2012 Sundance Predictions: Kevin Patrick Connors’ The Normals

#43. The Normals – Kevin Patrick Connors

I’ve lost count of how many items Jess Weixler is attached to in my predictions list – but here is another indie comedy with actor Bryan Greenberg in the lead, a supporting perf from indie stalwart John Sayles and with a newbie filmmaker in the driver’s seat. Kevin Patrick Connors’ has been to Park City before as an Executive Producer on Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, and The Normals will be his big coming out party. If accepted, this book adaptation will be part of the Premieres line-up.

Gist: Based on the novel by David Gilbert, written by Chris Ciancimino, with a debt collector hot on his trail, Harvard graduate Billy Schine (Greenberg) enrolls in a clinical drug trial to make a quick buck. Carted out of New York City in a shuttle full of oddball characters, Billy and the rest of the guinea pigs, affectionately referred to as “Normals,” camp out at hidden research facility. When not popping pills, being tagged, drained of blood, prodded, poked and color-coded, they are telling horror stories of previous tests or generally getting on each other’s nerves. As the test drags on, just being there starts to take its toll, and tensions build until the dam finally bursts. Billy realizes that there is no such thing as “normal.”

Producers: Connors, Christopher Ciancimino and Jason Orans (Night Catches Us)
(IONCINEMA.com Preview Page // IMDB Link)