May 08, 2026 4:41pm IST
‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’ Author Shelby Van Pelt on Sally Field, Lewis Pullman and the Movie Scene She Almost Wrote in the Book (EXCLUSIVE)
What are the odds that Alfred Molina, aka Doc Ock from the Sam Raimi "Spider-Man" movies, is playing a sea creature again? For the adaptation of the book “Remarkably Bright Creatures,” Molina voices Marcellus the Octopus. And author Shelby Van Pelt is thrilled that Molina is bringing a fan-favorite character to life in the film, which arrives on Netflix on May 8, 2026.
In an exclusive chat with Variety India, Shelby Van Pelt talks about getting the adaptation off the ground, watching Sally Field and Lewis Pullman perform one of her favorite scenes and how one of the characters has an interesting connection to “10 Things I Hate About You.” Excerpts from the interview:
How did the adaptation come to be, and what sort of creative involvement did you have?
We sold the film option right after the hardcover was published back in 2022. For several months, nothing was happening, and the writers’ strike also took a year out of the process. Netflix came on board in 2024, and after that, everything moved quickly. I gave notes on several versions of the script and was involved in casting decisions. I have an executive producer credit, and I got to spend a week on the set.
Related Stories
Did you give any notes to Sally Field, Lewis Pullman, or any of the other characters when you came on set?
I didn't really have to. They nailed it. Sally is incredible at her craft and brought so much to Tova, even more than I did in the book. She takes care to understand her characters and to do right by them, and I could feel that on the set. And Lewis Pullman was just born to be Cameron. I was a background actor in the dive bar scene. And I remember Lewis Pullman, who is a musician in an indie band, kept saying, ‘Oh, I'm a drummer. I can't sing, I can't play guitar.’ And I told him, ‘Dude, I just listened to you singing and playing guitar up there, and you were awesome. You had the whole bar developing a crush on you!’
You’ve mentioned that when writing Cameron, you imagined him to be Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who played a character named Cameron on “10 Things I Hate About You”. Coincidence?
That is a great question! ‘10 Things I Hate About You’ is one of my favorite movies of all time. Fun fact: They actually filmed that movie at my high school, the summer after I graduated. So, I was very much around when they were filming it, so it has a special place in my heart. But yeah, that's it. Maybe, subconsciously, I did name Cameron after Joseph Gordon-Levitt, because he has had that look in my mind.
The film set was run by two women, director Olivia Newman and cinematographer Ashley Connor. How did that help translate your story better on film?
I thought a film set was gonna be a bunch of people yelling at each other, arguing, throwing things around! But it was so collaborative and had such good vibes. I feel some of that is due to the director, Livy (Olivia Newman) and cinematographer, Ashley (Connor). The incredible women that they are and the relationship that they have was just infectious to the whole film set. Everyone seemed genuinely having a pretty good time, even though it was very long hours and hard work.
Alfred Molina is voicing Marcellus the Octopus. If you ever imagined Marcellus to be a human, who would you want playing him?
When I was first writing Marcellus, I heard him as the snarky Stewie Griffin from ‘Family Guy,’ this baby with a grown-up British accent. When the audiobook came out, Marcellus was narrated by Michael Urie (Brian on Apple TV's ‘Shrinking’). And it couldn’t be more perfect; people loved Michael Urie's Marcellus.
But when I heard Alfred Molina as Marcellus, it was so different yet every bit as perfect, wise, and warm. Alfred obviously isn't on screen, but I feel like he is when I hear his voice.
Popular on Variety
A scene from the film that you didn't write but are excited for the audience to see?
The dive bar scene is definitely one. Cameron’s friends are breaking up their band, ‘Moth Sausage,’ and he's once again left aimless and like he doesn’t belong. When there's word of an open mic night at the local dive bar, Tova talks him into performing. At first, the crowd doesn't pay attention. But then, people start noticing, ‘Wow, this guy's actually pretty good!’ His confidence grows, and there are all sorts of metaphors there.
It's funny because I had thought of a similar scene when I was writing the book. It wasn't an open mic, but Cameron singing for Avery, his love interest in the book (played by Sofia Black-D'Elia in the film). Interestingly, in the United States, you cannot quote song lyrics in books unless you pay for them. For a debut novel, a publisher is probably not going to buy song lyrics so you can quote Radiohead in your book! I could either write an original song (I tried) or just abandon the scene. And I chose the latter. But they surely did it better.
Apart from Tova, Cameron and Marcellus, which character did you enjoy watching on screen?
Oh, the Knit-Wits are wonderful, they're so fun and captured perfectly! Female friendship is one of my favorite things to write about. Especially in this case, where the women are a little older than I am and are, in some ways, what I hope to be when I'm that age.
Would you ever write a follow-up book or film to tell us what Tova and Cameron are up to?
Well, I love endings that feel like beginnings. I'm not saying never to a sequel, but right now, I've put the idea aside, because I can't work out how I would do it without Marcellus the octopus. I love it when books put in little Easter eggs and callbacks to other books, even if they're not one series. In the book I'm writing now, I'm trying to have these little callbacks to other characters, so that readers who know would recognize it and be like, ‘Oh yeah!’
Comments are moderated. They may be edited for clarity and reprinting in whole or in part in Variety publications.