SIU alum Bob Odenkirk’s upcoming film “Normal” made its Illinois debut on Thursday, April 2. In the action-thriller, Odenkirk stars as an interim sheriff in a small town called Normal, but — spoiler alert — nothing about it is normal. However, the early screening took place at the Normal Theater in Normal, Illinois, and it doesn’t get much more normal than that. 

“This is a bigger town than the one pictured in this movie,” Odenkirk told a sold-out crowd after the screening. “But in a lot of ways, I think the town in this movie is representative of a lot of towns in America.” 

The film takes place in Minnesota, not Illinois, and the town has a population of just under 2,000. For Odenkirk’s character Ulysses, crime is a rarity — until he uncovers a dark secret while responding to a bank robbery. The movie is violent and gory, but it’s also funny and mysterious. For current cinema student Olivia Lockhart, this resonated with the work she does at Movie Camera Movement, a registered student organization that produces short films. 

“This was really cool, because there’s so much in it,” Lockhart said. “I can see a lot of the stuff that we do in MCM, like a lot of the different genres that we do, being in this movie, so it’s really cool to see it on a large scale as an independent film.” 

“Normal” is based on a story by screenwriter Derek Kolstad — creator of the “John Wick” franchise — and Odenkirk. The pair, who previously worked together on “Nobody” and “Nobody 2,” brought the script to Berlin’s European Film Market with director Ben Wheatley attached and Odenkirk set to star. After numerous offers and a loan from the bank, Odenkirk said the team began filming in Winnipeg, Canada — the same place they shot the “Nobody” movies. The film premiered at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 7, 2025 — right before Odenkirk’s visit to Carbondale, where he hosted several workshops for SIU students. 

It’s been a successful year for SIU College of Arts and Media alumni, Odenkirk included. Hilla Medalia and Jack Piatt were nominated for Academy Awards, with Piatt taking home the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film in March. In 2025, Odenkirk earned a Tony nomination for his Broadway debut and premiered “Nobody 2.” In addition to collaborating on the story and acting in “Normal,” Odenkirk was one of the film’s producers. 

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Egyptian and River Region News after the screening, Odenkirk said that SIU was important to him, as it gave him the space to try a variety of activities and sharpen his skills. 

“I was able to do all this stuff and not feel like the bigger world was chasing me,” he said. “I could think about what I was doing and have a good time and relax a little bit, and I really needed that. I needed a lot of growth, and this was a place I could do it.” 

Soon after the premiere of “Normal” in Toronto, Magnolia Pictures acquired the film rights for distribution in the U.S. 

“It’s a risky thing to do what we did,” Odenkirk said of making an independent film. “But all of these artistic endeavors — making a music album, making a band, writing a book, making a movie, certainly, these are risky things, you know? And it may not work out, as good as the script might be.” 

“Normal,” however, surpassed their expectations, he said. 

“You have to get a little luck when you’re making movies and artistic things,” Odenkirk said. “And in our case, I think the greatest luck that we had was the director, Ben Wheatley.” 

In a room packed with nearly 400 people, audience members were reactive and in sync. They laughed at the movie’s jokes, gasped at the bloodshed and cheered for the mayhem. While the story was written with a theatrical audience in mind, Odenkirk credits Wheatley’s direction for eliciting the strong reactions.

“If you saw the movie tonight with that audience, the difference between seeing it in that room and watching it at home — I mean you might still like it at home and have a great time, but not as good as that…People know that the theater is a different experience than the one they get at home,” Odenkirk said, pointing to the recent blockbuster success of “Weapons” and “Project Hail Mary.” “The challenge is, I wish movie tickets didn’t cost as much as they do. Now why is that? There’s probably a lot of real reasons that are genuine. It’s a shame, because it is very expensive compared to you going ‘Well, I already pay for Netflix, I already pay for Hulu.’” 

Lucas Sommers, a senior in cinema at SIU, was also at the screening. Sommers said he enjoyed the action sequences and tone of “Normal,” which he said differs from Kolstad’s scripts for the “John Wick” franchise. 

“I think ‘John Wick’ can get a little too serious sometimes, so I think they were really good about keeping it light and surprising in ‘Normal,’” Sommers said. “A lot of twists and turns. I think it was choreographed really well. Just a lot of fun, surprising stuff.” 

Sommers and Lockhart met Odenkirk after the event. Kolstad also attended the screening and participated in the discussion with Odenkirk.

“It’s just always a lot of fun to be around people who have found work in the same industry that you’re trying to kind of break into,” Sommers said. “Just hearing them and their perspectives and then to actually be able to meet them, it’s always a lot of fun.” 

“Normal” releases in theaters April 17. Odenkirk told the DE and River Region that he wants audience members to have a fun time watching. He had a fun time filming himself, so much so that he decided to keep the sheriff badge his character wears. 

“When you make a movie, they make multiple versions of every prop in case you lose it or break it,” Odenkirk said. “And so this movie was ending and I love this character, Ulysses, and they were like, do you want anything? They always offer you your clothes or whatever, and I don’t really keep stuff. I’ve got something from the Spielberg movie I made, I’ve got a couple of ties from ‘Better Call Saul.’ I just don’t — I kind of move on. I mean, one of the reasons I became an actor is I like the next thing I’m doing. I’m more excited about ‘this was great, now what else?’ … But I kept these. I got like four sheriff badges, so I figured some people would enjoy them. I hope they don’t wear them around town because you could get in trouble with the police.” 

During the public discussion with Kolstad, Odenkirk said that the movie was initially called “The Interim,” but after various discussions about the piece, they ultimately decided to change it. 

“For movie audiences, a town called Normal, just, they’re like, ‘Wow, okay, that’s not normal’…That’s a great thing to walk into the theater knowing,” he said. “So we’re here because we borrowed your town name.” 

Editor-in-Chief Carly Gist can be reached at [email protected] or on Instagram @gistofthestory. 

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