VIDEO: First Glimpse Of Mad To Be Normal Starring David Tennant



The promoters of Glasgow Film Festival have released the first few seconds of David Tennant's new feature film Mad To Be Normal as part of their 2017 Clip Reel. The movie, co-starring Elisabeth Moss, Michael Gambon, Gabriel Byrne and David Bamber, will premiere as the closing gala at this year's festival with David himself taking to the red carpet.

Mad To Be Normal tells the story of controversial psychiatrist RD Laing, whose anti-psychiatry approach to schizophrenia in the 1960s challenged the medical model of mental illness and paved the way for modern day person centred approaches. The film covers the unique community that Laing set up at Kingsley Hall in London as a medication-free sanctuary. As a result he was regarded by many of his contemporaries as a dangerous maverick, but at the same time he became a celebrated and notorious figure, pulling in thousands to a single lecture. The film was written and directed by Bob Mullen whose book, also titled Mad To Be Normal, is based on his own conversations with Laing.

The Glasgow Film Festival brochure says of the film:
Mad To Be Normal offers a powerful account of Laing’s Kingsley Hall experiment with a stunning performance from David Tennant that truly gets under the skin of an utterly compelling figure. Tennant’s nuanced, complex work conveys a sense of Laing’s immense personal charm and the combination of intelligence and arrogance that made him equally revered and reviled. The film also captures the darker side of a mercurial man who rarely made it easy for those who dared to get close to him, especially his lover Angie (Elisabeth Moss). A magnificent ensemble cast includes heartrending performances from Michael Gambon and Gabriel Byrne.

The clip can be viewed right at the end of the festival trailer below:



The world premiere of Mad To Be Normal takes place across all three screens of the Glasgow Film Festival on the evening of Sunday 26th February. The event starts from 6.45pm with the screening from 7.30pm. Tickets for the even recently sold out in just 16 minutes from gong on sale with demand crashing the festival's ticketing site.

Check out some screencaps here:





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