Vertical Entertainment, the studio behind films like Capone and Inheritance, has released the trailer for its upcoming medical drama Thriller, The God Committee. The thriller follows a group of doctors who are faced with a dilemma over which one of their hospital's three patients qualifies to get a donor's heart.
As the clock runs out, the doctors have to pick their choice amidst their personal conflicts and stumbling ethical obligations, while being aware that no matter who they choose, their decision will bring consequences. The trailer shows said doctors, portrayed on-screen by talented actors, facing the harshest dilemma of their careers as the decision is finally left on a young doctor to break the tie on who gets the heart surgery.
The God Committee looks like it will deliver a thrilling tale of conflicts between ideologies, logic, values, people, and ethics. While there are several medical dramas to watch through; however, there have been only a few attempts at creating a motion picture set in a hospital. There have been films like similar settings such as The Hospital (1971), A Clockwork Orange (1971), and Girl, Interrupted (1999) but being a medical drama is just a sub-genre explored amidst a more central cause or concern of the film. The God Committee will delve directly into the hearts and minds of the professionals themselves, just as we have witnessed in dramas like The Good Doctor.
The God Committee was earlier set to premiere at Tribeca Film Festival this April before landing a distribution deal with Vertical Entertainment. The Tribeca Film Festival screening of the film will be held on June 2020, a new date set after the festival was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film is directed by Austin Stark, who made his directorial debut with The Runner (2015) which starred Nicholas Cage, Connie Nielsen, and Sarah Paulson. The God Committee would be Stark's second venture as a director. He has previously acted as a producer for films like Detachment and Homecoming.
The film is a joint production with Molly Conners, Amanda Bowers, Jonathan Rubenstein, Ari Pinchot, Jane Oster, Bingo Gubelmann, and Benji Kohn, all sharing credits as producers. The cast further promises an intriguing narrative as it is led by Kelsey Grammer (X-Men), Julia Stiles (The Bourne Series), and Colman Domingo (Euphoria) playing central characters. The official synopsis of the film reads:
When a donor heart unexpectedly arrives at a New York hospital, an organ transplant committee must convene within one hour to decide which of three other patients deserves the life-saving heart. God's work is now left in the hands of five doctors, including Boxer (Kelsey Grammer), a cynical but brilliant heart surgeon; Jordan (Julia Stiles), an idealistic up-and-comer; and Gilroy (Janeane Garofalo), a weary bureaucrat. As the debate over the heart heats up, ethics and bribes clash, leaving the committee members to question what's more valuable: morals or money?"
What this enticing plot has to offer will unravel when the film releases on July 2, 2021. The God Committee is looking for a theatrical release only at the moment.