New Canaan resident Tory Tunnell is a producer of the number-one movie in the United States, “Novocaine” (currently showing at The Playhouse on Elm Street, times and ticket info here). Tunnel and her husband and producing partner, Joby Harold, participated in a Q&A last week with Luke Parker Bowles, CEO of CinemaLab following a screening of the movie.
We put our own questions to Tunnell after viewing “Novocaine”—joined, as it turned out, by several members of the New Canaan Men’s Club out for a matinee.
Here’s our exchange.
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New Canaanite: Congratulations on the movie. Before we talk about it, please tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you come to be a producer of “Novocaine,” and how did you come to be a New Canaan resident?
Tory Tunnell and Joby Harold of Safehouse Pictures at last week’s Los Angeles red carpet release of “Novocaine.”
Tory Tunnell: I grew up in Darien and often went to the New Canaan Playhouse and saw “Four Weddings and a Funeral” there, I saw “Prince of Tides” there. I saw countless movies at the theater and always loved going there and getting ice cream next door. And through the past 20 years, Joby [Harold] my husband and I have built Safehouse Pictures, our company, into a Hollywood-leaning company and we do bigger movies. Joby’s also a writer. He’s written “Transformers: Edge of Tomorrow,” “The Flash,” “Obi-Wan Kenobi” and so on. And I think that part and parcel of him having been in the “John Wick” franchise is that we get sent a lot of stuff in that space. Everyone has been looking for something in that space, and we pass on a ton of stuff. But there was something about this, when it was submitted to us—we get submitted a ton of scripts a day—and this was something we couldn’t shake. But it was encumbered, and we would always just ask, “What’s going on with ‘Novocaine’?” And finally there was a moment when our executive said, ‘It’s actually pretty clear’ and we just grabbed it and ran with it. We’d been developing something with Dan [Berk] and Bobby [Olsen]—our directors at Amblin, Steven Spielberg’s company—and there had been an original list of more journeymen action directors and we felt like we need Dan and Bobby on this because they have that really ‘voicey’ sense of humor that made the movie that you just saw today outrageous and memorable. And they sometimes take it a little bit too far, in all the right ways. That makes it stand apart. And also they have that sort of very winning heart to it, as well. When I’ve been been reductive and talking to people about it, I’ll say it’s a romantic comedy with ‘John Wick,’ and I think that’s to some degree where it lives.
It was unique in the sense that it was a love story, a superhero movie and a heist/getaway movie, and then it was so unusual with that medical condition. Quick question for you: Is that real? Is there a genetic condition where people don’t feel any pain?
There is a real condition. And it’s a very unusual condition. I think that there’s just a handful of people globally that have it. We did partner in Austin with NORD, which is the National Organization of Rare Diseases. It was interesting when we had test screenings for the movie, we had a lot of people say one of their favorite things about the movie is that we turned a disability into a superpower, but we also want to be respectful of those that actually might suffer from CIBA [Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with Anhidrosis] and trying to harness both things.
And I remember that acronym from the from the movie. What’s it like being a producer of the number one movie in the nation?
It’s very exciting. We’ve all known that 2,000 theaters have closed since COVID. And the prospect of getting a movie out there in a real way theatrically is only getting harder. But it was truly a ‘pinch me’ moment being there at the New Canaan theater last week—a theater that I so loved going to growing up and having a theatrical movie, one that we believed was really worked and we had been in the L.A. premiere earlier that week, but it was really special to be back in New Canaan and sharing it with the world. I wouldn’t say it’s a classic family movie, as you saw. But it’s something that my 15-year-old son and a couple of his friends, and my 12-year-old—I know it’s R rated, don’t judge me—had seen the movie previously and they were there in the theater that night and they’re all like, ‘That was a work of art.’ And also my 83-year-old mother was there and I had been saying, ‘I don’t know if this is going to be the movie for you.’ And she was like, ‘I love that movie. That’s one of my favorite movies now.’ And I think it’s because it has that heart, it does actually—even though it is a visceral and gory at times action film, I think because it has that heart, it actually captures a bigger audience than than your classic action fare.
Luke Parker Bowles (L) with Joby Harold and Tory Tunnell of Safehouse Pictures, during a Q&A following a screening of “Novocaine” at The Playhouse on March 14, 2025.
I loved it. I’m not gonna spoil anything for our readers, but I did enjoy that part of the movie, the sort of love story, I loved the ending, that was super cute. So you’re from this area. How long have you been a resident of the town?
We moved here in 2021 and Joby, my husband and producing partner, he had actually asked my stepdad for My hand in marriage at Gates in the year 2000. And we had always gone to the fireworks celebration—I think before it became limited to town residents—in our 20s. And we felt, when we were thinking about moving back, we have three boys and we really felt like New Canaan is such a Rockwellian town. What a dream place to bring up kids. And living in L.A. was feeling a bit—we love our life in LA, but it felt like just such a perfect move for our family and because of COVID, it’s a Zoom world now. We always felt like, ‘Hey, we’ll move back if we feel like that changes.’ But it hasn’t changed.
So you’re enjoying the town.
I’m not enjoying the January and February and the first half of March. It’s a little cold for me, but I’m starting to get used to it.
How would you describe the theatrical experience of watching “Novocaine”?
I really do believe in theatrical, and with a movie like “Novocaine,” as you saw, it’s such a fun movie, but it’s even more fun when you’re in a theater hearing strangers screaming and laughing and covering their faces.
What would you tell someone your fellow New Canaan residents who have access to The Playhouse and are maybe on the fence about going?
I would say that it’s a surprisingly winning and funny action film. The outrageous bits are things you can cover your eyes with, but it is something that does truly embrace a much wider audience than just a a one-quadrant action film—because of that comedy, because of that romance. And because of the concept. I think that once you start watching the movie, you’re in on the joke with the movie, and that’s a really fun place to be. But I think it’s a much more inclusive movie than a “John Wick.” And I think that, gore aside, it has a big heart and it’s so much fun.
[“Novocaine” is showing at 3:30 and 8 p.m. Wednesday at The Playhouse. More showtimes here.]