The Truth Behind The Friend: Real Inspiration, Fictional Heart, and the Story of Iris and Apollo
The Friend is a very emotional film that rings so authentic for many viewers that it may have them wondering, “Is it a true story?” This article includes details about the Lovebirds Netflix film, including a Netflix release date and plot spoilers! But it’s worth remembering that while the story may be fiction, it is based on real emotions and experiences that anyone who has experienced loss or battled with grief will ultimately relate to.
Adapted from Sigrid Nunez’s 2018 novel, The Friend follows Iris, a writer who’s reeling from the death of her best friend Walter—and the arrival of the late man’s Great Dane, Apollo.
This article explores the film’s creative origins, the real-world source for its characters and events, and how it captures something authentic about the human experience of loss, healing, and companionship. If you’ve ever wanted to know how close to The Friend’s mark is, the following chart shows how truth and fiction can merge to make a moving, life-changing story.
Is The Friend A True Story? The Truth That Inspired The Fiction
No, The Friend is not based on a true story — but it is rooted in real feelings and experiences. The author, Sigrid Nunez, whose 2018 book inspired the film, conceived of the idea after realizing how many people around her were talking about death, not in a way that seemed to scare them, but as something they had grappled with extensively.
She was not writing about suicide per se. She didn’t; she zeroed in on the emotional debris that accumulates when someone close to us goes away. She delved into the survivors’ experience, especially the gnawing questions they pose: “Why?” “Could I have stopped it?” “What were they thinking?”
In interviews, Nunez said she had talked to people who tried to kill themselves but survived. They said they regretted it immediately. This searing perspective influenced Iris, who would be mourning her friend Walter, searching for some understanding of the friend she lost to suicide.
These are so real, and the story’s emotional underpinnings. Hence, it’s easy to sound like you believe these emotions when you write, even though everything is shaded entirely gray, and including Apollo, Walter’s dog, brought a new level of grief, love, and healing.
Director Scott McGehee and David Siegel brought this nasty fantasy to the screen. They and lead actress Naomi Watts had also suffered personal losses; Grillo and his wife tragically had several close friends who had been killed, making the performance all the more sincere and tender.
Is Iris Dixon A Real Person? The Imaginary Figure Based on Real Emotions
The writer Iris Dixon, the protagonist of The Friend, is not a real person—yet she is, in a way, something quite real. She is an echo of loss, a person trying to survive after a sudden death. Sigrid Nunez invented Iris to describe what goes on in the mind after losing someone to suicide. Iris’s thoughts, questions, and emotions are all drawn from Nunez’s meditations and dialogues about real-life experiences.
It’s possible to invest in Iris even now, partly because she is a work of fiction, but her story is crafted so deftly that she seems like she could be someone you know. She’s a writer, shares a stance with Nunez, and uses her work to metabolize pain. It’s not a coincidence that these are related.
Nunez provided Iris with her profession so she could rely on storytelling as a coping mechanism for complicated feelings. Iris, who has never met her father’s dog but feels connected since his dog Apollo has been left behind, begins to heal. Her experience is about more than loss—it is about finding meaning in what remains.
Film co-star Naomi Watts, another connectee, also felt a personal bond with the story. It wasn’t long before she said goodbye to her 20-year-old dog. That grief held the key to her understanding the character of Iris in a profounder way, which made her portrayal even more rooted in reality on screen.
Is The Letters A Real Book? Getting Into The Story’s Fictional World
In the film, Iris cannot complete a novel called The Letters. This book is not a real book—it’s a fictional book contained within the story. Still, it plays a key role. The Letters is everything Iris left undone, including her relationship with Walter. It also represents her struggle to understand his death and to find peace in her own life.
The device of a “book within a book” proves a nifty way for the story to dramatize how Iris’s feelings influence her writing. Walter creeps into her consciousness whenever she tries to work on The Letters.
This prompts her to consider herself, her career, and her desire to progress. In many ways, The Letters is less about the writing and more of a form of therapy. It’s a reminder of how profoundly grief can warp a person’s creative spirit and drive.
The movie examines how expression can be healing as Iris works on The Letters. Iris turns to writing to cope with her feelings. It aids her in rediscovering her voice, which had been stifled by grief. The Letters isn’t a real book you can read, but you read its emotional truth loud and clear.
How Apollo The Dog Altered The Course Of The Story
The great, big dog Apollo in The Friend was never supposed to be in Sigrid Nunez’s novel in progress when she first began writing. For a while, she concentrated on the woman grieving the loss of her friend. Writing about 30 pages in, she threw in a new curveball.
She pictured the deceased friend leaving something, and that something was Apollo the dog. Nunez has always liked animals, and she had been thinking about writing about one. She picked a harlequin Great Dane because of a dog she used to see frequently in real life at a cafe she patronized.
The breed is significant and challenging to manage, and Apollo was more to handle than Iris. The dog’s size and needs present a real challenge to Iris that knocks her into her feelings and the concrete responsibilities of caring for another living thing.
Apollo was a good contribution to the story, heart-wise. It was a good way for the show to delve into camaraderie, loyalty, and recovery themes. As Iris and Apollo become closer, the story’s emotional depth increases.
Their touching bond proves that the connection between men in encounters like this isn’t just meaningful — it’s transformative. Apollo is the bridge between Iris and Walter, and, soon enough, the push that nudges her toward the future.
FAQs
Is The Friend The Friend based on a true story?
No, it’s a story made up by Sigrid Nunez, adapted from her 2018 novel, but it reflects emotions and experiences very much rooted in the real when it comes to feelings about grief and loss.
Was Iris Dixon a real person?
No, Iris is not honest. But her emotions and conflicts are drawn from the stories and feelings of real people.
Can I read The Letters, the book that Iris is writing?
No, The Letters is not an actual book. It does not come and go for plot convenience; it only exists in the story, reflecting Iris’s sorrow and maturation.
Was the dog in the movie a real dog?
Yes, the Apollo dog is a real dog. Naomi Watts trained him before filming. They are spies, seen in their working relationship on screen.
Has Sigrid Nunez written about animals before?
She had already written a book on Virginia Woolf’s pet, displaying her affinity for animals well before The Friend.
Final Words
The Friend is not based on a true story, but it is about true feelings. The film delivers a sensitive, deeply affecting take on loss, friendship, and healing via the experience of Iris and Apollo.
Sigrid Nunez’s tortured, aching prose, heartfelt performances, and gut-punch storylines will make this piece of fiction speak to anyone who has ever loved, lost, or attempted to begin anew.
Whether emotional depth or literary antecedents draw readers to the story, The Friend reminds readers of fiction’s purpose: to provide a safe, pleasurable bridge to its closest cousin, the truth.
Table of Contents