Will Poulter and Noah Centineo Drug Recovery Drama ‘Union County’ Lands Extended Sundance Standing Ovation

Park City had another crowd-pleasing premiere with Adam Meeks’ “Union County,” which earned a lengthy standing ovation at its Sunday screening at the Eccles Theater.

The drama, which stars Will Poulter and Noah Centineo as brothers who are in drug recovery together, was shot in a real-life drug court in Ohio, and many of their co-stars were non-actors who were working the program itself.

The biggest cheers came for Annette Deao, who works as a therapist helping people navigate addiction recovery and has several key, emotional moments opposite Poulter.

Prior to the screening, Meeks spoke to Variety on the red carpet about how Poulter got involved with the project.

“He actually read the script through his agent and reached out to us,” Meeks says. “I got on a Zoom with him and fell in love immediately. We did the kind of coy thing at the end of a call where you’re like, ‘Alright, I’ll talk to my people, and you talk to your people.’ And then five minutes later, we had offered him the role, and he had accepted it. It was just a really organic, beautiful, mutual connection.”

Deao also spoke to Variety on the carpet about how the opioid epidemic is evolving in the Midwest.

“I believe the opioid epidemic is changing,” Deao says. “Part of that is education. People are understanding — even our medical professionals understand much better — you cannot keep prescribing that and expect people not to get addicted. We are seeing improvement. Also, medication-assisted treatment has been an amazing part of how people are recovering from substance use disorder.”