{"id":389197,"date":"2026-04-20T19:34:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T19:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/389197\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T19:34:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T19:34:10","slug":"oscilloscope-buys-will-poulter-sundance-drama-union-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/389197\/","title":{"rendered":"Oscilloscope Buys Will Poulter Sundance Drama ‘Union County’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\u201cUnion County<\/a>,\u201d a recovery-focused drama starring Will Poulter<\/a> and Noah Centineo<\/a>, has been acquired by Oscilloscope Laboratories.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film, directed by Adam Meeks<\/a>, casts Poulter and Centineo as two fictional characters (brothers grappling with opioid addiction) amid the real-life participants of a court-sponsored drug rehabilitation program in rural Ohio. Meeks\u2019 extended family lives in this part of the state, and the story developed from those close ties; his uncle introduced him to the drug court judge, who invited him to sit in on a meeting.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWorking with Oscilloscope on \u2018Union County\u2019\u00a0is an affirmation of the film we made, which aspires to be in conversation with so many of the great independent films they\u2019ve distributed over the years,\u201d Meeks said in a statement. \u201cWe\u2019re so proud to partner with them to bring this film about community and human connection to cinemas and audiences across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cUnion County\u201d earned rave reviews and an extended standing ovation<\/a> following its Sundance Film Festival<\/a> premiere in January. The Park City audience cheered loudest for Annette Deao, who has worked as a therapist helping people navigate addiction recovery via this program for more than 20 years. Deao appeared in Meeks\u2019 2020 short film and plays herself in the feature. In fact, nearly everyone in the film is a nonprofessional actor, bearing their own truths on camera.<\/p>\n

\n\tOscilloscope Laboratories will release \u201cUnion County\u201d theatrically in the summer or the fall of 2026.<\/p>\n

\n\tOscilloscope\u2019s SVP of Acquisitions Aaron Katz said, \u201cIt\u2019s rare to see recovery portrayed with this level of honesty. Adam delivers a grounded, deeply emotional, and unsensationalized look at a community confronting a crisis that feels all too familiar today, while still leaving room for hope. Anchored by a phenomenal, seamlessly integrated performance from Will Poulter, the film is both moving and uplifting, and we\u2019re excited to bring it to audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn his review<\/a>, Variety\u2019s Peter Debruge praised Meeks for his execution of the hybrid narrative and how it tackles the opioid crisis.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe make-or-break ingredient turns out to be British actor Will Poulter, whose immersive commitment dovetails beautifully with Meeks\u2019 unvarnished sensibility,\u201d Debruge wrote. \u201cMeeks\u2019 raw, honest movie fits neatly within a tradition of red-state escapees who remain committed to depicting the communities they know best with empathy and compassion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPoulter and Centineo, who played brothers-in-arms in last year\u2019s A24 drama \u201cWarfare,\u201d also contributed behind the scenes: Poulter is billed as a producer on the film with Centineo as an executive producer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tOther producers on the film include Brad Becker-Parton, Martha Gregory, Stephanie Roush, Faye Tsakas, Sean Weiner, Tim Headington, Theresa Steele Page, Ellyn Daniels and Will O\u2019Connor. Executive producers are Anita Gou, Caroline Clark, Luca Intili, Lauren Shelton, David Darby, Christine D\u2019Souza, Julia Nelson and Greg Nobile. \u201cUnion County\u2019 is a Ley Line Entertainment and Burn These Words production, presented by Seaview and Arkhum Production in association with Kindred Spirit and Wait A While Films.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe deal for the film was negotiated by Oscilloscope\u2019s Katz, with WME, D\u2019Souza and Nelson representing the filmmakers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cUnion County,\u201d a recovery-focused drama starring Will Poulter and Noah Centineo, has been acquired by Oscilloscope Laboratories. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389198,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[201451,156,409,111,139,4302,69,56784,146205,21382],"class_list":{"0":"post-389197","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-adam-meeks","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-movies","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-noah-centineo","14":"tag-nz","15":"tag-sundance-film-festival","16":"tag-union-county","17":"tag-will-poulter"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}