Graphic novelist Sarah Leavitt’s groundbreaking book Tangles hit the big screen for its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival nearly a decade after its publication, with major star power attached.
“It’s celebratory and exciting,” the author said. “But that’s always tempered by the fact it’s about my mom. It wouldn’t exist if she hadn’t died.”
Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer’s, My Mother and Me is a heartbreaking, funny and deeply authentic portrait of a family coming to terms with a devastating diagnosis. Leavitt’s protagonist, a young, headstrong woman, returns to her conservative small town to help care for Midge, her once-vibrant mother, who is slipping away piece by piece.
The novel’s artwork is simple and clean, capturing a moment in time as each member of Leavitt’s family struggles to accept a new reality. While the graphic novel is deeply autobiographical, the feature film incorporates fictionalized elements.
“I really had to get to a place where I could talk about myself in the third person,” she said, adding that working with co-writers Leah Nelson and Trev Renney helped broaden the story.
“One of the challenges early on was realizing that when I told Leah and Trev about things that had happened, they didn’t interpret them the same way I did.”
Leavitt and director Leah Nelson have been working on a big-screen adaptation since 2013, and more intensively over the past four years. The feature has major Hollywood backing, with producers Seth Rogen, Lauren Miller Rogen and Julia Louis-Dreyfus attached. The voice cast includes Bryan Cranston and Sarah Silverman.
“It started feeling real when it went into production in 2024,” Leavitt said. “But there have been a lot of stages since then, so it feels like a lot of different things.”
What made the festival premiere different, she said, was having her father and sister in attendance.
“That was really sweet. They had seen the film and given it their stamp of approval, but neither of them had seen it on the big screen,” she said.
“We were sitting in the same row, though not beside each other. I could look down the row and see how they were doing. Everybody involved in making the film was sitting in a couple of rows together, and we were all crying. We cry every time we watch it.”
“The reason I think it appeals to a lot of people is that they have family members or loved ones who have died from Alzheimer’s disease or are living with it.”amily or loved ones who have died of Alzheimer’s or are living with it,” she said.
Buy the book.
Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer’s, My Mother and Me
By Sarah Leavitt
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