This Bestselling Feel-Good Novel Is Being Made Into A Netflix Film

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More than 2 million copies of Remarkably Bright Creatures have been sold since it was published in 2022

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This Bestselling Feel-Good Novel Is Being Made Into A Netflix Film

Why is it that the most heartwarming stories always seem to feature animal-human friendships? On screen we’ve seen people befriend cats, dogs, horses and even pigs – and now we get to see the bond between a human and octopus.

On 8 May, Netflix’s adaption of Remarkably Bright Creatures will hit the streaming service, based on the 2022 New York Times Bestselling novel of the same name, written by Shelby Van Pelt. This feel-good story is narrated by an octopus named Marcellus who finds unlikely companion in Tova Sullivan, a lonely widow who works at the aquarium where Marcellus lives.

Olivia Newman, director of Where The Crawdads Sing, is tackling this adaption, with Pelt herself helping on the script and serving as an executive producer. Here’s everything we know ahead of the film’s launch next year.

Remarkably Bright Creatures: Plot, Cast, Release Date & More

Lewis Pullman as Cameron and Sally Field as Tova in Remarkably Bright Creatures

The Plot

Seventy-year-old Tova Sullivan (Sally Field) has just lost her husband to cancer, and is still grieving her son Erik, who went missing on a boat in Puget Sound more than 30 years ago, when he was just 18. At the time, the police ruled Erik’s death a suicide, but Tova was never convinced. In an attempt to keep herself busy, she begins working at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, taking on the night shift where she mops floors, cleans drains – and talks to a few creatures.

Enter Marcellus, a highly intelligent giant Pacific octopus, who is generally hostile towards his human captors. Voiced by Alfred Molina, in the trailer we hear him say: ‘Humans. For the most part, you are dull and blundering. But occasionally, you can be remarkably bright creatures.’

As Marcellus and Tove build their unexpected relationship, the wise cephalopod begins to uncover the secrets of Tove’s past and must use all the power of his eight limbs to discover the truth for her before it is too late.

The story is a charming examination of loneliness, grief and aging, through the unlikely lense of a grumpy octopus. But where did the inspiration come from for this quirky tale?

Sally Field as Tova in Remarkably Bright Creatures

Is Remarkably Bright Creatures A True Story?

Remarkably Bright Creatures is not based on a true story. However, Marcellus is based on a real octopus.

Author Shelby Van Pelt dreamt up the cephalopod after watching a viral video of an octopus determined to escape his aquarium enclosure. She immediately thought: ‘There’s a character in there.’ Later, Pelt was set the task of writing from an unexpected point of view in a creative writing workshop, and the unshakeable octopus came to mind. The scene written in that workshop ended up becoming some of the first pages of her novel, which went on to sell millions of copies and bag the Writer’s Center’s McLaughlin-Esstman-Stearns First Novel Prize.

Speaking to Netflix, the author explained her eight-legged inspiration: ‘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.’

Sally Field as Tova and Lewis Pullman as Cameron in Remarkably Bright Creatures

The Cast

Sally Field, best known for her roles in Gidget (1965-66), Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), and Steel Magnolias (1989), leads Remarkably Bright Creatures as Tova Sullivan. She recently told PEOPLE: ‘The whole book is surprising and life-affirming, and it’s an homage to life, to creatures, and the connection that human beings have to creatures. We worked on it relentlessly just to get that screenplay. Even when we were shooting we were constantly noodling and fixing and letting it breathe and have its own existence outside of the book.’

The role of Cameron Cassmore, another employee at the aquarium, grappling with a breakup and job loss, and on the search for his long-lost father, is played by Lewis Pullman. Meanwhile Alfred Molina lends his voice to the role of octopus Marcellus. Surprisingly, this is not the first time that Molina has tried on tentacles for size – he is known for playing the villain Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man 2 (2004).