Bob Odenkirk is re-teaming with Nobody writer Derek Kolstad on Normal, a crime thriller in which the Better Call Saul star will again take on the unlikely role of action hero.
The film, for which WME Independent will launch sales at Berlin’s European Film Market next week, is the latest twist on the action genre from Kolstad, who also penned the John Wick franchise. Ben Wheatley (Meg 2: The Trench, Free Fire) is on board to direct.
The plot of Normal has Odenkirk playing Ulysses, a temporary sheriff — “the substitute teacher of the sheriff world,” says Kolstad — running away from the demons of his past, who has taken over in the sleepy town of Normal after the untimely death of the town’s original lawman. But when the town’s bank is robbed by outsiders, Ulysses uncovers a deep criminal conspiracy at the heart of Normal and realizes that everyone in town, from the bartender to the priest, is in on it.
“The story has a quality to it that I don’t think I’ve seen in an action movie in ever in forever,” says Odenkirk, who compares the film to the “early Bourne movies,” promising an “M. Night Shyamalan level of suspense and mystery.”
Nobody producer Marc Provissiero will produce Normal together with Odenkirk and Kolstad.
2021’s Nobody, in which Odenkirk played a humdrum family man who returns to his former life as an assassin after his family is targeted by a crime lord, was a surprise COVID-era hit. The $15 million feature grossed just under $30 million for Universal Pictures domestically and earned more than $57 million worldwide. It did even better home entertainment numbers, topping the PVOD charts while still in theaters. The sell-through market has changed significantly since then, but the idea of Odenkirk and Kolstad returning for another off-beat actioner is certain to appeal to indie buyers in Berlin.
Odenkirk is represented by WME, Odenkirk Provissiero, Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole LLP and The Lede Company. Wheatley is represented by WME. Kolstad is represented by UTA and Circle of Confusion.
