Movie Info
Starring: Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Isla Fisher, Armie Hammer, Laura Linney, Jena Malone, Michael Sheen
Story: Thriller written and directed by Tom Ford. A “story inside a story”, Nocturnal Animals (2016) follows Susan Morrow (Amy Adams), an art gallery owner disturbed by her ex-husband, Edward’s (Jake Gyllenhaal) latest novel, “Nocturnal Animals”. The novel’s narrative focuses on Tony Hastings (also played by Gyllenhaal), his wife Laura (Isla Fischer), and daughter India (Ellie Bamber), whose family vacation in West Texas turns violent when they encounter a gang led by Ray Marcus (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). As Susan reads, she interprets the novel as a veiled threat and sees parallels between its story and her own past, viewing it as symbolic revenge.
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Top Nocturnal Animals Quotes
Susan Morrow: What right do I have to not be happy? I have everything. I feel ungrateful not to be happy.
Carlos: No one really likes what they do.
Susan Morrow: Then why do we do it?
Carlos: Because we’re driven. Maybe a bit insecure.
Carlos: We get into things when we’re young and because we think they mean something.
Susan Morrow: And then we find out that they don’t.
Carlos: Oh, Susan, enjoy the absurdity of our world. It’s a lot less painful. Believe me, our world is a lot less painful than the real world.
Tony Hastings: Two of the things I love most about west Texas, no phones and no people.
Ray Marcus: Okay. I’m a Gemini. My favorite color’s pale pink. I like long walks and kittens.
Edward Sheffield: [to Susan] You know that you were my first crush when we were at Hastings?
Edward Sheffield: Why did you give up on becoming an artist?
Susan Morrow: Because I’m too cynical to be an artist. I think that to be really, really good, you have to come from someplace inside that I’m just not sure I have.
Anne Sutton: You are very strong-willed, and Edward, as sweet as he is, he’s too weak for you.
Susan Morrow: Weak is not a word that I would use to describe Edward. Sensitive is a word that I would use, which isn’t a word I would use to describe anyone else in this family, except maybe Cooper.
Susan Morrow: [referring to Edward] He is strong. He’s stronger than I am in a lot of ways. He just has a different kind of strength is all.
Anne Sutton: “A different kind of strength.” And what kind of strength is that?
Susan Morrow: He has the strength to believe in himself and believe in me.
Anne Sutton: [referring to Edward] Susan, keep seeing him if you have to, live with him. I don’t care. But do not marry him.
Anne Sutton: [to Susan] He is a romantic. But he is also very fragile. I saw that when his father died. Don’t do this. You’ll regret it. And you’ll only hurt Edward in the end.
Anne Sutton: [to Susan, referring to Edward] The things you love about him now are the things you’ll hate in a few years.
Anne Sutton: You may not realize it, but you and I are a lot more alike than you think.
Susan Morrow: No. You’re wrong. You and I are nothing alike.
Anne Sutton: Really? Just wait. We all eventually turn into our mothers.
Susan Morrow: Why are you so driven to write?
Susan Morrow: I guess it’s a way of keeping things alive. You know, saving things that will eventually die. And if I write it down, then, it’ll last forever.
Susan Morrow: I never sleep. My ex-husband used to call me a nocturnal animal.
Susan Morrow: [referring to Edward] It’s weird, I’ve been thinking about him a lot lately. And then recently he sent me this book that he’s written. And it’s violent, and it’s sad, and he titled it Nocturnal Animals. And he dedicated it to me.
Susan Morrow: [referring to Edward] I loved him. He was a writer, and I didn’t have faith in him. I panicked and I did something horrible to him. Something unforgivable, really.
Susan Morrow: [referring to Edward] I left him. I left him in a brutal way, for the handsome and dashing Hutton.
Susan Morrow: Do you ever feel like your life has turned into something you never intended?
Susan Morrow: Sometimes maybe it’s not such a good idea to change things quite so much.
Edward Sheffield: Nobody writes about anything but themselves.
Edward Sheffield: You sound like your mother.
Susan Morrow: Well, you always said that I reminded you so much of her, so.
Edward Sheffield: Do you know what it feels like to put yourself out on the line creatively and then have someone you love tell you that they don’t understand it?
Bobby Andes: I got lung cancer. It’s metastasized.
Tony Hastings: But you smoke all the time.
Bobby Andes: Yeah, well, that’s how it works.
Tony Hastings: What are we going to do?
Bobby Andes: It’s a question of how serious you are about seeing justice done. You get me?
Susan Morrow: We’re not right for each other.
Edward Sheffield: We are perfect for each other.
Susan Morrow: We’re not perfect for each other, Edward. We may be perfect for each other if we didn’t live in the real world. But I live in the real world, and I need a life that is more structured. I need a future that is more structured.
Susan Morrow: [to Edward] I really wanted to be this person that you thought I was. I really did. But I’m just not that person. I’m cynical. I’m pragmatic.
Susan Morrow: I’m a realist.
Edward Sheffield: You’re afraid.
Susan Morrow: I’m not scared, Edward. I’m not scared. I’m unhappy. I’m just really, really unhappy.
Susan Morrow: I did not call you weak.
Edward Sheffield: You’ve said it before, so why don’t you say it again? Weak.
Edward Sheffield: When you love someone, you work it out. You don’t just throw it away. You have to be careful with it, you might never get it again.
Edward Sheffield: Susan. You can’t just walk away from things all the time.
Susan Morrow: I’m going to live to regret this. I regret it now.
Susan Morrow: I just don’t think I’m ever going to be able to look at Edward again after what I did to his child.
Hutton Morrow: He’ll never find out.
Susan Morrow: What did I do? What did I do?
Hutton Morrow: I promise it’ll be okay. I’ll make it okay.
Susan Morrow: [looks up and sees Edwards watching them] Oh, my God. No. Edward.
Tony Hastings: Are you in trouble for all this?
Bobby Andes: Hell, I don’t know. I don’t really give a s**t. I’m dying, remember?
Tony Hastings: Nobody gets away with what you did to us. Nobody. Nobody.
Ray Marcus: They don’t?
Ray Marcus: You should f***ing kill me. Man, you know nothing. It’s fun to kill people. You of all people should try it sometime.
Tony Hastings: Fun? It’s fun to kill people? Did you have fun killing my wife and daughter?
Ray Marcus: You’re too weak. Too f***ing weak, you know. You’re too weak to do anything about it.
[Tony shoots him, fatally wounding him, then Ray strikes Tony with an iron bar, later Tony wakes, blinded and discovers Ray dead then accidentally shoots himself in the stomach]