Maxance Vincent
Bleecker Street has announced that it has acquired the distribution rights to The Friend, starring Bill Murray, Naomi Watts, Sarah Pidgeon, Constance Wu, Ann Dowd, Owen Teague, Carla Gugino, and Josh Pais. The film is written and directed by Siegel & McGehee, and based on the book of the same name written by Sigrid Nunez.
The film tells the story of writer and teacher Iris, who has to take care of a great dane after its master and best friend dies suddenly. After a successful festival run at Telluride, Toronto, and New York, Bleecker Street is now planning to release the movie theatrically in 2025. This will be the second collaboration between the studio and the directorial duo, whose previous film, Montana Story, was also acquired by Bleecker Street.
In a statement, Bleecker Street founder and CEO Andrew Karpen said, “The Friend is a quintessential New York story, featuring incredible writing and emotional performances that honor the power of friendship, facing grief, and especially the singular comfort animals provide. As a New York-owned and operated company, we are the perfect home for this film and can’t wait to reteam with Scott and David to bring it to audiences next year.”
Meanwhile, Siegel & McGehee added, “We’re thrilled with how people have connected with our film, and we’re very so happy to be re-teaming with Bleecker Street who are such champions of both independent filmmaking and theatrical distribution. We cannot wait for them to introduce audiences to The Friend in local cinemas next year.”
Our editor-in-chief, Joey Magidson, was among the ones who saw the movie at Telluride and said that Naomi Watts has “rarely been better than she is here. She slowly allows the emotion at play to bubble to the surface. She also just has terrific chemistry with Apollo, played by Bing in an all-timer of an animal performance. The regal canine shows so much in his eyes, you’ll swear he’s actually acting. Watts shines late in the game when Iris finally breaks.” You can read his full review of the movie here.
Source: Deadline
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