In 'Remarkably Bright Creatures,' Sally Field's co-star is an octopus. She thinks you'll like it too

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There’s a welcome familiarity to Sally Field that emanates through the screen as you watch “Remarkably Bright Creatures,” a charmingly sweet adaptation of Shelby Van Pelt’s hit 2022 novel of the same name.The actor, 79, has been a part of viewers’ lives for decades, from TV shows like “The Flying Nun” and “The Girl With Something Extra” to films like “Norma Rae,” “Places in the Heart” and “Mrs.

Doubtfire.” She’s maintained a thriving career on screen and on stage since, with “Remarkably Bright Creatures,” directed and co-written by Olivia Newman, as her most recent endeavor.The Netflix film, which begins streaming Friday, has actually been in the works long before Van Pelt’s book spent more than 64 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.“It came to me very early in galleys of the book,” Field says, speaking over video call from her home in Los Angeles.“I read a few chapters and said, ‘Yeah, let’s find a way to set this up and get it made.’ But it was a long haul to get it to where it is and to get the screenplay right because it’s a wonderful and complicated little book and all of the pieces had to be in place.

You can’t lose the magic.”Field plays Tova, a lonely widow living in a fictional coastal town in Washington.She spends her nights cleaning the local aquarium, where she befriends a Pacific octopus named Marcellus.

It’s Marcellus who narrates both the novel and the film — he’s voiced by Alfred Molina — and it’s Marcellus who helps to form a connection between Tova and down-on-his-luck newcomer Cameron (Lewis Pullman).For Field, the relationship between nature and humanity is what elevates the film.“It’s an homage to ocean creatures and to creatures altogether,” she says.

“Human beings have an extraordinary connection to creatures.I always choose things because they somehow affect me.

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