Opening Night Film, 'The Friend,' a Heart-Warming Tale of Friendship

The film was shot in New York over 35 days in February and March of 2024, with the production visiting locations including Manhattan’s West Village and the north shore of Long Island.

Filmmakers David Siegel and Scott McGehee reunited with many of their longtime behind-the-scenes partners, including cinematographer Giles Nuttgens, who served as director of photography on four of their earlier films, including "Montana Story," "What Maisie Knew," "Bee Season" and "The Deep End." Also joining the production were costume designer Stacey Battat and production designer Kelly McGehee, Scott’s sister. "There’s a lot of history to the way we go about thinking about images and set design and color together,” explains Siegel.

“The thing that was driving us on this film most was point of view. In terms of shooting, our approach to creating that connection between Apollo (dog) and Iris (Naomi Watts) was point of view: Where’s the camera in relation to Bing’s point of view? How do we follow Bing? How does Iris see Bing? Perspective and point of view is important in every movie, but it was especially so in this one.”

Immediately following the screening, Deadline’s chief film critic Pete Hammond, who can also be seen on PBS SoCal's Must See Movies, moderates a pre-recorded Q&A with filmmakers David Siegel and Scott McGehee.