Alfred Molina is known for playing Doc Ock, a Spider-Man supervillain given the moniker “Doctor Octopus” due to his extra robotic arms. But now Molina will be playing an actual octopus in the upcoming film, Remarkably Bright Creatures, from Netflix. The film also stars Sally Field, Lewis Pullman, Colm Meaney, Joan Chen, Kathy Baker, Beth Grant and Sofia Black D’Elia. Olivia Newman directs the film from a screenplay co-written by her and John Whittington. The film is based on the book by Shelby Van Pelt.
The official synopsis reads,
“A widow who works at a local aquarium finds joy again when she forms an unlikely bond with a Giant Pacific Octopus and a wayward young man who comes to town in search of family. Together, they will uncover a mystery that will lead them to a life-changing discovery and restore their sense of wonder. Based on the best-selling book.”
Bryan Unkeless, Peter Craig and David Levine produce the film, while Shelby Van Pelt, Erika Hampson, Olivia Newman, Alisa Tager, Tony Lipp and Alyssa Rodrigues are on board as executive producers.
The book’s author, Van Pelt, told Netflix that the concept of Marcellus the Octopus was inspired from a YouTube rabbit hole and a fiction-writing exercise. She revealed that she started with Marcellus, then wrote the humans around him. She explained, “One of the places where I was able to find a really good character was on YouTube, watching videos of naughty octopuses that were escaping from their enclosures, or just getting up to antics in aquariums. I remember thinking that would be such a fun voice to write, such a fun character to harness. The character of Marcellus came out of a little vignette that I wrote in a continuing education class.”
Van Pelt also revealed that Tova was based on her own Grandmother, “Beyond Marcellus, Remarkably Bright Creatures is a story of love and grief. Those are two emotions that everyone who walks this planet feels at some point, so the themes are very widely resonant. There’s just a wide range of ages and generations and characters that people can enjoy together.”
Remarkably Bright Creatures starts streaming on May 8 on Netflix.
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Source:
Netflix
