Bill Murray & Naomi Watts drama, The Friend, acquired for 2025 release

One of the only bad things about attending a festival like TIFF is that so many great-looking movies play that it’s too easy to miss more than a few. One of the movies I tried hardest to fit into my schedule – to no avail – was The Friend, starring Naomi Watts and Bill Murray. Directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel, the film is an adaptation of a book by Sigrid Nunez that focuses on a woman trying to come to terms with the death of her friend and mentor. Complicating matters is that the woman’s also been left custody of her deceased friend’s beloved Great Dane, an unwieldy pet for her tiny New York apartment. While it earned very solid reviews at TIFF, it wasn’t one of the films that got snapped up right away for distribution. However, Bleecker Street has now stepped in to acquire The Friend, with them planning on giving it a theatrical release in 2025. 

Here’s the official synopsis: 

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 Friend marks a reunion for Murray and Watts, who previously appeared together in St. Vincent. Bleecker Street has carved out a bit of a niche for itself, releasing adult dramas in theaters. They had a solid arthouse hit with the Anthony Hopkins film One Life, which made over $5 million last winter. The Friend, with its starry cast, has the potential to make a lot more. It also has a cute Canine co-star named Bing, who’s bound to generate a lot of free publicity and might be even more of a box-office attraction than its two stars.