- Title: Naomi Watts and Bill Murray explore love and loss in new film 'The Friend'
- Date: 31st March 2025
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (MARCH 24, 2025) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTORS BILL MURRAY AND NAOMI WATTS SAYING: (ON THE COMMON THEME OF THEIR FILMS) Naomi: “In terms of playing a part, I think a central theme throughout my work has been grief, because… What? Why are you laughing?” Bill: “It just makes me. Naomi: “Why?
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- Keywords: bill murrary dog movie naomi watts new york pet premiere red carpet the friend
- Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES / UNKNOWN FILM LOCATIONS
- City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES / UNKNOWN FILM LOCATIONS
- Country: US
- Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Film,North America
- Reuters ID: LVA005247428032025RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Naomi Watts and Bill Murray have teamed up to tell the story of unexpected friendship and healing in the new film “The Friend”.
Based on the bestselling 2018 novel by Sigrid Nunez, Watts plays Iris, a writer and teacher, whose solitary New York life is upended when her mentor, played by Murray, bequeaths her his 150 lb Great Dane named Apollo. The dog's presence brings chaos, from furniture destruction to eviction notices, but also stirs a more profound transformation in Iris's life.
Critics have said the film is emotional without being snappy.
“Well, that's the hardest trick to get right, yeah, that you want to move people, but not overdo it and make it sentimental,” said Watts.
Murray echoed her sentiments, adding, “Yeah, it's good. It's got a real emotional bang to it. And you don't feel manipulated at all. It seems completely fair. It seems like that surprise come in a fair way the way they happen in life and they pop up and you see how people deal with them at real speed.”
Dealing with grief is a common theme in the films Watts chooses to do, which she attributes to losing her father at a young age.
“As a kid, you don't know how to grieve," she said. "So it is a big question, and, you know, something that stays with you.”
Murray also lost his father when he was a teenager.
“The worst day of my life was losing my father," he said. "You grieve at your own rate, and everyone grieves differently.”
The co-writer of the film, David Siegel, summed up the movie in one word: love.
“It's a movie about love," Siegel said. "It's about the way we lose love and find love and the way love affects us, you know, both among, I mean, between people, but also between people and dogs or creatures, animals. So yeah, I think I would say love.”
The film was released in U.S. theaters on March 28th.
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