Amy Adams, Scoot McNairy and other cast members of the movie Nightbitch, directed by Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me), walked the red carpet for the world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on Saturday night.
“An overworked stay-at-home mom (Adams) tries to catch a break, any break, while caring for her rambunctious toddler,” says the synopsis of the film, based on the bestselling 2021 novel of the same name by author Rachel Yoder, on the TIFF website. “Also, she might be turning into a dog.” McNairy plays her husband.
The cast is rounded out by Arleigh Patrick Snowdon, Emmett James Snowdon, Zoë Chao, Mary Holland, Archana Rajan, and Jessica Harper.
After the premiere, it was time for a Q&A. “We had, I think, 12 dogs on set with 12 trainers all hiding in bushes. That’s how you work with dogs on set. It’s crazy,” Heller explained. “We spent a long time casting the dogs, casting the dog that was Amy. That’s actually a beautiful story because we were looking for a reddish husky and we couldn’t find one. And so they ended up adopting Juno, who they found in a shelter in California and trained her for many months before we shot the film. She was just the most gorgeous, incredible dog.”
Heller and Adams also recalled a time when the star threw off her animal co-stars. “There was one moment on set that I really think back on when people ask me, ‘How crazy was it to work with dogs?’” Heller told the audience. “There’s a scene where Amy walks down the steps to all the dogs in the yard, and we had practiced with the trainers over and over again.”
However, something was different when the cameras rolled. “But, of course, Amy’s acting when she does it,” Heller explained. “So she’s doing this weird looking at the dogs and going like this, and the dogs freaked out and started lunging at her.”
Adams interjected: “Except one dog. One dog was like, ‘That’s not okay. That’s not cool.’”
Heller continued by saying: “It almost ruined the whole shoot. And the trainers were like, ‘Oh, they thought she would be stalking them.’ Her behavior was too odd, and it flipped them. It was wild.” Adams ended up acknowledging the obvious: “So, yeah, I freaked the dogs out on the set.”