Four film facts about ‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’

The bestselling “Remarkably Bright Creatures” comes to life on screen on Mother’s Day weekend. To celebrate this debut, author Shelby Van Pelt will join Northwest Passages Book Club in Spokane on May 12.

Van Pelt’s book chronicles the friendship between a curmudgeonly octopus named Marcellus and a lonely widow who works the night shift mopping floors at a Pacific Northwest aquarium. Together they uncover a mystery.

Here are four things you should know about the upcoming film:

Where to watch: “Remarkably Bright Creatures begins streaming on Netflix on Friday, May 8. “Invite your book club over for a viewing party,” Van Pelt suggests. “Serve crab cakes. Marcellus would approve.”

The heroine: Academy Award-winner Sally Field plays widow Tova Sullivan. Her character was inspired by Van Pelt’s beloved grandmother, Anna, who lived in Tacoma where the author grew up.

The octopus: The voice of Marcellus opens the novel (“Day 1,299 of My Captivity”), and he narrates key passages. Tony Award-winning actor Alfred Molina, whose many roles fittingly include Doctor Octopus in two “Spider-Man” films, is the voice of Marcellus on screen. Molina and Field also starred together in the 1991 film, “Not Without My Daughter.”

The setting: “Remarkably Bright Creatures,” set in a fictional town in the Pacific Northwest, was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia. Van Pelt traveled there to make a cameo appearance.