(Left) ‘Nightbitch’ director Marielle Heller. (Right) 1992’s ‘FernGully: The Last Rainforest’. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
Preview:
Director Marielle Heller is developing a live-action ‘FernGully’.
It’ll be a remake of the 1992 animated movie.
Amazon MGM Studios is backing the project.
1992’s Environmental-themed ‘FernGully’ wasn’t exactly a big hit upon its original release –– it made $32 million worldwide against a $24 million budget. But in the decades since, it has earned a place in at least some cinemagoers’ hearts.
That’s surely what Amazon MGM Studios will be hoping for as it sets ‘Nightbitch’ filmmaker Marielle Heller to write and direct a live-action update.
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And let’s not forget that the studio will also be aiming to replicate the success seen by the likes of Disney and DreamWorks Animation, which have seen several re-imaginings of their cartoon output do good business at the box office in the last few years.
1992’s ‘FernGully: The Last Rainforest’. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
The original film followed the magical inhabitants of an Australian rainforest as they fight to save their home, which is threatened by logging and a polluting force of destruction called Hexxus.
We don’t yet know what elements Heller –– who has written and will direct the new film –– is retaining.
When will the new ‘FernGully’ be in theaters?
Amazon MGM Studios has yet to say anything about the movie’s potential release date (and we notice it wasn’t mentioned as part of the company’s CinemaCon presentation), so we’ll have to wait and see on that front.
1992’s ‘FernGully: The Last Rainforest’. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
Movies where characters have no names, and only referred to as “Mother” or other archetypes, always make us suspicious. While it can work in book form, film is a much more visual medium and therefore a more specific one, and while that lack of specificity may make a story on the page more universal or metaphorical, the more concrete language of film may demand a little more out of its characters.
That’s especially true when you set them in a realistic – if also unnamed – time and place, as Marielle Heller’s film ‘Nightbitch’ does. An adaptation of Rachel Yoder’s 2021 novel, the movie stars Amy Adams as a stay-at-home mom (named ‘Mother’) who has given up a career as an artist and pretty much all of her self-identity to take care of her toddler (‘Son’). But Mother’s frustration with her choices manifests itself in some seemingly peculiar ways, leaving ‘Nightbitch’ in an uneasy and not super-successful limbo between satire, allegory, and body horror exercise.
Mother (Amy Adams) has given up her career as an artist to stay at home and take of, as she puts it, “a person who will pee in your face without blinking.” Her daily routine with her son – walks in the neighborhood, trips to the supermarket, crafts and games in the house, the same thing every day for lunch – becomes soul-crushingly numbing; she showed her work “at the Modern” once, but is “just dumb now.”
She attends mommy groups at the library but confesses in voiceover that she hates the other moms, all of whom seem to be having a much blissful experience than she is. Meanwhile, the barely present Husband (Scoot McNairy) is off traveling most days for his anonymous job, leaving Mother to take care of Son, run the house, and listen to Husband’s whining about how their relationship isn’t what it was before Son came along. “What happened to my wife?” he asks at one point. “She died in childbirth,” says Mother bitterly.
It is those punishing early days of motherhood that ‘Nightbitch’ (the film) gets right, with director Heller saying that Rachel Yoder’s book impacted her just as she stayed home for several years with her own young children. But while Heller has a great eye for emotional and physical detail in the everyday lives of dysfunctional people (just watch her marvelous ‘Diary of a Teenage Girl’ or the brilliant ‘Can You Ever Forgive Me?’), she is less sure-footed when ‘Nightbitch’ takes a turn into surrealism with a touch of body horror.
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Mother begins to notice fuzz growing on her back and face, while her teeth seem to sharpen; a bump on the end of her spine soon elongates into what appears to be a tail. Wild dogs begin congregating around her house at night, sometimes leaving her their kills. She herself craves raw meat. And finally one night, Mother changes into a canine form, running on all fours through her nameless suburban neighborhood as if she’s just been released from solitary confinement. She’s free, she’s an animal, she’s a primal force of nature – she’s herself.
Or is she? While such a transformation may work on the page, putting it on film makes it more literal and clunky. We’re never quite sure whether it’s all in Mother’s mind or not, and the earlier, emotionally truthful parts of the story simply don’t sit well with its flights of fancy. At one point, an enigmatic librarian named Norma (the great Jessica Harper) gives Mother a book called “A Field Guide to Magical Women,” suggesting that Mother is part of a long line of women who have “delayed their own greatness” (including Mother’s own mom). But just as things seem to come to a head – both in Mother’s own interior life and in her increasingly strained relationship with Husband – the story comes to a pat conclusion that seems to tie things up in simplistic fashion.
‘Nightbitch’ offers up some rich material for both Heller and Adams to mine, and hits upon some stark truths about motherhood – truths that often get buried in society’s rush to make it seem like it must be the ultimate achievement and defining moment in every woman’s life. But the film’s fantastical extension of those ideas doesn’t go very far, and the movie retreats from them almost as soon as it begins to explore them.
We can watch Amy Adams in just about anything, and ‘Nightbitch’ is really a showcase for her. Although Mother is more an idea than a full character in many ways, Adams brings a complexity to this woman that provides the main drive for the film. Mother’s exhaustion, boredom, and inner tension is palpable, as is her barely suppressed – and fully earned – rage when confronted with Husband’s neediness. And when her animalistic tendencies take over, her sexuality comes out unexpectedly as well, simmering, raw, and long-buried but still powerful. Although Adams is hampered by the script’s queasy sort of twilight existence, she still delivers a well-rounded and poignant performance.
Scoot McNairy, playing his second insecure male this year after his turn in the American remake of ‘Speak No Evil,’ does not fare nearly as well as Husband, a one-dimensional punching bag who pretty much deserves every (symbolic) blow he takes. Husband is clueless, unsympathetic, and emotionally absent, which makes his abrupt character turn toward the end of the film feel hollow. McNairy is a good actor who’s not served well by this role, and while Husband certainly represents a certain kind of husband and father (not all, but a lot) who see their role as merely bringing home the bacon while leaving the parenting to their partners, the film’s portrayal comes up short.
Although they’re all pretty thinly-drawn in a way, the women from the mommy group that Mother reluctantly hangs out with are at least fun to watch in a comic sense, and it’s always nice to see our beloved Jessica Harper (‘Suspiria,’ ‘Phantom of the Paradise’) onscreen even if her narrative thread ultimately doesn’t lead much of anywhere.
With award season upon us, there’s a good chance that Amy Adams might land her seventh Oscar nomination for ‘Nightbitch,’ and it would certainly be well-deserved. Whether she can win or not in a field that’s already looking fiercely competitive – with ‘Anora’ star Mikey Madison, ‘Babygirl’ lead Nicole Kidman, and Angelina Jolie from ‘Maria’ all in the running, among others – remains to be seen.
We just wish the movie around her was better. While the more realistic parts of ‘Nightbitch’ are on target much of the time, the film’s more allegorical or fantastical elements just don’t mesh as well, at least on film, and the director is never able to solve that problem. And instead of committing all the way to one direction or the other, ‘Nightbitch’ just kind of quickly wraps things up. Amy Adams’ provocative performance deserves better, but in the end this ‘Nightbitch’ lacks bite.
‘Nightbitch’ receives 6.5 out of 10 stars.
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What is the plot of ‘Nightbitch’?
An overwhelmed and frustrated stay-at-home mother (Amy Adams) begins to seemingly transform into a dog as she yearns to rediscover her own identity.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Amy Adams about her work on ‘Nightbitch’, developing the project as a producer, her approach to playing her character and the difficulties in her marriage, and the challenges of working with children and dogs.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Adams and director Marielle Heller.
MF: To begin with, can you talk about developing this project as a producer and the themes you wanted to explore on screen as an actress?
Amy Adams: Well, I read the novel before there was a screenplay, so I was brought early on to produce it with Sue Naegle and Annapurna Pictures. Then, we immediately got Mari (director Marielle Heller) on board and Mari’s unique perspective and how she brought that unique tone from the novel into the screenplay. I thought the tone was unique. I thought it dealt with so many important issues. It brings up not only motherhood, parenthood, relationships, community, generational trauma, all these things, of course, that I love to dive into. I really wanted to tell this story.
MF: Can you talk about the frustrations that your character is having with her husband and motherhood in general?
AA: I think as we find her in the film, she’s at this place where she and father (Scoot McNairy) haven’t really communicated effectively how there would be an equitable division inside of the home. She’s taken on the bulk of responsibility of parenthood. What I love about what Mari’s done with the film and how Scoot McNairy plays the father is that he really isn’t the antagonist of the film and nor is motherhood the antagonist. There’s always a conflict of, and I think that feels so human and so true, between feeling lost and feeling like you’ve lost yourself and yet loving the new life that you could create, but not knowing how important communication and community is through that. Again, I think Scoot does such a wonderful job of playing this husband because he is so loving and invested. He just doesn’t know what’s going on and she hasn’t been able to communicate the truth and the depth of her frustration and her loss of self.
MF: Finally, there is an old saying that you should “never work with children or animals,” and you do both in this film. What was that like for you?
AA: I said that making this movie was a lot like having a baby. Now that I’m done, I’m like, “It was not hard at all.” But I think in the moment, if I’m really being honest, there were some challenges, but it was such a wonderful experience. These boys, Emmett and Arleigh (Snowden), they’re these twins that we worked with, were so open and kind of reminded me of the natural give and take of acting that sometimes can get away from me in bigger themes. It kind of brought me back to the play of acting, and it was a lot of fun to work with them. They were so beautiful and the whole set rallied around the experience. We had the prop master constantly bringing new things for them to play with, and Mari down here talking to them. It was a full community working with these kids.
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What is the plot of ‘Nightbitch’?
The film concerns a magical realism-style story of a stay-at-home mom (Amy Adams) who sometimes transforms into a dog.
(L to R) Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackie, Shawn Levy, Barry Jenkins, Amy Poehler and Kevin Feige at Disney’s 2024 CinemaCon Presentation. Photo: Disney.
Preview:
Disney, as expected, went big on Pixar and Marvel.
The likes of ‘Deadpool’, ‘Inside Out 2’ and more were showcased.
‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ also showed footage.
Disney might not be enjoying quite the same cinematic dominance as it once did, but it still has some heavy hitters thanks to the likes of ‘Avatar’, ‘Star Wars’ and more.
Before the main presentation, we were treated to a PSA from no less than Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman in their ‘Deadpool and Wolverine‘ outfits, reminding the audience not to silence cellphones (it included a skit about Deadpool trying to spoil Marvel’s upcoming Avengers movie ‘Secret Wars’, but being interrupted by a ringing phone, leading to a filthy rant.)
Disney Co-Chair Alan Bergman kicked things off by saying that while every movie can’t be on the level of ‘Avatar’, but that the company continues to invest in event movies. A timeline on screen certainly attested to that, with confirmations of the various ‘Avatar’, Marvel and other titles.
First up was the next generation of the ‘Apes’ franchise, which has the unenviable task of following the Matt Reeves films.
Set decades after those movies, Wes Ball’s new effort is focused on the young ape known as Noah, and a couple of footage clips looked truly impressive –– Weta’s effects team once more working wonders on the motion capture apes.
‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ is in theaters on May 10th, so not too long to wait now.
This based-on-truth tale stars Daisy Ridley as Trudy Ederle, the first woman to successfully swim the English Channel. Directed by Joachim Rønning and written by Jeff Nathanson, a new trailer for the movie was shown, which you can find below:
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‘The Young Woman and the Sea’ paddles into theaters on May 31st.
Amy Poehler at Disney’s 2024 CinemaCon Presentation. Photo: Disney.
The return to the world of a young girl’s head has been a controversial one so far, with several of the voice cast deciding not to return after low pay offers.
But Amy Poehler is back as main character Joy, here confronting some new emotions as her charge Riley enters the tween/teenaged stage.
Poehler was present to introduce roughly 35 minutes from the start of the film and enthuse about how much Joy means to her.
As you might expect from Pixar, the footage went over very well, packed full of emotional power. (The likes of Maya Hawke, Ayo Edebiri and Paul Walter Hauser are among the new voices for this one.)
‘Inside Out 2’ will be out on June 14th.
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And so we leave the sweet animation world for somewhere very different…
Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige at Disney’s 2024 CinemaCon Presentation. Photo: Disney.
Kevin Feige walked on stage to talk about upcoming Marvel output. In keeping with Disney’s new mandate of quality over quantity, there is only one main movie from the MCU gang this year.
Feige cracked that they had Deadpool design a popcorn bucket to tie-in with ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ and can’t wait for us to… experience it. The mind shudders.
‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ will be with us on July 26th.
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Feige moved on to future movies. He dropped word that the ‘Thunderbolts’ movie is actually titled ‘Thunderbolts*’ and that the asterisk will be explained at some point soon. That movie will be with us on May 5th, 2025.
Then it was time to look further –– Feige mentioned that his team is developing two of their movies to shoot with IMAX cameras, including ‘The Fantastic Four’, which will finally kick off production in a couple of months.
(L to R) Anthony Mackie and Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige at Disney’s 2024 CinemaCon Presentation. Photo: Disney.
The Marvel boss moved on to ‘Captain America: Brave New World‘, citing the influence of ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’. He described the movie thus far as fast-paced and grounded and focused on Sam Wilson.
With that, Anthony Mackie took the stage, to a salute from Feige –– “you should always salute your captain.” Mackie was to show the audience a clip. Cut the check!
The footage has Harrison Ford’s Thunderbolt Ross –– who is now President –– telling Sam Wilson that he wants him to help rebuild the Avengers. There’s also a moment where a mind- controlled former super-soldier Isiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) tries to kill the Prez.
‘Captain America: Brave New World’ arrives on February 14th next year.
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And in case you thought Team Marvel didn’t somehow find time to hype ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ one more time, director Shawn Levy closed out the company’s section of the Disney presentation with 9 minutes from the movie.
As could have been predicted, the ‘Deadpool’ footage is chaotic, funny and meta. We won’t give away too much here but suffice to say it’s everything you might be hoping (or fearing), including a shot of Chris Hemsworth’s Thor crying over Wade Wilson’s body. (“That happens in the distant future”, our hero is told.)
The new entry in the ‘Alien’ franchise comes from Fede Alvarez, and if you’ve seen the first teaser, you know it’s very much in the horror mode.
Nine minutes of footage was screened for the audience. It was largely a scene featuring a legion of involved a series of small Facehuggers attacking scientists in a cryo Lab. One of the creatures manages to swim like a shark through some water and escape the lab. As the clip ends, many Facehuggers escape and start filling the ship…
We also see a scene of an alien explosively birthing itself from the chest of a human victim, all while the ship it is aboard is crashing though the walls of a giant structure.
‘Alien: Romulus’ heads to theaters on August 16th.
Fresh of Oscar victory (and box office success), the Searchlight team arrived to promote Yorgos Lanthimos’ next collaboration with stars Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe. They confirmed that the movie will debut at Cannes but didn’t offer much beyond the trailer that has already been shown online.
‘Kinds of Kindness’ is due in theaters on June 21st.
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The movie was simply mentioned along with a batch of other Searchlight releases, including ‘The Amateur’, starring Rami Malek (due out April 11th next year) and ‘Nightbitch,’ which has Amy Adams starring (and will be out on December 6th).
‘Ella McCay’ is the latest film from James L. Brooks, who has quite the cast attached to his latest film, about a young politician juggling life and work as she prepares to try and take over for her mentor.
Director Barry Jenkins at Disney’s 2024 CinemaCon Presentation. Photo: Disney.
We already knew that Barry Jenkins was working on this prequel to the 2019 photo-realistic remake of the animal drama.
Jenkins headed on stage to explain how incredibly personal Mufasa is to him, and how he watched the original hand-drawn animated version hundreds of times as a kid and then with his nephews. He sees the new movie as a chance to share a similar message and feeling with a new generation.
“This is a massive f*****g film,” Jenkins said, “and it was my job to fill it with massive heart.” He jokes that he can’t share who is performing the music for the movie because Disney won’t let him.
He debuted the first trailer from the movie, on which he’s been working for 3/12 years. It is, as you would expect, full of lion goodness.
‘Mufasa: The Lion King’ is in theaters on December 20th.
Dwayne Johnson at Disney’s 2024 CinemaCon Presentation. Photo: Disney.
By which we mean, of course, The Rock. Dwayne Johnson was on stage with a phalanx of Polynesian dancers to introduce the animated sequel to the 2016 hit.
This new movie was famously adapted from the planned TV series featuring the character, and Johnson explained how his performance as demigod Maui was inspired by his grandfather.
He was surprised on stage by receiving the NATO Spirit of the Industry and seemed genuinely touches.
Johnson wrapped things up by showing some ‘Moana 2’ material. “You’re welcome!”
The footage has Moana (Auli’i Cravalho) singing about how happy she is to be home. But before long, she’s off on another adventure.
‘Moana 2’ makes landfall in theaters on November 27th.
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And that’s it for Disney and the big CinemaCon studio presentations!
Dwayne Johnson at Disney’s 2024 CinemaCon Presentation. Photo: Disney.
