Plot
A woman named Diane Sherman gives birth to a premature baby, whom she goes to see lying in an incubator, surrounded by the hospital staff. Years later, Diane lives a quiet life with her now teenage daughter, Chloe. Due to the circumstances of her birth, Chloe suffers from arrhythmia, hemochromatosis, asthma, and diabetes, as well as paralysis in her legs. She uses a wheelchair, takes multiple medications daily, and is homeschooled by her mother. Chloe desires to go to college, something Diane seems to support, but has received no responses for her applications.
One morning, while looking through a bag of groceries for chocolate, Chloe finds a prescription bottle of green pills with Diane's name on the label. However, when Chloe later inspects the bottle, she finds a label bearing her name has been pasted over the original. She tries to research the name of the pills—Trigoxin—but discovers the house has no internet connection, unaware Diane is watching her with the router unplugged. The next day, Chloe dials a random number from her mother's bedroom phone, and asks the answering stranger to look up the drug. He tells her it is a heart medication and that all pictures of the medication show a small red pill.
Later, while pretending to go to the bathroom at the movie theater, Chloe rushes to the nearby pharmacy across the street. The pharmacist at the desk reveals the green pills are actually a relaxant called Ridocaine, which had been only approved for dogs and, if they were being taken by a human, it could paralyze their legs. Chloe begins to hyperventilate before Diane runs in and sedates her to take her home.
Chloe wakes up in bed and finds her bedroom door locked from the outside, while Diane is out running an errand. She breaks out of her room by dragging herself onto the roof, eventually making her way to her mother's bedroom and breaking the window with a soldering iron and water. She begins to have an asthma attack and only barely manages to crawl to her room to retrieve her inhaler. She tries to use her automated wheelchair ramp to go downstairs, but finds that Diane has cut the power cord. She is forced to throw her wheelchair down the stairs and accidentally falls, sustaining minor injuries but also discovering that she can move one of her toes, due to having not taken Ridocaine in the last few days.
Outside down the road, Chloe sees a mail truck and rushes to stop it; she explains her situation to Tom, the postal worker, who agrees to help her. Diane pulls up and Chloe asks Tom to contact the police. He, however, confronts Diane and tells her she can't take Chloe home. While closing up the van to take Chloe to the police station, Diane suddenly appears and stabs Tom in the neck with a syringe. Chloe hyperventilates again and blacks out. When she awakens, she is in the basement of her house, with her wheelchair chained to a steel pole as Diane drags Tom's body through her hallway.
While in the basement, Chloe discovers her childhood photos, which show her walking, a death certificate for a girl named Chloe who died two hours and eleven minutes after her birth, and an article about a couple who had their baby stolen from the same hospital. She also finds college acceptance letters that were hidden from her. When Diane enters, Chloe accuses her of poisoning her and demands the truth. Diane insists everything she ever did was to help and protect Chloe, exclaiming that she saved her. Diane then fills a syringe with paint thinner, saying it will make her forget. Terrified, Chloe crawls away and locks herself in a closet. She then swallows a bottle of organophosphate, forcing Diane to rush her to the hospital.
Chloe wakes up in a hospital bed, intubated and barely able to move. Diane insists that her "daughter" be discharged, but the doctors refuse until Chloe has been evaluated by a mental health professional. Chloe signals to a nurse, who brings her a crayon and paper. While Chloe is attempting to write "MOM" on the paper, a code blue is called and the nurse rushes out. Armed with a handgun, Diane then sneaks in and ties Chloe to a wheelchair to escape; the nurse finds the bed empty and alerts hospital security. As Diane tries to find an exit, Chloe is able to move her foot and hold the chair in place. Diane begs her to come home with her, but Chloe replies that she doesn't need her. Diane aims her gun at security guards, yelling "We are going home!" as she is cornered and shot in the arm, causing her to fall down the stairs.
Seven years later, Chloe still relies on her wheelchair, although is able to walk short distances using a cane. She visits Diane in a correctional facility, who is confined to a bed in the infirmary ward. Chloe then talks about the life she had built for herself: her husband, Ara, daughter, Annie, and work. She mentions that Annie has a preference in grandparents, implying that Chloe had been reunited with her birth parents. She takes out three plastic-wrapped Ridocaine pills that were concealed under her tongue, and tells Diane that she still loves her before asking her to open her mouth wide.
Production
In June 2018, it was announced Lionsgate would produce, distribute, and finance the film, with Aneesh Chaganty directing, from a screenplay he wrote alongside Sev Ohanian. Ohanian and Natalie Qasabian produced the film. [6] In October 2018, Sarah Paulson joined the cast of the film, [7] and in December 2018, Kiera Allen was set to star as well. [8]
Principal photography in Winnipeg, Canada began on October 31, 2018, and wrapped on December 18, 2018. [9]
Torin Borrowdale composed the film's score, as he previously collaborated with Chaganty in Searching . According to Borrowdale, the goal for the film's musical direction was to achieve "the essence of Bernard Herrmann, but for a 2020 cinematic experience." [10] The film was a joint production between Summit Entertainment, Lions Gate Films, Search Party Productions, and Hulu Original Films. [11] [12] [13]
Release
Run was originally scheduled to be theatrically released on May 8, 2020, coinciding with Mother's Day weekend, [14] although as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, its release was delayed indefinitely. Lionsgate intended to announce a new release date "once there is more clarity on when movie theaters" will reopen. [15]
In August 2020 however, with the pandemic's continued influence on the film industry, Hulu acquired American distribution rights to the film, [16] and it debuted exclusively through them via streaming on November 20, 2020. [17] The movie was released in other continents under Lionsgate International banner. [12]
Netflix later acquired international streaming rights and released the film on April 2, 2021. [18]
