{"id":29210,"date":"2025-04-01T23:37:07","date_gmt":"2025-04-02T03:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=29210"},"modified":"2025-04-01T23:38:44","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T03:38:44","slug":"the-friend-david-siegel-scott-mcgehee-video-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=29210","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The Friend\u2019 Filmmakers David Siegel and Scott McGehee on Pairing Naomi Watts with a Great Dane (Video Interview)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Filmmakers David Siegel and Scott McGehee have been making independent films for over thirty years, and while they might not be the most prolific filmmakers, they always tend to release thought-provoking films with a mix of original and adapted works.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Their latest film is <\/span><b><i>The Friend<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, starring Naomi Watts as Iris, a New York-based writer and editor whose mentor Walter (played by Bill Murray) dies suddenly, leaving his Great Dane Apollo to her.\u00a0 Based on a novel by Sigrid Nunez, the film follows Iris\u2019 journey in dealing with the death of her friend while also trying to figure out how to deal with the giant pooch in a small apartment that doesn\u2019t allow pets. The film\u2019s cast includes Carla Gugino, Constange Wu, Clo\u00e9 Xhauflaire, and Sarah Pidgeon.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cinema Daily US<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> recently spoke with Siegel and McGehee about their decision to adapt Nunez\u2019s novel, how their project ended up bumping up against Pedro Almodovar\u2019s own Nunez adaptation, <\/span><b><i>The Room Next Door<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and of course, they talk about finding the Great Dane Bing to portray Appolo and how Naomi Watts adjusted to handling such a big dog. They also address why there have been long gaps in between the release of their films over the years, and how they\u2019ve ventured into television but with none of their shows ever were produced.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1774669342741533\" data-ad-slot=\"1211148813\" data-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins><\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><i>The Friend<\/i><\/b> is currently playing in New York, but it will be released nationwide on <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Friday, April 4. You can watch <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/pick-up\/nyff-the-friend-video-review-naomi-watts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">my own original review<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for the movie from the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.filmlinc.org\/nyff2024\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New York Film Festival<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on Cinema Daily\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Ls2U5aev47s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">YouTube page<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCHJXaNHan3UWwwUKozSB2BQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>Check out more of CinemaDaily US\u2019 video interviews on our YouTube channel<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/TheFriendPoster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-29212\" src=\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/TheFriendPoster.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1481\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/TheFriendPoster.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/TheFriendPoster-203x300.jpg 203w, https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/TheFriendPoster-691x1024.jpg 691w, https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/TheFriendPoster-768x1137.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/TheFriendPoster-696x1031.jpg 696w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>Writer\/Directors: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">David Siegel, Scott McGehee<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Cast: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Naomi Watts, Bill Murray<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Producer: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">David Siegel, Scott McGehee, Liza Chasin, Mike Spreter<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><b>Production Co: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">3dot productions, Big Creek Projects<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Distributor:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Bleecker Street<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Rating:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> R (Language Including a Sexual Reference)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Genre:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Drama, Comedy<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Language:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> English<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Release Date (Theaters):<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> March 28, 2025 (New York)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Runtime:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 2 hours<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1774669342741533\" data-ad-slot=\"1211148813\" data-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins><\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>If you like this video interview, please share your comments below.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/author\/edward-douglasgmail-com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Check out more of Edward Douglas\u2019 articles<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can watch the trailer below:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"K2Df2g0Gl6o\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Friend | Official Trailer | Bleecker Street\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/K2Df2g0Gl6o?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Filmmakers David Siegel and Scott McGehee have been making independent films for over thirty years, and while they might not be the most prolific filmmakers, they always tend to release thought-provoking films with a mix of original and adapted works. Their latest film is The Friend, starring Naomi Watts as Iris, a New York-based writer&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":559,"featured_media":29211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,20471],"tags":[2661,26587,7986,9361,2650,9360,24447],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Friend Filmmakers David Siegel and Scott McGehee Interview<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A video interview with filmmakers David Siegel and Scott McGehee, talking about making The Friend with Naomi Watts and Bing.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=29210\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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