# Brain on Fire (film)
**Brain on Fire** is a 2016 biographical drama film directed and written by Gerard Barrett, adapted from [Susannah Cahalan](https://www.edgepedia.org/susannah-cahalan)'s memoir *Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness*. It dramatizes the true account of Cahalan, a [New York Post](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-york-post) journalist whose sudden seizures, psychosis, and memory loss were repeatedly misdiagnosed until neurologist Souhel Najjar identified anti-[NMDA receptor](https://www.edgepedia.org/nmda-receptor) encephalitis, an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks the brain[1](https://www.screendaily.com/production/tyler-perry-joins-brain-on-fire/5090725.article) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/brain_on_fire). Chloë Grace Moretz stars as Cahalan, with a supporting cast including Thomas Mann, Richard Armitage, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jenny Slate, and Tyler Perry[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/brain_on_fire). The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2016 and reached a wide audience as a Netflix release on June 22, 2018[3](https://www.liveforfilm.com/2016/09/25/interview-with-rob-merilees-producer-of-brain-on-fire/) • [4](https://media.netflix.com/en/only-on-netflix/80128245).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / screenwriter | Gerard Barrett, who adapted Cahalan's memoir[1](https://www.screendaily.com/production/tyler-perry-joins-brain-on-fire/5090725.article) |
| Source | *Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness*, Susannah Cahalan's 2012 memoir of her encephalitis diagnosis[1](https://www.screendaily.com/production/tyler-perry-joins-brain-on-fire/5090725.article) |
| Lead cast | Chloë Grace Moretz (Susannah Cahalan), Thomas Mann (Stephen), Richard Armitage (Tom Cahalan), Carrie-Anne Moss (Rhona Nack), Jenny Slate (Margo), Tyler Perry (Richard)[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/brain_on_fire) • [5](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/brain-on-fire/umc.cmc.7k6tat6njvpyhx7pj262cmsan) |
| Producers | Charlize Theron, Beth Kono, Lindsay MacAdam, Rob Merilees, and A.J. Dix, through Denver and Delilah and Foundation Features[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/brain_on_fire) • [6](https://www.screenireland.ie/images/uploads/general/IFB_Catalogue_2016.pdf) |
| Premiere and release | World premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, September 2016; Netflix streaming release June 22, 2018[3](https://www.liveforfilm.com/2016/09/25/interview-with-rob-merilees-producer-of-brain-on-fire/) • [4](https://media.netflix.com/en/only-on-netflix/80128245) |
| Runtime and rating | 1h 35m, rated PG-13 for thematic elements, partial nudity, and brief language[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/brain_on_fire) |
| Reception | 13% on the Tomatometer from 15 critics; 67% on the audience Popcornmeter from more than 500 ratings[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/brain_on_fire) |
## Spoilers
### Story and source material
The film follows Susannah Cahalan, a rising journalist at the New York Post who begins hearing voices and having seizures. Over weeks her behavior shifts from violence to catatonia, and after a series of outbursts, misdiagnoses, and a lengthy hospital stay, a doctor's last-minute intervention produces a diagnosis and the chance to rebuild her life[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/brain_on_fire). Netflix's synopsis opens the story at its low point: one morning the 24-year-old Cahalan woke in a hospital bed, unable to speak or move, with no idea how she got there[4](https://media.netflix.com/en/only-on-netflix/80128245).
The screenplay adapts Cahalan's memoir *Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness*, which she wrote with the precision of an investigative journalist, reconstructing from medical records, interviews, her father's journal, and a notebook her divorced parents used to communicate[7](https://history.farmlib.org/pdfs/Brain_on_Fire.pdf). In the film, Richard Armitage and [Carrie-Anne Moss](https://www.edgepedia.org/carrie-anne-moss) play her parents, Tom Cahalan and Rhona Nack, Thomas Mann plays her boyfriend Stephen, and [Navid Negahban](https://www.edgepedia.org/navid-negahban) plays Dr. Najjar[5](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/brain-on-fire/umc.cmc.7k6tat6njvpyhx7pj262cmsan). [Tyler Perry](https://www.edgepedia.org/tyler-perry) approached the production because he wanted a serious role after *Gone Girl*, and plays her editor[3](https://www.liveforfilm.com/2016/09/25/interview-with-rob-merilees-producer-of-brain-on-fire/).
## Production
**Origin and financing.** [Charlize Theron](https://www.edgepedia.org/charlize-theron) read the memoir, loved it, and brought it to producer Rob Merilees of Foundation Features, signing over the option; trips to the Sundance and Cannes festivals helped secure financing before production began[3](https://www.liveforfilm.com/2016/09/25/interview-with-rob-merilees-producer-of-brain-on-fire/). The film was produced by Denver and Delilah (Theron's company), Foundation Features, and Blank Page, with financing from the Irish Film Board, Mister Smith, Broad Green Pictures, and Screen Scene[6](https://www.screenireland.ie/images/uploads/general/IFB_Catalogue_2016.pdf). Broad Green Pictures held US distribution rights and Mister Smith Entertainment sold international rights[1](https://www.screendaily.com/production/tyler-perry-joins-brain-on-fire/5090725.article).
**Shooting.** Barrett, whom Theron had found after watching his film *[Glassland](https://www.edgepedia.org/glassland)*, shot the film in Vancouver and New York; Merilees describes a 21-day shoot[3](https://www.liveforfilm.com/2016/09/25/interview-with-rob-merilees-producer-of-brain-on-fire/), while Barrett himself referred to a 17-day shoot when discussing the demands placed on Moretz[8](https://www.encephalitis.info/2016-brain-on-fire-film-premiere/). Moretz prepared by speaking with Cahalan, who remembered nothing from the period of her illness, and with Dr. Najjar, who sent videos and paperwork describing her aggressive behavior[8](https://www.encephalitis.info/2016-brain-on-fire-film-premiere/). Najjar, the physician credited with the real-life diagnosis, served as a consultant on the film, and the footage depicts the "clock test" he used, in which Cahalan's drawing showed her brain neglecting one side of her spatial field[9](https://tebesir.com/brain-fire-movie-trailer).
## Release and reception
The film premiered at the [Toronto International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/toronto-international-film-festival) on September 16, 2016, with Cahalan, Moretz, Barrett, and Najjar present, alongside survivors of autoimmune encephalitis[3](https://www.liveforfilm.com/2016/09/25/interview-with-rob-merilees-producer-of-brain-on-fire/) • [8](https://www.encephalitis.info/2016-brain-on-fire-film-premiere/). After a delayed release, it began streaming on Netflix in the United States on June 22, 2018[4](https://media.netflix.com/en/only-on-netflix/80128245).
Critical reception was negative. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds 13% on the Tomatometer, with 2 fresh and 13 rotten reviews, against a 67% Popcornmeter score from more than 500 audience ratings[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/brain_on_fire). Critics targeted the dramatization rather than the underlying story: [The Hollywood Reporter](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-hollywood-reporter)'s David Rooney wrote that the film watches Moretz's meltdown "from a bored distance" before delivering the cure with an indifferent shrug, and Variety's Peter Debruge called the role one "for which the Razzies were invented"[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/brain_on_fire). Audience reactions diverged from the critics' verdicts; viewers with personal connections to the disease praised the film for making a difficult autoimmune condition approachable, while noting that it omits the long, costly recovery Cahalan describes in the book[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/brain_on_fire).
## The medical story behind the film
The disease at the center of the film is anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis, an immune-system attack on the brain that typically strikes young people who were perfectly healthy the day before[10](https://www.ivanhoe.com/interview/brain-on-fire-surviving-a-rare-and-mysterious-disease-in-depth-doctors-interview/). The condition received its name in 2007, when Dr. [Josep Dalmau](https://www.edgepedia.org/josep-dalmau), then at the University of Pennsylvania, identified the first culprit antibody; the antibodies mistakenly target NMDA receptors on healthy brain cells, producing personality and behavior changes that can include hallucinations, seizures, memory loss, and psychosis[11](https://apnews.com/article/ef4a2eb4866f9f988a4e16caaedb7ffe). Cahalan's symptoms, which began with subtle perceptual disturbances, fatigue, and withdrawal before progressing to paranoia, unstable mood, and seizures, were polymorphic enough to be classified as a psychotic or mood disorder, and the film has been discussed in the medical literature as a depiction of diagnostic overshadowing, in which physical illness is misattributed to mental illness[12](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1136/gpsych-2021-100504).
According to the closing card of the film, Cahalan was the 217th person to be diagnosed with anti-NMDA-receptor encephalitis, and thousands have since been diagnosed[13](https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/NEWS/BRAIN-ON-FIRE-NETFLIX-FULL-CAST-LIST-SOUNDTRACK-REVIEWS/). The memoir and film have had measurable diagnostic impact. Common Sense Media notes that Cahalan's memoir has had a major impact on diagnoses of the condition[14](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/brain-on-fire), and in 2020 the [University of Alabama at Birmingham](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-alabama-at-birmingham) reported the case of a college student whose doctors identified her anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis after the film prompted discussion of her symptoms[15](https://www.financialaffairs.uab.edu/news/health-medicine/brain-on-fire-film-helps-patient-receive-diagnosis). Treatment for the disease includes filtering harmful antibodies from the blood, infusing healthy ones, and high-dose steroids to calm inflammation[11](https://apnews.com/article/ef4a2eb4866f9f988a4e16caaedb7ffe).
## References
1. [Tyler Perry joins 'Brain On Fire', Screen Daily](https://www.screendaily.com/production/tyler-perry-joins-brain-on-fire/5090725.article)
2. [Brain on Fire, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/brain_on_fire)
3. [Interview with Rob Merilees, Producer of Brain on Fire, Live for Films](https://www.liveforfilm.com/2016/09/25/interview-with-rob-merilees-producer-of-brain-on-fire/)
4. [Brain on Fire, Netflix Media Center](https://media.netflix.com/en/only-on-netflix/80128245)
5. [Brain on Fire, Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/brain-on-fire/umc.cmc.7k6tat6njvpyhx7pj262cmsan)
6. [Brain On Fire, Irish Film Board Production Catalogue 2016, Screen Ireland](https://www.screenireland.ie/images/uploads/general/IFB_Catalogue_2016.pdf)
7. [Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, About the Author](https://history.farmlib.org/pdfs/Brain_on_Fire.pdf)
8. [2016 - Brain On Fire, Film Premiere, Encephalitis International](https://www.encephalitis.info/2016-brain-on-fire-film-premiere/)
9. [Brain On Fire Movie Trailer, Tebesir](https://tebesir.com/brain-fire-movie-trailer)
10. [Brain on Fire: Surviving a Rare and Mysterious Disease, Ivanhoe Broadcast News](https://www.ivanhoe.com/interview/brain-on-fire-surviving-a-rare-and-mysterious-disease-in-depth-doctors-interview/)
11. [What happens when your immune system hijacks your brain, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/ef4a2eb4866f9f988a4e16caaedb7ffe)
12. [Das, S. and Kulkarni, K. (2021). 'Brain on Fire': an extraordinary cinematic depiction of the phenomenon of diagnostic overshadowing, General Psychiatry](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1136/gpsych-2021-100504)
13. [Brain on Fire Netflix: Full Cast List, Soundtrack, Reviews and Real Story, What's on Netflix](https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/NEWS/BRAIN-ON-FIRE-NETFLIX-FULL-CAST-LIST-SOUNDTRACK-REVIEWS/)
14. [Brain on Fire - Parents' Guide & Movie Review, Common Sense Media](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/brain-on-fire)
15. ["Brain on Fire" film helps patient receive diagnosis, UAB News](https://www.financialaffairs.uab.edu/news/health-medicine/brain-on-fire-film-helps-patient-receive-diagnosis)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Films by genre, form, and subject › Documentary and biographical films › Individual biographical and docudrama films › Business, law, and journalism*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license