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  • ‘Normal’ Review: Bob Odenkirk Fires on All Cylinders in Ben Wheatley’s Jaw-Droppingly Excessive Blast of a Crime Caper

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    If there was any lingering doubt regarding Bob Odenkirk‘s late-career reinvention as a legit everyman action star, Normal handily seals the deal. Having proved himself up to the task after Nobody and Nobody 2, he wildly ups the ante with an unapologetically over-the-top small-town crime thriller.

    Directed by genre-hopping Ben Wheatley and written by John Wick creator Derek Kolstad from a story hatched by Kolstad and Odenkirk, the subversive Western is a take-no-prisoners gore fest that peppers all the visceral carnage with an equal sprinkling of dry wit. Given that it shares so much of its DNA with those Nobody movies (also penned by Kolstad), it would be understandable if some might think it’s actually Nobody 3, which wouldn’t necessarily work against it. Given the energetic reception that greeted the movie’s world premiere as part of TIFF‘s genre-heavy Midnight Madness section, the indie production should be able to corral U.S. distribution with little difficulty. Amazon MGM Studios has the film for Canada.

    Normal

    The Bottom Line

    A bone-crunching good time.

    Venue: Toronto International Film Festival (Midnight Madness)
    Cast: Bob Odenkirk, Henry Winkler, Lena Headey
    Director: Ben Wheatley
    Screenwriter: Derek Kolstad

    Rated R,
    1 hour 30 minutes

    As a recent arrival to the quaint town of Normal, Minnesota (population 1890, at least before the bloodbath begins), Odenkirk’s Sheriff Ulysses is more than okay with his temporary placement in the half-abandoned municipality, especially since he seems to be escaping some trauma from his recent past. “My goal is to leave this town just the way I found it,” he maintains, as he leaves yet another unanswered phone message for his estranged wife.

    But that proves more easily said than done when Ulysses starts to notice a few cracks in Normal’s genteel exterior. Maybe it’s that overabundance of firearms on display in all the local establishments, or the suspicious death of his predecessor, Sheriff Gunderson, or the town’s oddball Mayor Kibner (Henry Winkler). Or maybe it’s that spirit animal of a mysterious mammoth moose that keeps popping up.

    Those suspicions are confirmed when, responding to a botched bank heist in progress, Ulysses discovers everybody’s keen on shooting the sheriff, including his two deputies (Ryan Allen and Billy McLellan).

    Left with no one to ally himself with except the two failed robbers (Rena Jolly and Brendan Fletcher), Ulysses opts to fight back, whining, “I’m tired of running away from every goddamn thing!” In the middle of unleashing an insane amount of violence, they make the discovery that the bank vault is hiding a substantial stash of gold bars belonging to the incoming Japanese Yakuza, which had been using Normal to hide a portion of their illicit profits in return for a percentage divided among the struggling townspeople. What starts out as a geographic and comedically thematic companion piece to the Coen Brothers’ Fargo decisively shifts gears into Tarantino-worthy grindhouse excess and never looks back. There’s an inventive, Rube Goldberg precision to the barrage of violence that keeps things involving, especially when the Yakuza arrives on the scene.

    Handling it all with a detached, shrugging sense of doom, Odenkirk proves the right man for the job at hand in both of the film’s two tonally separate halves, and he’s supported by a colorful cast including Lena Headey as the town’s enigmatic barkeep and McLellan as one of those two deputies, whose squeaky stiff leather jacket keeps announcing his arrival.

    The wintry Winnipeg, Manitoba, backdrops provide some stark contrast for all the spilled bits of red, effectively captured by cinematographer Armando Salas (Ozark) in hues of blue and amber, while British director Wheatley marks a welcome return to his earlier works — in particular 2016’s Free Fire, which took home TIFF’s Midnight Madness People’s Choice Award that year.

    Even though Wheatley’s previous film was the considerably less enthusiastically received sequel Meg 2: The Trench, one can’t help wondering what tantalizing possibilities a Meg vs. Ulysses match-up might hold.

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    Michael Rechtshaffen

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  • ‘Normal’ Review: Bob Odenkirk Back In Action Again In Ben Wheatley’s Wild Violent Black Comedy Western – Toronto Film Festival

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    Not to be confused with Nobody or even Nobody II which just released a few weeks ago, Bob Odenkirk already has his next uber action movie on deck. In fact Normal premiered at midnight to a rowdy crowd at the Toronto Film Festival and if their reaction is any indication it’s another hit for this unlikely action star who is fast following in the footsteps of Charles Bronson, Steven Seagal, and Bruce Willis. Filling a big void in Hollywood who dreamed it would be Saul, but this acting is breaking bad guys with the best of them.

    Odenkirk plays the new substitue sheriff in the very small Minnesota town of Normal, a Fargoesqe location where the previous sheriff has passed away under mysterious circumstances, possibly involving a moose (a big symbol throughout the film) and he is only there until an election can be held, Meanwhile he patrols the street and makes sure peace is at hand. But before we get to Normal, the film opens a pre-credits sequence in Japan at a meeting of the criminal organization the Yakuza where, as is their custom, three members are asked to slice off a finger in order to show their loyalty. The first two do so, but the third has his finger caught dipping into the cookie jar so to speak. It doesn’t end well for him in what is a bloody good start to director Ben Wheatley‘s latest foray into extreme violence. Nothing action wise proceeds to happen for the first 40 minutes – sans the finger pointing in Osaka – and that is typical for Wheatley (Kill List, Sightseers, Meg 2, Free Fire) who likes to take it real slow and easy and then when you least expect it: POW.

    At any rate the fireworks begin and the whole place is being shot up- Yakuzas, locals, employees – you name it. Sheriff Ulysses looking at this as his first big crisis decides to walk in like Gary Cooper in High Noon and take them all on. He makes a memorable entrance into the bank crashing through the glass door, but with his own deputies Alex (Jess McLeod) and Blaine Anderson who is running for Sheriff (Ryan Allen) holding back, the only help he really gets is from Keith and Lori who shoot at anyone but him. In a case of strange bedfellows he notices that kindness under fire and they become allies as the siege continues.

    Crooked Mayor Henry Winkler makes him an offer. If he agrees to kill them on the spot, nothing will happen to him. He hangs up on him and the Mayor and his brood don’t know what they are in for. Basically the carnage is all non-stop from this point on, a festival of killing in all kinds of nifty ways. The stunt guys are busy.

    With a script by Nobody creator Derek Kolstad from his and Odenkirk’s story, this movie also looks to be channeling 50’s modern day classics like Bad Day At Black Rock and Violent Saturday. It is once again a fine showcase for the late blooming action star. The movie has some good actors to go with the scenery including Winkler, and Lena Headey as Moira from the town bar, a person who has more talents than you might imagine. Fletcher and Jolly win audience love here, and Allen’s naked ambitions to become sheriff is quite amusing. However Odenkirk rules this roost, just as he does in the Nobody movies, but with the firepower Wheatley keeps shooting Normal manages to exceed those action levels if you can believe it.

    Shout out to Cinematographer Armando Salles whose visual palette includes lots of snow and storms, giving this film a very unique and cool vibe for a modern western.

    Producers are Odenkirk, Kolstad, and another Nobody alum Marc Provissiero.

    Title: Normal

    Festival: Toronto Film Festival – Midnight Madness

    Sales Agent: WME

    Director: Ben Wheatley

    Screenplay: Derek Kolstad

    Cast: Bob Odenkirk, Henry Winkler, Lena Headey, Jess McLeod, Ryan Allen, Billy MacLellan, Brendan Fletcher, Reena Jolly

    Running Time: 1 hour and 30 minutes

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    Pete Hammond

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  • Henry Winkler Calls ‘Happy Days’ Table Reads ‘Misery’ Before Dyslexia Diagnosis: ‘I Was Constantly Failing…It Was Humiliating and Shameful’

    Henry Winkler Calls ‘Happy Days’ Table Reads ‘Misery’ Before Dyslexia Diagnosis: ‘I Was Constantly Failing…It Was Humiliating and Shameful’

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    Henry Winkler has long been open about discussing his life with dyslexia, but he explores the topic and its relationship to his career-defining run on “Happy Days” in frank detail in his upcoming memoir “Being Henry: The Fonz… and Beyond” (via People magazine). The actor appeared as Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli on all 11 seasons of the ABC comedy series, but it wasn’t until well into the show’s run when Winker discovered at 31 years old that he was dyslexic. He writes that the discovery made him “so fucking angry.”

    “Even in the midst of ‘Happy Days,’ at the height of my fame and success, I felt embarrassed, inadequate,” Winkler writes. “Every Monday at 10 o’clock, we would have a table reading of that week’s script, and at every reading I would lose my place or stumble. I would leave a word out, a line out. I was constantly failing to give the right cue line, which would then screw up the joke for the person doing the scene with me. Or I would be staring at a word, like ‘invincible,’ and have no idea on earth how to pronounce it or even sound it out.”

    Winkler continues, “My brain and I were in different zip codes. Meanwhile, the other actors would be waiting, staring at me: It was humiliating and shameful. Everybody in the cast was warm and supportive, but I constantly felt I was letting them down. I had to ask for my scripts really early, so I could read them over and over again — which put extra pressure on the writers, who were already under the gun every week, having to get 24 scripts ready in rapid succession. All this at the height of my fame and success, as I was playing the coolest guy in the world.”

    It wasn’t until Winkler’s stepson was evaluated for dyslexia that he realized he also might have the learning disorder. After finally being diagnoses, Winker was “so fucking angry” because “all the misery I’d gone through had been for nothing.”

    “All the yelling, all the humiliation, all the screaming arguments in my house as I was growing up — for nothing It was genetic!” he writes. “It wasn’t a way I decided to be! And then I went from feeling this massive anger to fighting through it.”

    Winkler was able to finish his run on “Happy Days” with a greater awareness of his disorder. He would go on to write several books, including the children’s series “Here’s Hank,” and participate in public events to educate others about dyslexia.

    Winkler’s memoir, “Being Henry: The Fonz… and Beyond,” publishes on Oct. 31.

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  • The ‘Barry’ Finale Left Henry Winkler Speechless

    The ‘Barry’ Finale Left Henry Winkler Speechless

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    This post contains spoilers about the series finale of Barry.

    From the moment he stepped into Gene Cousineau’s acting class for the first time, Bill Hader’s Barry Berkman looked up to Henry Winkler’s self-involved teacher as a kind of father figure—a man with a method, helping him get in touch with his emotions, or maybe just find a safer place to put them. But that dynamic was never quite reciprocated. Over Barry’s four seasons, our deeply damaged hitman turned performer steadily, somewhat inadvertently ruined his mentor’s life: killing Gene’s girlfriend, effectively ending his class, and eventually sending him into exile. Following an audacious time jump and another plot to frame Gene for the death of his lover, it’s no wonder that when put in the same room with Barry again, Gene decided to shoot his former student dead, then and there. 

    In the scene, Barry only has time for two short words as he realizes what’s about to happen: “Oh, wow.” That’s more than Winkler could muster when Hader, who also cocreated the show and directed the final season, rather matter-of-factly pitched the idea to his costar. “I was speechless,” Winkler tells Vanity Fair. “I just made sounds.” Gene goes on to serve a lifetime prison sentence—not that we see this fate play out for ourselves. It’s revealed in the parodic film that fills Barry’s final scenes, recreating the events of Barry through a bizarro Hollywood lens. As to how Winkler is feeling about it all? We get into it. 

    Vanity Fair: Barry is officially finished. How are you feeling?

    Henry Winkler: I’m now just sad. We finished in early December; we had some re-shoots. We’ve had the premiere party. Then I don’t see anybody anymore. Sarah is in England. Stephen is off shooting something. Everybody is everywhere. And I am sad.

    Let’s get into this finale. What was your initial reaction, particularly to Gene’s ending?

    Oh my God. So, halfway through the season, Bill said, “I think we finally broke the eighth episode, the end. You want to know how it ends?” And I went, “Sure.” And he said, “You shoot me.” [Pause] I’m a pretty verbal guy. I was speechless. I just made sounds. I didn’t even know how to react to that. I shoot you. Wow. Okay, that’s—okay. I went and had a burrito. And then we got there and we did it.

    What did you make of Gene killing him? How did you play it?

    That was scary. The moment really started when I was lured into the hotel room at the end of [episode] seven, and then they’re blaming me for everything. How did that happen? Then I had nowhere to turn, and I think at that moment I went insane. I literally—the switch flipped and led me to the point of no return.

    Compare that to season one. Is there some reflection for you in the performance and just in the experience of making the show, of what Gene has been through? Of how this relationship between him and Barry led to this incredibly violent end?

    You think about that first year, the teaching and buffoonery and charlatan, and how that led to this ending of the entire show—I never in my wildest actor’s imagination would have come up to this, would have figured that this was going to happen, no matter what this man put me through.

    What was it like to actually film it? How did you block it out with Bill? How many takes did you do? 

    We did two takes. The first take I remember, I shot him in the shoulder. He sat down in the chair, he flopped down in the chair, and he said, “You don’t have to do this, Mr. Cousineau.” And I shot him twice. But then in the final, he just went, “Oh, wow.” It was like he was in disbelief. You could hear a pin drop [on set]. Our armorer and our prop people were extraordinary in how careful they were when we handled a gun on that set. That was my experience. And it still was so scary to think of holding a gun on this human being—my character who hates this character who loves me, who looks at me as his father figure. It is so complicated that I had no idea what I was doing.

    You’ve had quite a long, distinguished career. Have you ever had to do something like that before on camera?

    Do you know? Not that I can think of. I’ve handled a gun before, when I did a show called Numb3rs. I had to go to a shooting range. I had an FBI tech telling me how to hold the gun. But I never was in a situation that was so fraught that I literally took a human being’s life.

    Did the transformation that came with the time jump help you get into that space?

    The physicality for Gene was a costume. We stopped filming Gene [for awhile]. I grew a beard. I took a picture of the beard every week. I sent it to [production manager] Aida Rodgers and Bill. They said, “Keep growing. Nope, keep growing.” And then finally, it was long enough, they called me and we started filming again. And I had been on a kibbutz where I was helping people build their homes. I was learning to be a better human being. The only thing is, what they didn’t show you was that the homes fell down.

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    David Canfield

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  • Henry Winkler explains the trick that allowed him to transform into The Fonz | CNN

    Henry Winkler explains the trick that allowed him to transform into The Fonz | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Henry Winkler credits landing the role of Arthur “The Fonz” Fonzarelli to an accent he made up on the spot during his “Happy Days” audition.

    Winkler spoke with CNN’s Chris Wallace about his long career in Hollywood and revealed that as a Jewish kid from Manhattan, he was surprised he was cast at age 27 as The Fonz, the unflappable, cool rider in the Milwaukee-set “Happy Days” sitcom.

    Wallace asked Winkler how he transformed into the “epitome of cool” in a new episode of “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?”

    “Because I trained for many, many years to be an actor, and I got to play somebody. I wasn’t somebody who I wanted to be,” Winkler replied, adding, “And it was so much fun. They are still my family. All of the people who have survived are still very, very close. We are incredibly friendly.”

    Winkler said producers originally envisioned The Fonz as “a taller Italian kid.”

    “And they got you know, this short Jew from New York, but all I did Chris, all I did was change my voice,” Winkler recalled. “I introduce myself as Henry, and then as I started to do it, something overtook me … And I changed my voice like this and it unleashed me.”

    Winkler said he just went with it, and in doing so became braver in acting while in real life he said he still felt like “a bowl of jello that had not congealed yet.”

    Noting that TV Guide ranked The Fonz as number four out of 50 greatest characters in the history of television so far, Winkler called the recognition “insane” to him.

    New episodes of “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?” debut Fridays on HBO Max and Sundays on CNN at 7 p.m. ET.

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