People are out…ish. Chloë and I had an art teacher who was out in 1961, teaching in a homophobic town, Darien, Connecticut, and sharing his gay weekends by explaining things that he was involved in on the weekends in the Greenwich Village. But yeah, there was a long road to travel. I mean, Truman was out by virtue of his art and his novels, the dates of his novels coming out, he predated, like, many people, along with Gore Vidal and Tennessee Williams. They were very exposed compared to, like, the general culture, but it’s a fascinating sort of character within gay history. I’d often thought there’s this great story of him going with Norman Mailer to a working man’s bar, and Norman thinking they were gonna get attacked, and Truman just pulled it off perfectly because of his energy and his, I guess, peace of mind, you know, as an open gay man. So we didn’t get to that scene, but he’s sort of a representation of queer culture through the ’50s and ’60s and ’70s and ’80s.
7. Molly Ringwald on her character Joanne Carson and why she remained friends with Capote
Molly Ringwald as Joanne Carson in ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans.’ Photo: FX.
Joanne Carson, wife of famous TV host Johnny Carson, was Capote’s last remaining friend. Played by Molly Ringwald, the actress expands on the friendship between Capote and Carson.
Molly Ringwald: She was really like his last friend. But I feel that it was such a betrayal because they adored him so much. I think even though they knew he was a writer, I feel like they didn’t- they were going to be immune to that, to what writers do, which is use material in their lives and fictionalize it. I think it was pretty self-destructive, what he did. I don’t think he wanted to lose their friendships either, but he is a writer, you know. Like Joanne Carson, I think one of the reasons why she stayed friends with him—because he wrote things about her too—but she was in love with his genius. I think she really thought that he was a genius. I do too—as a writer, I think he was a genius, and I think all writers need somebody in their lives there sort of saying, “You can do this, you’re great.” I don’t know, I feel like there was maybe a little bit of anger on his part from being a little bit of a court jester, like he was a court jester, but maybe there was some anger about that.
8. How Did Tom Hollander Nail Down The Voice of Capote?
Tom Hollander as Truman Capote in ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans.’ Photo: FX.
Capote had a specific way of speaking, in his intonation and pauses. Tom Hollande describes his process of getting into character before walking on set:
Tom Hollander: Honestly, I just listened to it a lot, and I was helped enormously by the most brilliant voice coach called Jerome Butler, who was there with me every day. Then Truman himself was on my phone in my ear before every take, and so I could be with him whenever I wanted to and remind myself what he sounded like. So you just keep scratching away at it. It’s not something that you get and then you’ve got it and then you can hold on to it. You have to keep going, keep working at it.
9. The Cast Did Not Interact With Each Other Outside Of Their Scenes Due To COVID
Chloë Sevigny as C. Z. Guest in ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans.’ Photo: FX.
‘Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans’ began filming in New York in Fall 2022, when productions had to adhere to strict COVID restrictions such as masking and distancing. Aside from their scenes together, the cast were not able to interact with each other during filming.
Chloë Sevigny: We were still masked then. We were still in the throes of COVID. We had to eat alone. We couldn’t even all eat together in the cafeteria, so we were kept kind of separate from one another. Even in the hair and makeup trailer, we were like six feet apart, so the most intimate we were was when we were in La Côte Basque.
Did this make it harder for the cast to bond? Naomi Watts anwsered:
Naomi Watts: There was some high-level concentration going on because of this high-level writing, these delicious words that we wanted to savor and, you know, really honor, not to mention these beautiful characters to play. Oftentimes when you’re working on a film or a show, I mean, especially if you’re on the road somewhere and you’ve left your home territory, it’s nice to have a meal at the end of the day or, you know, a drink or a hangout and there just wasn’t time for this because we were always concentrating on the next day’s work ahead. But yes, to Chloë’s point, when we came together at the Côte Basque, those in-between moments, though they were short, they were bonding, and I think we were all just super-grateful for these wonderful group of people.
10. The particular way Ryan Murphy titles his shows
‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans.’ Photo: FX.
With a plethora of shows under his belt, how does creator Ryan Murphy decide what order to put place the colon and why? Murphy explains:
Ryan Murphy: First of all, that is my- 100 percent my decision. People talk a lot about that, colon versus semicolon. I think I’m being correct. I think in the case of ‘Feud,’ it’s always about a versus—you know, we did that in Season 1, which was Bette vs. Joan or so that’s how that came about. Because, you know, ‘Feud’ is about a love turned to hate, and I think it is very much about a clash which the Vs. gives you.
Demi Moore as Ann Woodward in ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans.’ Photo: FX.
What Is ‘Feud: Capote vs The Swans’ about?
Acclaimed writer Truman Capote (Tom Hollander) surrounded himself with a coterie of society’s most elite women, rich, glamorous socialites whom he nicknamed the Swans. Beautiful and distinguished, the group included Babe Paley (Naomi Watts), Slim Keith (Diane Lane), C.Z. Guest (Chloê Sevigny), and Lee Radziwill (Calista Flockhart). Enchanted and captivated by his Swans, Capote ingratiated himself into their lives, befriending them and becoming their confidant, only to ultimately betray them by writing a thinly veiled fictionalization of their lives and exposing their most intimate secrets. When an excerpt from the book Answered Prayers was published in Esquire, it effectively destroyed his relationship with his Swans, banished him from the high society he so loved, and sent him into a spiral of self-destruction from which he would ultimately never recover.
Naomi Watts in Bleecker Street’s ‘Infinite Storm.’
Opening in theaters on March 25th is the new movie ‘Infinite Storm,’ which was directed by Malgorzata Szumowska (‘Mug’) and is based on a true story.
Oscar-nominated actress Naomi Watts (‘Birdman,’ ‘King Kong’) plays real-life experienced hiker Pam Bales, who risked her own life to save a stranger stranded on a New Hampshire mountain during a blizzard.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Naomi Watts and real-life subject Pam Bales about their work on ‘Infinite Storm.’
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You can read a full transcript of the interview below or watch a video of our interviews with Watts, Bales, and director Malgorzata Szumowska in the player above.
Moviefone: To begin with Naomi, what was your first reaction when you heard of Pam’s amazing story? Why as a producer did you want to make this movie, and why as an actress did you want to play this role?
Naomi Watts: I read the screenplay. I knew that Malgorzata was directing it, who was someone I knew from having done the Venice Film Festival Jury a couple years before. Then I read the wonderful article and then the last piece was listening to a recorded conversation between Josh Rollins, the screenwriter, and Pam. There’s something in that and it really struck me just how incredible this human being was, and it really sparked my curiosity.
I wanted to know who she was, and I was pretty sure that other people would want to know too. I knew that as an actor, I was going to be facing some major challenges in the preparation. I did deep research, multiple conversations with Pam, trying to get closer to her story and physical prep, obviously. But I love the poetry in it, and not just the resilience. The takeaway from it of how gentle nature can be, how you can quiet the mind, and her reason for pounding those mountains day after day is something that we all need to remember.
We don’t have to have mountains. It’s just a walk in the park, the stillness by the ocean or by whatever you are close to. If there’s just a way to connect and quiet the mind, because we do have our demons, we do have our troubles and loneliness, and there’s something beautiful and poetic and spiritual about that. So, the combination of the two things was very much it for me.
MF: Pam, one of the themes I took away from the movie is that it is incredibly hard to save the life of someone who doesn’t want to live. Can you talk about those challenges and how you overcame them in your own life, as depicted in this film?
Pam Bales: It is tough to save somebody that it is rebutting you, but you just take charge like a bull and you do it with kindness. You have to do it with aggression. You got to find that mix that works for any scenario. Losing my girls was extremely traumatic and everybody has their own way to deal with losses. Reaching out should be one of them.
The message of my movie is that of mental health and suicide prevention awareness. So, that kindness either to yourself or to reach out to somebody, be it a friend, family, or for somebody else. It just may make their day. One person can make a difference.
Naomi Watts in Bleecker Street’s ‘Infinite Storm.’
MF: Pam, what was it like for you to have this movie made about your life, and to have an actress like Naomi Watts portray you in the film?
PB: Oh, I’m such a private, and a simple person. It’s been hard to have this exposure, but it’s an honor, again, to get those troubles from within and get them out. If anybody takes that away from the film, then it’s worth all my embarrassment for the attention. But to have Naomi, what an honor. She just so nailed it. She was spot on. It was like me up there with her face.
MF: Finally Naomi, this was a very physical role for you to play. In many scenes, you are battling the forces of nature. What was shooting this movie like for you physically, and was it a difficult experience?
NW: It was a big one and certainly I had to prep for it. I consider myself a fairly agile, fit person. I don’t mind a challenge, normally. I’m not big on extreme weather. In fact, there’s not enough warming packs on the planet for me to feel comfortable with dedicating a lifetime to it. Just a portion of time was okay, but that was hard enough. I loved being able to know that my body could do certain things.
I also have back issues and so I was always constantly worried about uneven terrain and slipping. Sometimes we were walking through paths through waist deep snow, so there were some treacherous conditions. But I liked the challenge and I liked knowing that I was walking in Pam’s shoes and telling this story that is a meaningful one that hopefully affects people. One person is just enough that they can alter their thinking if they’re out there alone in the world having dark thoughts.
The movie stars Naomi Watts as a woman who is desperately racing to save her child after police place her hometown on lockdown due to an active shooter incident.
We recently had a chance to speak with actress Naomi Watts, as well as director Phillip Noyce, about their work on ‘The Desperate Hours’
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You can read a full transcript of our interview with Naomi Watts below, or watch the video of our interview with Watts and Phillip Noyce in the player above.
Moviefone: To begin with, what was your first reaction when you read the screenplay?
Naomi Watts: I just was like, how would I be in a situation like this? This is the most horrendous nightmare that a parent can imagine, that your kid is not safe in their own school. Unfortunately, it’s a story that seems to play itself out oh too regularly in news feeds, and it just keeps happening.
I wanted to know what it would be like to be a parent in that situation, and how would my nervous system handle it? It is confronting. It is hard stuff to take in, but hopefully it connects with people, and this is the world we’re living in right now, which is not okay.
It’s the wrong thing for anyone, no matter where you are. It just shouldn’t happen. It’s senseless. Not everyone’s story plays out like Amy’s, but it’s just one little tiny way into know what it might be like. Lives are being lost in a senseless way, and that’s just, again, not okay.
Naomi Watts in ‘The Desperate Hour.’
MF: Finally, he movie has a very small cast, and most of the scenes revolve around your character. What was the process of making this film like for you?
NW: It’s a big piece of it, and we worked as a team. That’s always the case with filming, but the intimacy and the size of it made it so that we were very connected to one another. Sometimes, when I was running, they were all on the truck and everything was being operated from there. Other times they were running too alongside me, or in front of me, and even backwards at times.
So, sometimes the man went down because he tripped, and I had to just keep running and the show carried on, but it was quite an interesting piece physically. I anticipated that it would be difficult, but then you get there on the day and you’re like, “Oh my God, this is far more difficult.”
My body, even with the preparation that I gave myself in the lead up, it just wasn’t as strong as I wanted it to be. I’m not in my twenties anymore. I used to be someone that could run for miles and miles, but it all worked for the story to play out, to be physically exhausted, to be broken down, to have aches and pains, and the breathlessness. The emotions definitely come more easily when you’re exhausted.
After premiering at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, “The Wolf Hour” has landed a U.S. distributor. Brainstorm Media has acquired the North American rights for the thriller starring Naomi Watts and is eyeing a fall release date, Variety reports.
The film comes from writer-director Alistair Banks Griffin and stars Watts as June Leigh, a former counterculture figure living in New York in 1997. As violence in the city escalates over a blackout, she shuts herself inside her grandmother’s apartment in the South Bronx. She can’t escape the action, though; she keeps finding different visitors at her door and must deal with her fear and paranoia.
The film is a “tense thriller,” according to Michelle Schwarzstein, Brainstorm’s president of marketing and acquisitions (via Variety). She described Watts’s performance as “riveting.” The two-time Academy Award-nominated actress is joined in the film by Emory Cohen,Jennifer Ehle,Kelvin Harrison Jr.,Jeremy Bobb, andBrennan Brown.
“The Wolf Hour” comes from producers Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Bailey Conway Anglewicz, and Bradley Pilz. Ged Dickersin co-produced. The Big Picture Company’s Felipe Dieppa and Taryn Nagle executive produced alongside Belladonna Productions’ Linda Moran and Automatik’s Fred Berger.
The film’s exact release date hasn’t been revealed yet, but keep an eye out for “The Wolf Hour” this fall.
Fans who were unsatisfied with last month’s “Game of Thrones” series finale have a fresh opportunity to explore the world of Westeros, thanks to a new prequel series that’s been ordered to pilot at HBO. And now comes word that that episode has finally started filming, in a location that should look plenty familiar to “Thrones” devotees.
According to Entertainment Weekly, the pilot for prequel “The Long Night” (the show’s current working title, which was also the name of an episode of the final season of “Thrones”) just began production in Northern Ireland. That’s the same country that served as home base for “Thrones” throughout the show’s entire eight-season run, and we can’t help but think that the creative team is planning on re-using some of the same locations for this new show.
Of course, if that happens, the setting won’t look completely the same: “The Long Night” takes place thousands of years before the events of “Game of Thrones,” in a version of Westeros that is “a different and older world,” according to “A Song of Ice and Fire” author George R.R. Martin. And there’s still the possibility that the series could shoot in other countries, too, though that has not yet been confirmed yet, EW reports.
“The Long Night,” created by Jane Goldman (“X-Men: First Class”) from a story by Martin, features headliner and Oscar nominee Naomi Watts, and a sprawling cast that includes Miranda Richardson in a key role, Josh Whitehouse, Naomi Ackie, Denise Gough, Jamie Campbell Bower, Sheila Atim, Ivanno Jeremiah, Georgie Henley, Alex Sharp, and Toby Regbo.
If ordered to series, the prequel is expected to debut on HBO sometime in late 2020 or early 2021. Stay tuned.
Did he really cross a line or does she just have a vendetta against him?
It’s another meaty role for Oscar-winner Spencer, who just headlined her first movie, the horror film, “Ma.” (And we may never see her the same again after that!)
Showtime has finally released the official trailer for its upcoming limited series “The Loudest Voice,” and we’re still blown away by Russell Crowe‘s transformation into late Fox News founder Roger Ailes.
The new trailer shows snippets of the rise and fall of Ailes, with Crowe leading a star-studded cast. His co-stars include the likes of Naomi Watts (Gretchen Carlson); Sienna Miller (Elizabeth Ailes), Seth MacFarlane (Brian Lewis), and more. Over the course of the trailer, we see Ailes exert his influence on politics and everyday people alike, as well as glimpses at the sexual harassment scandal that ultimately led to his exit from Fox News.
What if “Hamlet” were told from the viewpoint of Ophelia? That’s the premise of “Ophelia,” starring Daisy Ridley (nearly unrecognizable in a long red wig) as the classic Shakespearean character.
In the first trailer, we see her trying to get Hamlet (George MacKay) to flee the castle after his father’s murder, worrying that she’ll be forced to marry another, and then being dramatically dragged out of the court.
Naomi Watts, who plays Hamlet’s mother, Queen Gertrude, has previously said that, although Ophelia goes stark-raving mad in the play, she’s far from a damsel in distress in this film. “If [a woman’s mind] is powerful, it must be madness. And now there’s this shift that’s taking place, and that’s reflected in this storytelling.”
Claire McCarthy (“Skin”) directs this new adaptation, which costars Clive Owen as murderous Claudius and Tom Felton as Ophelia’s brother, Laertes.
The trailer includes key scenes from any “Hamlet “production, including Ophelia in the water, the bloody aftermath of the final showdown, but with the focus on Ophelia, this film promises to be quite different.
The opens in limited release on June 28, followed by a digital and On Demand release on July 3.
