{"id":585444,"date":"2026-08-15T11:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T11:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/585444\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T11:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T11:18:09","slug":"will-poulter-on-challenging-stereotypes-in-new-opioid-drama-shame-on-us-for-stigmatizing-people-will-poulter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/585444\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Poulter on challenging stereotypes in new opioid drama: \u2018Shame on us for stigmatizing people\u2019 | Will Poulter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every week, Annette Deao, a drug dependency counselor, sits in the county jail and offers incarcerated people in rural Ohio a chance at recovery. One bright day she meets Cody, a young man who shuffles towards the lectern and quietly says that he\u2019s ready to give it a shot. \u201cHis self-respect is in the basement,\u201d said Will Poulter<\/a>, the British actor who plays the character. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t like or accept himself enough to embark on helping himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Directed by Adam Meeks, an Ohio<\/a> native, Union County is a bruising yet poetic depiction of a real life drug recovery court in Bellefontaine, Ohio, where individuals join long-term treatment programs with daily sobriety testing. Though the film is led by Poulter and Noah Centineo as foster brothers taking steps to get clean, much of the supporting cast is made up of first-time actors who share their real \u2013 and often painful and non-linear \u2013 stories of recovery. The hybrid of narrative feature and documentary-esque elements combine in a deeply affecting watch that is anchored by Poulter\u2019s natural-feeling approach to the role.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was clear to me from the outset that Adam wasn\u2019t interested in making a film about a community as he was in making it in with a community,\u201d Poulter said, speaking via Zoom a few days before Union County\u2019s US release. \u201cTop of mind was not interfering with the recovery process and not infringing on the path that the participants were walking. I think that\u2019s the reason they were so generous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Far too often, Hollywood gets its stories of addiction wrong, with surface-level treatment in misfires such as Beautiful Boy<\/a>, Ben Is Back<\/a> and Hillbilly Elegy<\/a>. After seeing Meeks\u2019s contemplative 2020 short film<\/a> of the same name, which also collaborated with Bellefontaine locals, Poulter felt sure that Union County would do justice to the subject. \u201cIn the representation of addiction on screen there is a tendency to focus on devastation and the negative side of things,\u201d Poulter said. \u201cWhat I appreciated about Adam\u2019s approach was that it was more weighted on the success of the program. It has an over 50% success rate which is phenomenal \u2013 incomparable in some ways \u2013 so it was really about platforming that above all else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since breaking out as a child star in 2007 in British comedy Son of Rambow<\/a>, Poulter has traded teenage parts in centrist Hollywood fare such as We\u2019re The Millers<\/a> and The Maze Runner<\/a> for subtle, sturdy work in auteur-driven projects such as Ari Aster\u2019s Midsommar<\/a>, Kathryn Bigelow\u2019s Detroit<\/a> and Alejandro G I\u00f1\u00e1rritu\u2019s The Revenant<\/a> as well as receiving Emmy nominations for turns in TV shows Dopesick<\/a> and The Bear<\/a>. Poulter is undoubtedly dedicated to his work \u2013 in a trait which has seen him undergoing rigorous chef training for The Bear and an intense workout regimen for Marvel\u2019s Guardians of The Galaxy Vol 3<\/a> \u2013 but also has a taste for the unexpected. In the past year, he has canoodled with a Haim sister in the band\u2019s All Over Me<\/a> video, played a stuck-up boutique manager in I Love Boosters<\/a> and guest judged on RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race vs The World.<\/p>\n

Lionel Boyce and Poulter in The Bear. Photograph: Chuck Hodes\/FX Networks<\/p>\n

Union County is the best showcase to date of Poulter\u2019s ability to inhabit a character\u2019s skin. At the start of the film Cody is broken down, near mute and blinking heavily as if he\u2019s still trying to comprehend how he ended up here. You can imagine another actor over-doing it, but there\u2019s an unshowy confidence to Poulter\u2019s performance that captures the the young man\u2019s quiet pride: he may live out of his car, but spends evenings hand washing his clothes and drying them on a line rigged between trees.<\/p>\n

With Meeks\u2019s precise instinct for detail, Union County is grounded enough to make its flickers of hope feel earned. Most memorable of the first-time actors is Daeo, whose kind but firm counsellor becomes a parental figure to Cody as he gets back on track. \u201cWhen Annette says \u2018I\u2019m really proud of you,\u2019 it\u2019s the first time he\u2019s ever heard that in his life,\u201d said Poulter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are plenty of people in their mid-20s who have never had that kind of affirmation or support,\u201d he went on. \u201cAnd yet we hold them to the same standard as people who have been told they are loved on a regular basis. That\u2019s shame on us for stigmatizing people in that position.\u201d<\/p>\n

Filming the movie sounds almost unbearably heavy. \u201cIt was emotional,\u201d the actor said. \u201cI don\u2019t know how Annette does the work on a daily basis. As an actor I was simulating these experiences and I went home every night, whereas the real participants are in an 18-month program and the work and recovery is never done. So however it was for me, it pales in comparison to what it was like for the real participants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite promises by Robert F Kennedy Jr, the health secretary, a recent report found<\/a> that the Trump administration has cut more than $1bn in federal funding to mental health and addiction programs. \u201cThose kinds of rollbacks are devastating to me because I can\u2019t detach myself from the idea that that is informed by a lot of harmful stigma and misinformation,\u201d Poulter said. \u201cThe stigmatization of addicts is such that we don\u2019t afford the compassion that we would to anyone dealing with a mental health issue to someone who has substance use disorder.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people think about an addict using heroin, they don\u2019t think about the teenager who was prescribed Oxycontin for an injury at the age of 14,\u201d he continued. \u201cThey don\u2019t think about the possibility they might have been in a relationship characterized by domestic violence. They don\u2019t think about the eviction that forced somebody onto the street.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poulter, Annette Deao, Adam Meeks and Noah Centineo at the New York premiere of Union County on 12 August 2026. Photograph: Dave Allocca\/Starpix\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Poulter has often spoken up about political causes and publicly supports Palestine<\/a> as well as migrant<\/a> and LGBTQ+<\/a> rights. Does he think that the current US administration has twisted priorities? \u201cThis isn\u2019t me trying to sort of dodge a political question, but I am not educated enough on the latest here in America to answer that,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I do know that there is so much misunderstanding, and I\u2019d like to think that our film will hopefully move people to think differently about substance use disorder.\u201d<\/p>\n

The actor said he aims to \u201cmaintain a balance\u201d between mainstream films and artier fare. A few days before we talked, reports circulated that he was set to star in Rapture, a medieval body-horror from director Jordan Tannahill about the \u201cdeep, passionate relationship\u201d that develops between monks played by Poulter and Heartstopper\u2019s Kit Connor<\/a>. I am devastated to learn that the project is on pause. \u201cI got whispers of the same thing, but I\u2019m not working on that at the moment,\u201d he said. \u201cI really hope I can work with Jordan in the future; he\u2019s so talented.\u201d His upcoming TV roles sound no less intriguing: the Netflix hostage drama Rabbit, Rabbit alongside Adam Driver and Regina Hall, and the Apple TV dramedy Beat The Reaper.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s one role that Poulter doesn\u2019t mention: his rumored return to the Marvel cinematic universe. With December\u2019s Avengers: Doomsday<\/a> promising to be a fresh start to the franchise, will we be seeing more of his Adam Warlock character soon? \u201cDo you know what? I have no idea,\u201d he said. \u201cAs you probably know, even if I did know I couldn\u2019t tell you. I genuinely have no information on that, but obviously I\u2019d be honored to come back.\u201d<\/p>\n

His blockbuster future may be under embargo, but Poulter is unequivocal about the kind of movies that are closest to his heart. \u201cI love independent film more than anything,\u201d he said. Earlier this month, he embarked on a road trip with Meeks and Deao to screen Union County at small movie theaters in Ohio. \u201cGoing to local independent cinemas in towns like Akron and Dayton, I\u2019m reminded of just how sacred those spaces are,\u201d he said. \u201cI want to maintain a relationship to independent film as long as independent film is happy to have me.\u201d<\/p>\n