A return to Normal

TORONTO — In areas of southern Manitoba, the movie Normal was a big deal when it shot here from October to December 2024.

It was the third film made here with Better Call Saul star Bob Odenkirk, after Nobody (2021) and Nobody 2 (2025), films that helped put the city on the map when it came to hosting big-time action genre offerings. (Director BenDavid Grabinski admitted he realized Winnipeg would be a viable location for his time-travelling hoodlum project Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice, now streaming on Disney+, after seeing Nobody.)

Alas, Normal skirted distribution in Canadian theatres, releasing in stateside cinemas last month following the dubious logic that Canadians wouldn’t be interested in a wintry action movie in which a large percentage of the cast is Canadian.

It was a doubly dubious decision given that the film got a delighted and raucous reception last September when it premièred at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) to a very enthusiastic, mostly Canadian crowd of 1,200 at the Royal Alexandra Theatre.

The film finally goes to video-on-demand on Tuesday, giving a wider Canadian audience a chance to see what its British director Ben Wheatley describes as an “inverted High Noon,” in which the whole town seems to be gunning for its sheriff.

Odenkirk plays that hapless character, Ulysses, a substitute lawman brought into the Midwest town of Normal after the suspicious death of the previous officeholder.

The fictional American small town was replicated mostly in Starbuck, 42 kilometres west of Winnipeg, but also in Carberry and West St. Paul, locations that all felt familiar to screenwriter Derek Kolstad (John Wick), who especially enjoyed Starbuck.

“I grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, and my mom’s side of the family lived in a small little town called Mazomanie,” Kolstad said. “I love the kind of town that has the one streetlight, or the one stop sign, and if you blink, you’ve passed it through it.”

In fact, Kolstad (who also worked on Nobody and Nobody 2), was familiar with Winnipeg from visiting it as a kid.

“For years, we would go up to Lake Superior to see family, we’d go to Winnipeg, drive over to Toronto and down. We’d do the loop,” he said in a red carpet interview during TIFF.

“So what’s so weird about coming back to Winnipeg to shoot is how much that city has changed in 20 years,” Kolstad said. “But what I loved about Winnipeg is the best parts that I remember as a kid haven’t changed: the neighbourly feel.

“Hands down, it’s some of the best cast and crew I’ve ever worked with.”

For his part, director Wheatley was especially enthused about casting locally.

The town of Normal is populated by many Winnipeg actors, including Reena Jolly (playing a would-be bank robber who instigates the film’s violent action), Rainbow Stage artistic director Carson Nattrass (very scary-impressive as a local hothead), Aaron Merke as a hinky bank manager, and Lauren Cochran, David Lawrence Brown and Dan De Jaeger, all rubbing shoulders with the likes of Henry Winkler (as the town’s mayor) and Game of Thrones’ Lena Headey (as a sexy barkeep).

“The acting pool was really amazing in Manitoba,” Wheatley said. “We indulged in getting as much local talent on the job as possible.

“The Canadian crew were fantastic and there’s a lot of stuff in Winnipeg that I don’t think people have seen before. So it’s quite a fresh location. It’s not been used too much.”

Merke and Cochrane, both seasoned improv artists who perform under the name Bucko Comedy, were delighted to find that director Wheatley was happy to tap into those talents.

“Every day, there were (script) changes and every day, it was: ‘Try this! Do this!’” Merke said. “For an improviser, he was such a dream to work with.”

Finally, Odenkirk himself said his appreciation for the cast, the crew and even the locations went far beyond the province’s generous tax incentives.

“I’m from Chicago,” Odenkirk said. “And there’s a lot of similarities to Chicago. Canadians are down-to-earth people and Chicagoans are, too. They don’t suffer fancy-pants people and they’re hard people, they’re tough people, but they’re friendly and I like them very much.”

Normal will be available on VOD Tuesday, and will release on Bluray and DVD July 14.

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