Our Friend is a 2019 American biographical drama film directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite and written by Brad Ingelsby , based on Matthew Teague's 2015 Esquire article "The Friend: Love Is Not a Big Enough Word". It stars Jason Segel , Dakota Johnson , and Casey Affleck .
20-408: The film had its world premiere under its original title The Friend at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2019, and was released on January 22, 2021, by Gravitas Ventures . It was a box-office bomb , only grossing $ 714,255 on a $ 10 million budget. In the winter of 2013, Matt and Nicole Teague prepare to tell their daughters, Molly and Evie, that Nicole's ovarian cancer
40-541: A bucket list which Matt and Dane help her accomplish; such as sitting as Grand Marshal of the Mardi Gras parade, swimming in a historic fountain with all of her friends, and writing letters to her daughters for future life events. As 2013 closes and Nicole becomes sicker, they decide to tell their daughters and Dane listens on in sorrow as the girls cry. By the summer of 2014, Nicole becomes increasingly irritable, hallucinates , and experiences pain. Realizing that Matt
60-542: A war correspondent and spends months overseas, putting a strain on the family. Meanwhile, Dane remains in New Orleans working dead-end jobs . On Thanksgiving , Dane, unhappy with his life, decides to backpack at the Grand Canyon without telling anyone where he is going. Another backpacker recognizes his potential suicidal behavior and offers support. Her gesture of kindness, plus an unexpected voicemail from
80-634: A few weeks. However, as Nicole's condition worsens, Dane decides to remain with them, taking on many household duties. Kat struggles to understand Dane's loyalty to the Teague family after weeks turn into months, and they break up. On Christmas , Nicole ruptures her abdomen, and Dane is left to watch over the girls. Following her surgery, the doctor reveals to Matt that Nicole's cancer has spread and gives her approximately six months to live. Nicole decides that she does not want to tell their daughters until her quality of life declines significantly. Nicole prepares
100-413: A job at Cedar Point amusement park after his first year as a graduate student, where he came up with a story about a character that was released from jail. He wrote The Low Dweller , a screenplay, based on this story. After graduating, Ingelsby sent The Low Dweller to Focus Features executive Mike Pruss. After returning to Pennsylvania , Ingelsby was informed that Leonardo DiCaprio wished to star in
120-512: A reckoning on sincere friendship and the limits of devotion that remains with the viewer, long after the days of waiting and the years of pain have finally come to an end." Katey Rich of Vanity Fair said: "It succeeds by sticking closely to the important specifics ... It's a small-scale human story, precious few of which make it to film these days. It's also, if you're in the market for that kind of thing, an extremely effective tearjerker." Conversely, Peter Debruge of Variety wrote: "So much of
140-543: Is terminal . Outside, their best friend, Dane Faucheux, keeps the children company. In a flashback to 2000, Matt, a journalist, and Nicole, a theater performer, live in New Orleans . She introduces Matt to Dane, a friend from college working as a camera operator who dreams of becoming a stand-up comic . The 3 become close over the years. In 2008, Matt and Nicole reside in Fairhope with their daughters. Matt works as
160-586: Is also a basketball coach. Ingelsby grew up in Berwyn, Pennsylvania and attended Archbishop John Carroll High School , where he was coached by his uncle, Fran Inglesby. He graduated from Villanova University with a business degree. After graduating, he taught at St. Patrick's School in Malvern . Ingelsby attended the American Film Institute as a graduate student in screenwriting. He took
180-438: Is often offset by a trio of starring performances led by a never-better Jason Segel." Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 57 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Ella Kemp from The Playlist praised the performances stating: "The Friend is successfully anchored by its three leading players... The sensitivity of these performances, particularly from Affleck and Segel, offers
200-635: Is overwhelmed, Dane takes him hiking. Upon their return, Matt realizes that they are no longer equipped to care for Nicole so he calls a hospice nurse, Faith Pruett. Nicole's friends and family visit with her one last time. One night, Faith alerts them of Nicole's slowing heart rate, and they take her to the beach to watch one final sunrise. Returning home, Nicole dies with Matt and Dane at her side. Following Nicole's funeral , Dane confines himself to his room and grieves alone. Matt writes an article called "The Friend", which he gives to Dane. Dane finally decides to go home after putting his life on hold to live with
220-487: The 2019 festival: TIFF's annual Canada's Top Ten list, its national critics and festival programmers poll of the ten best feature and short films of the year, was released on 11 December 2019. Brad Ingelsby Brad Ingelsby (born January 4, 1980) is an American screenwriter and film producer. Ingelsby is the son of basketball player and coach Tom Ingelsby and Rose Ingelsby. His brother Martin Ingelsby
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#1732797195287240-548: The Teague family for over fourteen months. Matt embraces Dane, expressing that simply saying "Thank you" isn't enough. In the epilogue , it is revealed that Matt's article won an award in Esquire magazine and that he and his daughters remain in Fairhope. Dane remains close to the Teague family and marries in 2019. In January 2019, it was announced Casey Affleck , Dakota Johnson , Jason Segel and Jake Owen had been cast in
260-417: The Teague family, renews Dane's will to live. In 2010, Matt discovers that Nicole had an affair . With Dane's help, they reconcile their relationship. Dane returns home where he works as a manager at a sporting goods store and begins dating a woman named Kat. In September 2012, Nicole receives her diagnosis and begins to undergo chemotherapy . Recognizing their need for help, Dane offers to stay with them for
280-485: The drama film The Friend , with Gabriela Cowperthwaite directing from a screenplay by Brad Ingelsby , based upon an Esquire article by Matthew Teague. Gwendoline Christie and Cherry Jones were among additional casting announced in February. Filming began on February 19, 2019, in Fairhope, Alabama . The film had its world premiere at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2019. It also
300-494: The film and Ridley Scott wanted to direct it. The Low Dweller was rewritten and was released as Out of the Furnace in 2013, starring Christian Bale and Woody Harrelson . In 2015, he wrote Run All Night , starring Liam Neeson and Ed Harris . He wrote the character study American Woman , starring Sienna Miller , in 2018. In 2020, Ingelsby's The Way Back was released. It featured Ben Affleck and follows
320-526: The inaugural TIFF Tribute Awards , a special program to honour distinguished lifetime achievement in film. Tribute Awards were presented to Meryl Streep and Joaquin Phoenix for acting, Taika Waititi for directing, cinematographer Roger Deakins for artisan film craft, Mati Diop for emerging talent, Participant Media for impact media, and David Foster for special contributions to film. The first award recipients were announced on 12 September, with
340-673: The major awards announced at the close of the festival on 15 September. In light of the fact that international filmmakers are rarely still in Toronto to accept their awards in person by the end of the festival, the organizers opted to cancel the traditional awards ceremony, and instead announced the award winners through TIFF's social media. Nicolas Cage was awarded with the Creative Coalition's Spotlight Initiative Award for his role in Color Out of Space . The selection for
360-438: The unpleasantness has been scrubbed from the picture, until what remains is precisely the kind of dishonest, sanitized no-help-to-anyone TV-movie version of death that inspired Teague to set the record straight in the first place." Sheila O'Malley, writing for Roger Ebert 's film criticism website, gave it a 3 star rating. 2019 Toronto International Film Festival The 44th annual Toronto International Film Festival
380-413: Was held from 5 to 15 September 2019. The opening gala was the documentary film Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band , directed by Daniel Roher , and the festival closed with a screening of the biographical film Radioactive , directed by Marjane Satrapi . In addition to its regular film awards, whose winners were announced at the conclusion of the festival, the festival also announced
400-492: Was screened at AFI Fest on November 16, 2019. In January 2020, Roadside Attractions and Gravitas Ventures acquired distribution rights to the film. It was retitled Our Friend , and released on January 22, 2021. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 85% of 113 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 7.3/10. The site's critics consensus reads: " Our Friend ' s occasionally frustrating approach to dramatizing its fact-based story
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