Bleecker Street Acquires ‘The Friend’ with Naomi Watts and Bing the Great Dane for 2025 Release

Bleecker Street announced today that it has acquired North American rights to The Friend, from award-winning writer/directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel (The Deep End, What Maisie Knew, Bleecker Street’s Montana Story) and starring Naomi Watts (“Feud: Capote vs. The Swans,” Mulholland Drive), Bill Murray (Lost in Translation, Rushmore) and a remarkable Great Dane named Bing.

The film’s ensemble cast also includes Sarah Pidgeon (Stereophonic, “The Wilds”), Carla Gugino (“The Fall of the House of Usher”, San Andreas), Constance Wu (Crazy Rich Asians, Hustlers), Noma Dumezweni (“The Undoing,” “The Wilds”) and Ann Dowd (Hereditary, Bleecker Street’s Mass).

The Friend world premiered to critical acclaim at the Telluride Film Festival earlier this fall, and was one of the few films to play the “trifecta” of Telluride, Toronto and New York Film Festivals. Described by Deadline as a “moving, funny, humane and quite unforgettable tale,” and currently holding a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes. In her review for AwardsWatch, Tomris Laffly called it “a beautiful tale of friendship, grief, trust and community” and “One charged by connections made, broken, missed and newly formed.”

The film was adapted for the screen by Siegel & McGehee from Sigrid Nunez’s National Book Award-winning novel of the same name. (Nunez’ novel was also recently included in the New York Times’ list of the “100 Best Books of the 21st Century.”) The Friend was produced in New York City by McGehee, Siegel and Mike Spreter under the group’s recently formed Big Creek Projects production banner, alongside producer Liza Chasin and her 3dot Productions. Executive producers include Margaret Chernin and Naomi Watts. Bleecker Street is planning an early 2025 theatrical release.

In The Friend, writer and teacher Iris (Watts) finds her comfortable, solitary New York life thrown into disarray after her closest friend and mentor (Murray) dies suddenly and bequeaths her his beloved 150 lb. Great Dane. The regal yet intractable beast, named Apollo, immediately creates practical problems for Iris, from furniture destruction to eviction notices, as well as more existential ones, his looming presence constantly reminding her of her friend’s problematic choices in both life and death. Yet as Iris finds herself unexpectedly bonding with the animal, she begins to come to terms with her past, her lost friend, and her own creative inner life. 

The film marks Bleecker Street’s second collaboration with Siegel & McGehee, having handled the US release of their 2021 neo-Western drama Montana Story, starring Haley Lu Richardson and Owen Teague.

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.”

“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,” said Siegel & McGehee.

The deal was negotiated by Bleecker Street’s Miranda King and Avy Eschenasy with CAA Media Finance on behalf of the filmmakers.

This year, Bleecker Street celebrated its milestone 10th anniversary, with Andrew Karpen receiving Variety’s Vanguard Award in a ceremony late last month. 2024 also saw the world premiere of Bleecker’s Rumours in Competition at Cannes, from directors Guy Madden, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson, featuring an ensemble cast including Cate Blanchett and Alicia Vikander, which opened in theaters last Friday. The company’s upcoming release slate includes Toronto premiere The Return, based on Homer’s ancient classic “The Odyssey” and directed by Academy Award-nominee Uberto Pasolini, starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche, releasing theatrically on December 6; as well as Hard Truths, the next film from legendary auteur Mike Leigh and starring Marianne Jean-Baptiste, which premiered to critical acclaim at the Toronto International Film Festival and will have a qualifying release on December 6, ahead of a wide release on January 10, 2025.