Amy Adams finds her ‘Nightbitch’ pack: ‘We wanted to live it’

A woman gets, say, in touch with her inner, angry attack dog?

That’s the spring in “Nightbitch,” where Amy Adams stars as an artist and new mom who realizes she’s unhappy stuck at home with her son and wants to run and howl at the moon.

She’s ready to let the dogs loose, at least metaphorically.

For Adams, 50, “Nightbitch” is personal, a project that began before Rachel Yoder’s novel was published.

“Originally, they had brought the book to me for development,” she said in a virtual press conference.

“It was unique as it explored themes of community and, of course motherhood. I identified with being a spouse and the feral quality of the mother’s interior monologue connected to me. It was a great opportunity to explore different ways of storytelling.”

As a producer on “Nightbitch,” Adams was able “to brainstorm what talent to bring on. At the top of my list was Marielle Heller. I was active particularly in seeking her out and gaining her perspectives in the development of the script.”

Heller’s “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” won Melissa McCarthy a Best Actress Oscar nomination and her “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” won Tom Hanks a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination as Fred Rogers.

Because “Nightbitch” is comedic and horrifying with a dash of magical realism, “I knew we needed someone who could change tone,” Adams said, adding, “She does great job of exploring narration. It’s much more than unusual storytelling techniques but also a wonderful way of creating characters that are well balanced.

“She has,” Adams added, “a deep connection with the truth of human experience. That, I saw in her previous works.”

Adding to the drama, Heller “just had a baby three months before we began. And we were in a pandemic!”

As producer Adams discussed this woman’s varying moods and the best ways to convey them. “A great resource was the novel. There are a lot of ways to adapt but we wanted to keep it based in very grounded, truthful exploration. We didn’t want to comment on it. We wanted to live it.”

Now that the movie is done, now that this woman’s struggles to get back into the world are clearly a sign she needs to share child rearing with her husband, Adams has accomplished what she’s hoped to do since her first read.

“I’m glad to hear feedback from dads. I loved how Marielle portrayed this lack of communication. He’s not a villain. She thought she could make everything work if she kept doing it.

“That responsibility she put on herself. I identified with that.”

“Nightbitch” opens in theaters Dec. 6