When I first read this headline over at the ever-reliable Dark Horizons, my brain immediately read it as Sally Field vs. a giant octopus. The possibilities. For one glorious moment I thought we were getting some kind of remake of Tentacles, the 1977 John Huston… erm… classic (?). Praise the movie Gods. Finally!
Alas, it was not meant to be. Since I had to go through the pain of disappointment, so you must too. Last Movie Outpost is a sharing website. It turns out we won’t be seeing babies in strollers snatched from quayside by giant tentacles and devoured in the depths. Instead, this feels like it is not really made for us.
Netflix has picked up the film rights to adapt Shelby Van Pelt’s best-selling novel Remarkably Bright Creatures. Sally Field is being circled as the lead.
The book tells the story of a unique relationship between a lonely woman who works as a janitor at an aquarium, and a giant Pacific octopus living at the facility. She is grieving the recent death of her husband and has never gotten over the disappearance of her son at sea thirty years earlier. The octopus is both cranky and smarter than the humans around him think. He may be the only one who can help the woman.
The book has sold over two million copies.
Olivia Newman (Where the Crawdads Sing, The Last Thing He Told Me) will direct. She co-wrote the adaption with John Whittington (Sonic the Hedgehog 2, The Lego Batman Movie.
The giant Pacific octopus is a fascinating creature. It is found across the North Pacific, from Baja California, north alongthe California, Oregon, and Washington coast, Canada, Alaska, the Russian Far East and even the East China Sea, the Yellow Sea, the Sea of Japan, and around the Korean Peninsula.
There are many examples in aquariums worldwide. They have demonstrated the ability to recognize humans with whom they frequently come in contact. These responses include jetting water, changing body texture, and other behaviors consistently demonstrated to specific individuals.
They are known to surprise researchers and keepers with their problem-solving ability. They are also famous for their escape attempts, being able to climb out of tanks, open doors, squeeze through narrow gaps, and survive out of water for a while.
This level of intelligence places them slightly above your average Western college student.