Nocturnal Animals

Susan Morrow owns an upscale Los Angeles art gallery. Her current show involves a presentation of plus sized majorettes dancing vigorously while naked. Susan receives a manuscript for a novel written by her estranged ex-husband Edward Sheffield along with an invitation for dinner during Edward's upcoming visit to Los Angeles. Upset by her deteriorating marriage to unfaithful businessman Hutton Morrow, Susan becomes consumed by the novel, which is dedicated to her and named Nocturnal Animals after Edward's nickname for her.

In this novel, Tony Hastings is a family man who runs afoul of three local troublemakers – Ray Marcus, Lou and Turk – during a road trip through West Texas. After being forced off the road, Tony is powerless to stop Ray and Turk from kidnapping his wife, Laura and their daughter, India, leaving him with Lou, who forces him to drive Ray's car to the end of a road where he is abandoned. Tony manages to evade Ray and Lou when they return looking for him and makes his way to a nearby farmhouse to call the police.

Detective Roberto "Bobby" Andes is assigned to the case and with Tony, discovers the bodies of Laura and India near an abandoned shack, where they had been raped and murdered. Tony is wracked with guilt. He is contacted by Andes a year later and is asked to identify Lou, who was caught in a botched robbery and is charged as an accomplice in Laura and India's murders.

Turk has been fatally shot in the same robbery, leaving Ray as the last culprit to be brought to justice. Andes arrests Ray but is forced to release him as they have only circumstantial evidence of his involvement. On the verge of retirement and having been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, Andes decides to take matters into his own hands. Although Tony is initially less than fully aware of Andes' plan, he goes along with it. The two abduct Ray and Lou. Andes shoots Lou dead when he attempts to flee, but Ray escapes.

Tony tracks down Ray to the shack where Laura and India were killed. Ray admits to raping and murdering Tony's wife and daughter, calling him weak. Tony fatally shoots him but is blinded when Ray hits him on the head with a fire poker. Tony stumbles outside, shoots himself in the abdomen after falling on his gun, and dies.

Shocked by the dark content and raw emotion of the novel, Susan reminisces about meeting Edward in college and their blossoming relationship, which Susan's domineering mother Anne Sutton objected to, claiming that Edward was not worthy of Susan's affections and that because of his romantic world view, he lacked the drive to achieve his goals; Susan ignored her mother's objections, eventually marrying Edward.

After finding further evidence of Hutton's extramarital affair, Susan resumes her reading of the manuscript and begins to recall her troubled marriage to Edward, which was strained by her frustration with his fledgling career and her dismissive attitude towards his literary aspirations. Edward still loves her and attempts to repair their relationship, but Susan is already involved with Hutton and divorces Edward. She chooses to abort her pregnancy with Edward's child and marry Hutton.

In the present day, Susan finishes reading the novel and arranges a meeting with Edward at a restaurant. Edward does not show up, and Susan waits alone as the restaurant empties.

On March 24, 2015, it was announced that Smokehouse Pictures' partners George Clooney and Grant Heslov would produce a thriller, Nocturnal Animals, based on Austin Wright's 1993 novel Tony and Susan.[21] Tom Ford was set to direct the film, based on his own script.[21] Ford said that the storytelling concept of the novel appealed to him, explaining, "The film is very different than the book it's based on. However, the central themes are the same, meaning that when I read the book, what appealed to me as a writer and a filmmaker was the idea of this device of communicating to someone through a work of fiction. Through a written work of fiction. And thereby communicating something that they had not been able to really communicate clearly. I loved that concept."[22]

Jake Gyllenhaal was set to star in the dual lead roles, Amy Adams was in talks for the female lead role, and sources confirmed that Joaquin Phoenix and Aaron Taylor-Johnson might be cast in other roles.[14] Focus Features acquired the US distribution rights to the film on May 17, 2015, while Universal Pictures handles the international distribution.[2] Focus' deal was made with $20 million, making this the biggest deal of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, and one of the biggest of the mid 2010s.[2] On August 6, 2015, Taylor-Johnson was confirmed to play a mysterious character who poses a threat to Gyllenhaal's character Tony's family, while Michael Shannon was also added to the cast, playing a detective investigating the violent incident.[16] On August 28, 2015, Armie Hammer also joined the cast of the film, to play Hutton Morrow, Adams' character's husband.[15] On September 9, 2015, Isla Fisher joined the film to play Laura Hastings, Tony's wife.[17] On September 18, 2015, Ellie Bamber was cast in the film to play Tony's daughter.[18] On September 30, 2015, Robert Aramayo was added to the cast.[20] On October 5, 2015, Karl Glusman signed on to star in the film.[19] On October 8, 2015, Peter Nyong'o was also cast in the film.[23]

Principal photography on the film began on October 5, 2015, in Los Angeles.[19][24] The final scene in the Japanese restaurant was filmed in the main building of the Yamashiro Historic District.[25][26] It wrapped on December 5, 2015.[27]

Nocturnal Animals had its world premiere at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival on September 2, 2016.[28][29][8] The film also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2016,[30] and at the BFI London Film Festival on October 14, 2016.[31]

The film was released in the United States on November 18, 2016.[32]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nocturnal Animals.

• Official website
• Nocturnal Animals at IMDb
• Nocturnal Animals at AllMovie
• Official screenplay