{"id":388332,"date":"2026-04-08T16:00:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T16:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/388332\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T16:00:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T16:00:12","slug":"from-westerns-to-crime-thrillers-bob-odenkirk-and-ben-wheatley-reveal-their-normal-inspirations-in-new-alamo-drafthouse-guest-selects-exclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/388332\/","title":{"rendered":"From Westerns to Crime Thrillers, Bob Odenkirk and Ben Wheatley Reveal Their ‘Normal’ Inspirations in New Alamo Drafthouse Guest Selects [Exclusive]"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bob Odenkirk<\/a> is firmly in his action era. 2021 saw the Better Call Saul star embrace his inner John Wick for the first time, thanks to Ilya Naishuller’s Nobody<\/a>, which introduced him as a former assassin turned family man named Hutch Mansell in a gritty, crowd-pleasing thriller. He’d further expand on that role last year with Nobody 2<\/a>, taking him and his on-screen family on vacation, where they’re soon confronted by a sinister crime boss played by Sharon Stone. Now, his everyman action hero legend will continue to grow with Normal<\/a> this month, directed by Ben Wheatley<\/a> of Meg 2: The Trench and Kill List fame. Alamo Drafthouse<\/a> will be there to host all the pulse-pounding moments of the neo-western, and in preparation, the dine and drink theater chain has prepared a little surprise to tide viewers over until the premiere.<\/p>\n

Collider can exclusively share a new episode of the Alamo Drafthouse Guest Selects series<\/a> featuring Odenkirk and Wheatley as they chat about all the films that share the DNA of Normal. First on Wheatley’s mind was the 1972 action thriller The Getaway<\/a> from Sam Peckinpah, a feature that, like Normal, revolves around a heist and is a contemporary crime thriller. It’s the relentless and gritty nature of Peckinpah’s work that most inspired the director, though. In contrast, Odenkirk invoked the Clint Eastwood<\/a> flick High Plains Drifter<\/a> for a more classic “man with no name” type Western. Despite its slow pacing, it resonated with him growing up and was his source material for the moments Wheatley asked him to embody one of cinema’s most iconic cowboys. Both films will be programmed at select Drafthouse locations throughout April, though they’re just the tip of the iceberg for the Normal duo’s list.<\/p>\n

Odenkirk and Wheatley had two other westerns in mind in relation to their latest \u2014 Bad Day at Black Rock and High Noon<\/a>. Like High Plains Drifter, they both also embody that sort of contained small-town action and drama that Normal aims for, though High Noon also creates similar procedural vibes centered on a man, like Odenkirk’s Sheriff Ulysses, who’s given a problem he must work out. As for the action itself, Odenkirk likened Wheatley’s work to the stylized, over-the-top thrills of John Woo<\/a> in his Hong Kong action classic Hard Boiled<\/a>. The duo wraps things up with a bit of a wild card \u2014 the original 1973 version of The Taking of Pelham 123<\/a>. It’s not exactly like Normal, but Wheatley believes the subway hijacking hit is simply too influential to ignore in the context of crime thrillers.<\/p>\n

Collider Exclusive \u00b7 Oscar Best Picture Quiz
\n Which Oscar Best Picture
Is Your Perfect Movie?
\n Parasite \u00b7 Everything Everywhere \u00b7 Oppenheimer \u00b7 Birdman \u00b7 No Country<\/p>\n

Five Oscar Best Picture winners. Five completely different visions of what cinema can be \u2014 and what it can do to you. One of them is the film that was made for the way your mind works. Ten questions will figure out which one.<\/p>\n

\ud83e\ude9cParasite<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udf00Everything Everywhere<\/p>\n

\u2622\ufe0fOppenheimer<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc26Birdman<\/p>\n

\ud83e\ude99No Country for Old Men<\/p>\n

\n FIND YOUR FILM \u2192\n <\/p>\n

01<\/p>\n

What kind of film experience do you actually want?
\n The best movies don’t just entertain \u2014 they leave something behind.<\/p>\n

\n ASomething that pulls the rug out \u2014 that makes me think I’m watching one kind of film and then reveals I’m watching another entirely.
\n BSomething overwhelming \u2014 funny, sad, absurd, and genuinely moving, all at once.
\n CSomething grand and weighty \u2014 a film that makes me feel the full scale of what I’m watching.
\n DSomething formally daring \u2014 a film that pushes what cinema can even do.
\n ESomething lean and relentless \u2014 pure tension with no wasted frame.\n <\/p>\n

NEXT QUESTION \u2192<\/p>\n

02<\/p>\n

Which idea grabs you most in a film?
\n Great films are driven by a central obsession. What’s yours?<\/p>\n

\n AClass, inequality, and what people are willing to do when desperation meets opportunity.
\n BIdentity, family, and the chaos of trying to hold your life together when everything is falling apart.
\n CGenius, moral responsibility, and the catastrophic weight of a decision you can never take back.
\n DEgo, legacy, and the terror of becoming irrelevant while you’re still alive to watch it happen.
\n EEvil, chance, and whether moral order actually exists or if we just tell ourselves it does.\n <\/p>\n

NEXT QUESTION \u2192<\/p>\n

03<\/p>\n

How do you like your story told?
\n Form is content. The way a story is shaped changes what it means.<\/p>\n

\n AGenre-twisting \u2014 I want it to start in one lane and migrate into something completely different.
\n BMaximalist and genre-blending \u2014 comedy, action, drama, sci-fi, all in one ride.
\n CEpic and non-linear \u2014 cutting between timelines, building a mosaic of cause and consequence.
\n DA single unbroken flow \u2014 I want to feel like I’m living it in real time, no cuts to safety.
\n ESpare and precise \u2014 every scene doing exactly what it needs to do and nothing more.\n <\/p>\n

NEXT QUESTION \u2192<\/p>\n

04<\/p>\n

What makes a truly great antagonist?
\n The opposition defines the protagonist. What kind of opposition fascinates you?<\/p>\n

\n AA system \u2014 invisible, structural, and almost impossible to fight because it has no single face.
\n BThe self \u2014 the ways we sabotage, abandon, and fail the people we love most.
\n CHistory \u2014 the unstoppable momentum of events that no single person can stop or redirect.
\n DThe industry \u2014 the machinery of culture that chews up talent and spits out irrelevance.
\n EPure, implacable evil \u2014 a force so certain of itself it becomes almost philosophical.\n <\/p>\n

NEXT QUESTION \u2192<\/p>\n

05<\/p>\n

What do you want from a film’s ending?
\n The final note is the one that lingers. What do you want it to sound like?<\/p>\n

\n AShock and inevitability \u2014 a conclusion that recontextualises everything that came before it.
\n BEarned emotion \u2014 I want to cry, laugh, and feel genuinely hopeful, even if the world is a mess.
\n CDevastation and grandeur \u2014 an ending that makes me sit in silence for a few minutes after.
\n DAmbiguity \u2014 something that leaves enough open that I’m still thinking about it days later.
\n EBleakness \u2014 an honest refusal to pretend the world is tidier than it actually is.\n <\/p>\n

NEXT QUESTION \u2192<\/p>\n

06<\/p>\n

Which setting pulls you in most?
\n Where a film takes place shapes everything \u2014 mood, stakes, what’s even possible.<\/p>\n

\n AA gleaming modern city with a hidden underside \u2014 beauty masking rot, wealth masking desperation.
\n BA collapsing suburban life that opens onto something infinite \u2014 the multiverse of a single ordinary person.
\n CThe corridors of power and science at a world-historical turning point \u2014 where decisions echo for decades.
\n DThe grimy, alive chaos of New York and Hollywood \u2014 fame as both destination and trap.
\n EVast, indifferent landscape \u2014 desert and highway where violence arrives without warning or reason.\n <\/p>\n

NEXT QUESTION \u2192<\/p>\n

07<\/p>\n

What cinematic craft impresses you most?
\n Every great film has a signature \u2014 a technical or artistic element that makes it unmistakable.<\/p>\n

\n AProduction design and mise-en-sc\u00e8ne \u2014 every frame composed to carry meaning beneath the surface.
\n BEditing and tonal control \u2014 the ability to move between registers without losing the audience.
\n CScore and sound design \u2014 music that becomes inseparable from the dread and awe of what you’re watching.
\n DCinematography as performance \u2014 the camera not recording events but participating in them.
\n ESilence and restraint \u2014 what’s left unsaid and unshown doing more work than any dialogue could.\n <\/p>\n

NEXT QUESTION \u2192<\/p>\n

08<\/p>\n

What kind of main character do you root for?
\n The protagonist is the lens. Who you choose to follow says something about you.<\/p>\n

\n ASomeone smart and resourceful who makes increasingly dangerous decisions under pressure.
\n BSomeone overwhelmed and ordinary who turns out to be capable of something extraordinary.
\n CA brilliant, tortured figure whose gifts and flaws are inseparable from each other.
\n DA self-destructive artist whose ego is both their superpower and their undoing.
\n EA quiet, principled person trying to make sense of a world that has stopped making sense.\n <\/p>\n

NEXT QUESTION \u2192<\/p>\n

09<\/p>\n

How do you feel about a film that takes its time?
\n Pace is a choice. Some films sprint; others let tension accumulate slowly, deliberately.<\/p>\n

\n AI love a slow build when I know the payoff is going to be seismic \u2014 patience for a devastating reveal.
\n BGive me relentless momentum \u2014 I want to feel breathless and emotionally spent by the end.
\n CEpic runtime doesn’t scare me \u2014 if the material demands three hours, give me three hours.
\n DI want it to feel propulsive even when nothing is technically happening \u2014 restless energy throughout.
\n EDeliberate and unhurried \u2014 I want dread to accumulate in the spaces between the action.\n <\/p>\n

NEXT QUESTION \u2192<\/p>\n

10<\/p>\n

What do you want to feel walking out of the cinema?
\n The best films leave a mark. What kind of mark do you want?<\/p>\n

\n AUnsettled \u2014 like I’ve just seen something I can’t fully explain but can’t stop thinking about.
\n BMoved and energised \u2014 like the film reminded me what actually matters and gave me something to hold onto.
\n CHumbled \u2014 like I’ve been in the presence of something genuinely important and overwhelming.
\n DExhilarated \u2014 like I’ve just seen cinema doing something it’s never quite done before.
\n EHaunted \u2014 like a cold, quiet dread that stays with me for days.\n <\/p>\n

REVEAL MY FILM \u2192<\/p>\n

The Academy Has Decided
\n Your Perfect Film Is\u2026<\/p>\n

Your answers have pointed to one Oscar Best Picture winner above all others. This is the film that was made for the way your mind works.<\/p>\n

Parasite<\/p>\n

You are drawn to films that operate on multiple levels simultaneously \u2014 that begin in one genre and quietly, brilliantly migrate into another. Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite is a film about class, desire, and the architecture of inequality that manages to be darkly funny, deeply suspenseful, and genuinely shocking across a single extraordinary running time. Your instinct is for cinema that hides its true intentions until the moment it’s ready to reveal them. Parasite is exactly that \u2014 a film that rewards close attention and punishes assumptions, right up to its devastating final image.<\/p>\n

Everything Everywhere All at Once<\/p>\n

You want it all \u2014 and this film gives you all of it. The Daniels’ Everything Everywhere All at Once is one of the most maximalist films ever made: action comedy, multiverse sci-fi, family drama, existential crisis, and a genuinely earned emotional core that sneaks up on you amid the chaos. You are someone who responds to ambition, who doesn’t want cinema to choose between being entertaining and being meaningful. This film refuses that choice entirely. It is overwhelming by design, and its overwhelming nature is precisely the point \u2014 because the feeling of being crushed by infinite possibility is exactly what it’s about.<\/p>\n

Oppenheimer<\/p>\n

You are drawn to cinema on a grand scale \u2014 films that understand history not as a backdrop but as a force, and that place their characters inside that force and watch what happens. Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is a film about the terrifying gap between what we can do and what we should do, told with the full weight of one of the most consequential moments in human history behind it. You want your films to feel important without feeling self-important \u2014 to earn their ambition through sheer craft and the gravity of their subject. Oppenheimer does exactly that. It is enormous, complicated, and refuses easy comfort.<\/p>\n

Birdman<\/p>\n

You are drawn to films that foreground their own construction \u2014 that make the how of the filmmaking part of the what it’s about. Alejandro Gonz\u00e1lez I\u00f1\u00e1rritu’s Birdman, shot to appear as a single continuous take, is cinema examining itself through the cracked mirror of a fading actor’s ego. You respond to formal daring, to the feeling that a film is doing something that probably shouldn’t be possible. Michael Keaton’s performance and Emmanuel Lubezki’s restless camera create something genuinely unlike anything else \u2014 a film that is simultaneously about creativity, relevance, self-destruction, and the impossibility of ever truly knowing if your work means anything at all.<\/p>\n

No Country for Old Men<\/p>\n

You are drawn to cinema that trusts silence, that refuses to explain itself, and that treats dread as a form of meaning. The Coen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men is a film about the arrival of a new kind of evil \u2014 implacable, arbitrary, and utterly indifferent to the moral frameworks we use to make sense of the world. It is one of the most formally controlled films ever made, and its controlled restraint is what makes it so terrifying. You want your films to haunt you, not comfort you. You are not interested in resolution if resolution would be dishonest. No Country for Old Men is honest in a way that most cinema never dares to be.<\/p>\n

\n \u21bb RETAKE THE QUIZ\n <\/p>\n

What Is ‘Normal’ About?<\/p>\n

Odenkirk not only starred but also pulled out his pen for Normal, joining Nobody writer Derek Kolstad<\/a> in developing the story. It centers on his temporary Sheriff, Ulysses, who reports to the small town of Normal<\/a> to fill in for the local lawman after he died. What he hoped would be a respite from a crumbling marriage and moral injuries on the job turns out to be anything but after a failed bank robbery. It uncovers a criminal conspiracy hiding just beneath the surface of the sleepy little town, forcing Ulysses to step up and fight back against a threat that is anything but the town’s namesake.<\/p>\n

Henry Winkler<\/a> and Lena Headey<\/a> also star in Wheatley’s latest, which premiered last year at the Toronto International Film Festival. Like Odenkirk’s past action outings, it was met with more critical acclaim, including an 83% score from critics and an 8\/10 review<\/a> from Collider’s Tania Hussain<\/a>. She had high praise for the blood-soaked thrill ride and for its lead, writing, “Like its affable hero, Normal is impossible to ignore and proof that when Odenkirk takes on an action role, things are anything but normal.”<\/p>\n

Normal premieres in theaters on April 17, but tickets are now on sale starting today. Check out the new installment of Alamo Drafthouse Guest Selects in the player above.<\/p>\n

\"normal-poster.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Release Date<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tApril 17, 2026<\/p>\n

Runtime<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t90 minutes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bob Odenkirk is firmly in his action era. 2021 saw the Better Call Saul star embrace his inner…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":388333,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[93,61,60,270],"class_list":["post-388332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}