Sally Field will star in Remarkably Bright Things, with Netflix backing the adaptation of Shelby Van Pelt’s novel. Which includes an octopus.
Never work with children or animals is the well-established number one rule in entertainment. Thankfully, a giant octopus falls into neither of these categories, which is perhaps why the mighty Sally Field has elected to sign up for Remarkably Bright Things, a drama that will see her star opposite a sea-dwelling denizen with a personality all of its own.
Based on Shelby Van Pelt’s hugely successful 2023 novel, the tale ‘deals with the unique relationship between a lonely woman working as a janitor at an aquarium and a giant Pacific octopus named Marcellus living at the facility. She is grieving the recent death of her husband and has never gotten over the disappearance of her son at sea thirty years earlier. Meanwhile the octopus is both cranky and smarter than the humans around him think. Turns out he may be the only one who can help the woman.’
Netflix is backing the production and the film will be helmed by Olivia Newman, the director of Where the Crawdads Sing and The Last Thing He Told Me. Newman co-wrote the project with John Whittington who has also penned Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and The LEGO Batman Movie.
This feels like inspired casting given that starring opposite a giant octopus is going to require a lot of heavy lifting from Sally Field, The veteran star is always great value for money and can effortlessly blend drama and comedy, perhaps the tone that might be required here?
We haven’t read the text but a quick Google tells us that around half the book is narrated by the octopus, so we’re curious to see who might be recruited to take on that role. (We also learned that the octopus is called Marcellus McSquiddles. Being the bearer of such a mighty moniker, it’s no surprise that the octopus considers itself better than the humans around him.)
No word as to when this one could be releasing but we’ll let you know more when we do.
