Kelsey Grammer will once again be taking on the role of a doctor in his latest film project. No, we’re not talking about Dr. Frasier Crane. Grammer will be taking on the role of Dr. Andre Boxer in the medical drama film “The God Committee.”
Originally set to premiere at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival, those plans were dashed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only will the film premiere at the 2021 festival, it’s also picked up a North American distributor for theatrical release this summer.
It was announced earlier today that Vertical Entertainment picked up the rights to the film ahead of its festival premiere in June. The titular “God Committee” is derived from a nick-name that’s been given to panels of doctors and hospital administrators who have to make decisions as to which patients receive treatments that are in limited supply. One of the earlier usages dates back to the 1960’s when a panel of doctors in Seattle, Washington had to choose which patients could use the then limited, kidney dialysis machine.
In similar fashion, “The God Committee” film is about a panel of doctors who must decide which of three patients is going to receive a heart transplant. The movie then jumps forward several years and explores the ramifications of the decision they made.
Grammer is joined on the cast by Julia Stiles, Dan Hedaya, Janeane Garofalo, and Colman Domingo. It also marks the second feature film written and directed by Austin Stark, with his previous effort being the poorly received 2015 film, “The Runner” starring Nicolas Cage.
Kelsey Grammer’s been keeping himself quite busy as of late. Back in April, we reported that Grammer would be appearing in “The Space Between,” as a completely disheveled musician who looks like Frasier Crane got in a telepod accident with Brian Wilson from The Beach Boys and Bad Blake from “Crazy Heart.” And speaking of “Frasier,” we also reported how Paramount Plus is officially picking up a reboot of the beloved sitcom for release on the streaming service.
Basically, if Kelsey Grammer were a Chinese zodiac sign, 2021 would be the Year of The Kels.
Though he’s been heavily lauded for his career as a comic actor throughout “Cheers” and “Frasier,” Grammer’s dramatic chops are not to be dismissed. Back in 2012, Kelsey took home a Golden Globe award for Best Actor in a Television Series – Drama, for his role as Tom Kane in the short lived Starz series, “Boss.” In film though, Kelsey’s never really found his mark. As of the time of this writing, his latest film, the aforementioned “The Space Between” still has no score on Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic despite its limited theatrical release several weeks ago. And the less said about his roles in “Transformers: Age of Extinction” and “Expendables 3,” the better.
Several of us here at Nerdbot are die-hard “Frasier” fans, others of us manage to find some enjoyment in “Down Periscope.” Seeing the highs and lows of Kelsey’s film career is an ever fascinating affair; fittingly enough it’s almost like going through Nic Cage’s movies. Heck, they even did a film together in 2019 called “Grand Isle.” And yes, in case you were wondering it does indeed have a 0% Rotten Tomatoes score. But that’s just based on 10 reviews so it’s not like anyone really watched it.
All of us though will be able to find out if Kelsey can once again put his dramatic talents to good use when “The God Complex” hits theaters on July 2nd, 2021.
