In Nightbitch, Amy Adams stars as a woman known only as Mother. She’s an artist who set her career aside to focus on raising her toddler son, spending much more time cleaning up messes and driving to mommy-and-me story time than experimenting with visual arts and mingling with scholars.

Over the course of the film, Mother attempts to foster community with other moms and thrive as a caregiver and homemaker — all while she suspects she’s turning into a dog at night.

The film is based on a 2021 Rachel Yoder novel, which Adams and writer-director Marielle Heller both fell in love with after reading. They spoke with Yahoo Entertainment about what the story meant to them and why they decided to adapt a book with such an unconventional premise for the big screen.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What was it like to come across the book, Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder, and what did it mean to you?

Marielle Heller: Rachel’s incredible novel got sent to me when I was six months postpartum after having my second kid. It was the pandemic, and I had moved out of the city to the woods. My husband went back to work, and I was home with two kids alone. I had very few friends out in the woods, and I felt very overwhelmed. That’s when I read this book.

It was probably the first book I read after having a baby, because my brain shuts off when I’m pregnant and right after. I’m unable to focus on a book. Then I read this book, and I was like, “Oh my God!” I was lucky enough to get sent it before it was published. Amy Adams’s production company had optioned it, along with Annapurna Pictures. They both sent it to me, saying, “I’m not sure if you think this makes a movie, but we love this book and wanted to see what you think.” I felt like, “OK, I have to make this book into a movie. It feels so relevant to my life!” I’ve been wanting to make a movie about motherhood for a long time. This just felt like the perfect piece.

What made this story worth telling?

Amy Adams: When I read the book, it had such a unique perspective. The character’s inner monologue was so alive and it connected with me in a very visceral way. It told this story not only of motherhood but relationships and community in a way that I thought was really meaningful. I thought it could translate in a fascinating way to screen.

For people who haven’t read the book, the premise of the movie seems a little outrageous: A woman is turning into a dog. Did you ever worry that something so wild might put people off?

Heller: I was worried that it would be a tricky thing to pull off. I think the premise gives some false expectations sometimes, like the movie will be a horror-y type movie. But what’s beautiful about Rachel’s book is that it is emotionally based on the feelings of loss of identity and the burden of being a parent and the complicating factors that come in there. I felt it so deeply. It wasn’t like, an intellectual “this makes sense as a metaphor” connection — it was like, “Oh god, this is how I felt being a mother too.” It was really about capturing the true feeling behind it, and then hopefully the rest makes sense because it’s based on emotional truth.

Adams: You know, life is wacky! The perspective of where the character is at and the reason for the transformation was really important to me, and this idea of connecting with feral freedom mixed with rage mixed with frustration and all coming together. There have been times when I’ve unleashed in a way that isn’t recognizable to me, where I look back at myself and I’m like, “Who was that?! Calm down!” I loved the way the story allowed for Mother to live in that place outside of herself. I think we can all identify with that.

I’ve noticed that there have been a few movies lately that tackle what extremes women go to just to do what’s expected of them by society. Do you think there’s a reason for that?

Adams: That can be really challenging and create a lot of frustration — we’re constantly trying to reach an ever-moving bar of expectation. I think it’s a conversation women are having with each other, and therefore, women are having in broader culture.

I loved how warm the movie was. It could have been very sad and depressing, but the warmth and love of a mother pervades throughout. Why did you think that was an important tone to highlight?

Heller: You know, my experience with motherhood is totally complex. There’s a lot of disgusting and sad moments, and there’s a lot of humor and joy. I always want my movies to be some mix of all genres. I don’t believe in something being just a comedy or just a drama. I don’t even know how to write that. I don’t know how to write something that is just sad! Everything that I work on has some element of humor because that’s how I see the world. My family is filled with comedians. I’m married to a comedian [Jorma Taccone]. I find some of the most disgusting moments in life to also be the moments where we have the biggest laughs. So it was important for all of that to be a part of this.

Nightbitch is in theaters Dec. 6.