Warning: This story contains spoilers for Remarkably Bright Creatures. Proceed with caution!
She was soaked and freezing, but Sally Field didn’t let the elements stand in her way spending hours in relentless rain to bring the climactic moment of Remarkably Bright Creatures to life.
The film, adapted from the bestselling novel by Shelby Van Pelt, follows a widow named Tova (Field) who forms unexpected connections with two companions: a musician named Cameron (Lewis Pullman) and an octopus named Marcellus (voiced by Alfred Molina).
The movie’s climax takes place on a pier at night in the middle of a rainstorm, after Tova decides to remove the ailing Marcellus from the aquarium and return him to the ocean, allowing him to live out his final days in his natural habitat.
Field says the scene was both emotionally and physically demanding, as she endured relentless weather while filming on the pier in Vancouver. “It was pouring, pouring rain,” the Oscar- and Emmy-winning actress tells Gold Derby. “I was completely soaked all the way. You could see it, water dripping off my face, my glasses, everything. Our fabulous Canada crew were all around me. The minute we would yell cut, they had me surrounded in blankets and their arms. Somebody would shove a hot water bottle under my arms because I was so, so cold.”
Sally Field and Marcellus in ‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’Netflix
Director Olivia Newman, whose previous adaptations include Where the Crawdads Sing and The Last Thing He Told Me, said the team carefully monitored the forecast while preparing to shoot the dusk sequence. “We were really worried about it being both cold and rainy through all of that. And at the same time, we thought this will look beautiful and that weather will be perfect for what she’s going through in the scene.”
The production shot the scene over two days, hoping for consistent rain and lighting. “There wasn’t a lot of wiggle room,” says Newman. “Sally was such a trouper. It was not easy but I think she’s such a committed actor and wants to get it as truthful as possible. She understood that the weather was really right, but that was pretty scary.”
For Field, simply getting through the scene felt like a victory. “I’ve heard, when you stop shivering in that cold, call the ambulance because it’s when you’re shivering, your body is trying to stay warm. When you stop shivering, hypothermia sets in,” she says. “But I lived!”
Sally Field in ‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’Netflix
Despite a relatively late awards-season entry — Netflix announced its eligibility on April 7, just a month before its debut on the streamer — the aquarium-set drama has quickly gained traction. Remarkably Bright Creatures has climbed to third place in Gold Derby’s rankings for Best Movie (formerly known as Best Television Movie).
Van Pelt, who wrote the character based on her own grandmother, says casting Field felt almost fated. “When I was writing this character, I didn’t want to exactly picture my grandma Anna because it wasn’t her. It was just sort of using a lot of her traits. And Sally Field was the perfect actor that I could think of that looked like how I would picture this character looking.”
When she learned Field would indeed play Tova, Van Pelt was stunned. “I never would’ve imagined that there would actually be a movie and that Sally Field would be playing Tova,” the author tells Gold Derby. “I feel like I manifested this. I should probably buy a lottery ticket next.”