Will Poulter Takes Addiction Recovery Film on Ohio Tour

A Hollywood actor, an Ohio filmmaker, and a chemical dependency counselor are crammed into a Chevy Traverse, hunting for the state's best Somali food between film screenings. It's not your typical movie premiere tour, and that's exactly the point.

Will Poulter, director Adam Meeks, and recovery court program director Annette Deao spent last week bringing their independent film "Union County" to theaters across Ohio. The raw but hopeful movie tells the story of two foster brothers navigating addiction recovery, set against the backdrop of Ohio's ongoing opioid crisis.

What makes this film different is who's on screen. Many faces in "Union County" aren't actors at all, they're real participants in Ohio's adult recovery court program, sharing their actual stories of progress and setbacks during genuine court sessions.

Deao has worked with people in addiction recovery for over 20 years through the drug court program. When Meeks, who was born in Ohio, returned to visit family in 2017, he was struck by how addiction had touched nearly everyone he met.

Through his uncle, Meeks connected with Deao and the recovery court. He sat in on sessions and was moved by what he saw: a program built on dignity, celebration, and genuine hope rather than punishment and shame.

Poulter, who played a pharmaceutical sales rep in the miniseries "Dopesick," wanted to explore the crisis from a different angle. "This film really celebrates the beauty of both the people in the community and the natural beauty of the place," he explained during an interview in Cleveland.

The film team made the movie last year with full cooperation from the recovery community. Judge Kevin P. Braig and Deao play versions of themselves, while the main storyline draws from real stories Meeks collected through the program.

Why This Inspires

What's remarkable about this tour isn't just the film itself, it's how it's being shared. No publicists, no studio handlers, no glamour. The trio showed up to one regional news station all wearing white T-shirts by accident, drove themselves around in a borrowed SUV, and stopped at Deao's renovated 185-year-old barn and Meeks' uncle's garage where he stored movie props "just in case."

They're traveling with healthy snacks (Deao's choice), sugar-free energy drinks (Poulter's contribution, much to Deao's disapproval), and a playlist featuring Ohio's own Afroman. The vibe is more family reunion than Hollywood premiere.

At screenings in Columbus and Akron, audiences have responded with visible pride. Not just because the film was made locally, but because it shows the human side of a crisis that has devastated communities across the Midwest.

"When it comes to this subject matter, sometimes there's a tendency to sort of pair devastation and tragedy with visuals that match," Poulter noted. Instead, this film offers what he calls a "counternarrative" to how addiction typically appears in entertainment.

The grassroots tour proves that some of the most important stories don't need red carpets to make an impact.