TORONTO (AP) 鈥 The day after the premiere of their film 鈥淣ightbitch,鈥 and are sitting in a Toronto restaurant reflecting on all that went into, as Heller puts it, 鈥渂irthing鈥 a movie that captures some of the truest, rawest but seldom Instagrammed things about early motherhood.
Their film, which writer-director Heller has described as a comedy for women and a horror film for men, stars Adams as a woman credited only as 鈥淢other.鈥 With her husband (Scoot McNairy) often away on work (and when he鈥檚 there, he refers to solo parenting as 鈥渂abysitting鈥), Adams鈥 character experiences a wide range of emotions raising a newborn.
She is exhausted and resentful. Fresh postpartum horrors await a glance in the mirror. Animalistic urges bubble up. New powers emerge. The movie turns increasingly surreal. There are dogs.
鈥淚 just met her where I was at,鈥 says Adams, whose own daughter is now a teenager. 鈥淭hat was me at that time in my life. It wasn鈥檛 a transformation that I made for the movie. I just was like: This is who she is. This is who I am, let鈥檚 marry the two and let鈥檚 be proud.鈥
The adaptation of that Searchlight Pictures will release Dec. 6, is about as close to the bone as it gets for Adams and Heller. In 鈥淣ightbitch,鈥 the rage and bitterness of an over-burdened, self-sacrificing mother 鈥 Adams鈥 character has given up her successful career as an artist 鈥 find well-deserved expression. Aside from pulling from Yoder鈥檚 book, the movie comes directly from Heller and Adams鈥 experiences. Extreme as it can be, 鈥淣ightbitch鈥 is essentially reportage from a little-documented chapter of parenthood.
Heller, the filmmaker of and 鈥淭he Diary of a Teenage Girl,鈥 wrote the script while raising her second child with her husband They had moved out of New York during the pandemic, but Taccone was away for several months working on a TV show.
鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 sleeping. My daughter was getting up at 5 every day. I was out of my mind,鈥 says Heller. 鈥淲hen you鈥檙e sleep deprived, you sort of feel more connected to the mythological world because you鈥檙e not in a literal headspace.鈥
The only way Heller could write was to put her infant daughter down for a nap and let her older son watch TV.
鈥淎nd I鈥檇 get two hours. And in those two hours I wrote the script,鈥 Heller says. 鈥淚t was my one little moment that I could carve out, and I could just get out all of my frustrations from the day.鈥
When Adams, a producer on the movie, read Yoder鈥檚 book, she recognized a more honest perspective on motherhood than she had read before.
鈥淚t really reminded me of 鈥楳etamorphosis,鈥 my favorite book in high school,鈥 she says. 鈥淭his idea of transformation. Outside of just being a mother, the loss of identity, the isolation, those were things that spoke to me so deeply.鈥
鈥淚 struggled after my daughter was born,鈥 says Adams. 鈥淚 definitely was not one of those women that bounced right back. I think that鈥檚 a really common experience.鈥
Adams, the six-time gives a performance without a hint of vanity. She growls. She eats meatloaf like she鈥檚 in a pie-eating contest. She runs around on all fours.
鈥淵ou didn鈥檛 blink,鈥 Heller says, admiringly.
Adams shrugs. That鈥檚 how her family sees her around the house, she says, though not the running on all fours bit. 鈥淚 mean,鈥 Adams adds, 鈥渨atching it is a different story.鈥 (Adams, who generally avoids watching movies she stars in, slipped out of Saturday night.)
Many of Heller鈥檚 favorite, most cathartic scenes to write came from the kind of passive-aggressive exchanges that can happen in a relationship, especially one tested by the pressures of child-rearing and the inequities that can arise between parents.
鈥淭he thing is, you can be in a very equitable relationship, then the moment you have kids, even in an equitable relationship, suddenly gender roles peek their way out,鈥 Heller says. 鈥淢y husband and I were together for, like, 14 years before we had kids. So it was shocking to suddenly find ourselves falling into gender roles we had never been in before.鈥
There are delightfully cutting observations laced through 鈥淣ightbitch鈥 that might serve as a wake-up call to plenty of fathers. As much as many women will cheer Heller鈥檚 film, men 鈥 horrified or not 鈥 may be its best audience. The dad in the film often appears useless, even when it comes to making coffee.
鈥淛orma would read scenes from the movie and be like, 鈥楩--- you, that鈥檚 really rude. I know how to make coffee,鈥欌 Heller says, laughing.
鈥淚t鈥檚 funny, I didn鈥檛 remember the bit about the coffee until I watched it again. Darren (Le Gallo, Adams' husband) and I literally had a conversation this summer. He was like, 鈥楬ow did you get the coffee machine to work?鈥欌 Adams adds. 鈥淚 was like, 鈥業f I can figure it out, you can figure it out.鈥欌
Early on, Heller and Adams began to get the sense that they had tapped into something. Heller called it 鈥渁n invisible experience鈥 at the premiere.
鈥淚t started on set with crew members coming up to us,鈥 Adams says. 鈥淧eople kept saying, 鈥楾his is a little too on the nose. I really see myself in this.鈥欌
鈥淚 first shared the script with a lot of other mothers and women who I trusted, and they all thought it was hilarious,鈥 says Heller. 鈥淭hen I started sharing it with my husband and Brandon (Trost), our cinematographer, or other male friends who were like, 鈥楾his scared the s--- out of me.鈥欌
鈥淣ightbitch鈥 鈥 Heller says she still loves saying the title 鈥 will open in theaters just weeks after a where women's rights are at the forefront.
鈥淲omen鈥檚 bodies are being attacked. Freedom of choice is being attacked. It鈥檚 a very volatile moment for women,鈥 says Heller. 鈥淚nevitably making a movie that I don鈥檛 think we even thought of as radically feminist in any way 鈥 it鈥檚 just about where we are in our lives, in our bodies, and we don鈥檛 think our own bodies are taboo.鈥
Adams, who starred in the movie adaptation of years before Vance was the says she's more hopeful. She made 鈥淣ightbitch,鈥 she says, for her daughter.
鈥淚t's not a surprise but I really always try to find a celebration in a moment that can be challenging. My daughter is going to be voting in four years. To have these conversations with her 鈥 women鈥檚 issues, bodily autonomy, misogyny 鈥 that鈥檚 kind of where I鈥檓 at with this,鈥 Adams says. 鈥淟et鈥檚 keep our eye on the future. I鈥檓 really excited that her generation will be voting in four years. And they鈥檙e listening.鈥
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
