In 1961, social psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted the “obedience experiments” at Yale University. The experiments observed the responses of ordinary people asked to send harmful electrical shocks to a stranger. Despite pleadings from the person they were shocking, 65 percent of subjects obeyed commands from a lab-coated authority figure to deliver potentially fatal currents. With Adolf Eichmann’s trial airing in living rooms across America, Milgram’s Kafkaesque results hit a nerve, and he was accused of being a deceptive, manipulative monster. EXPERIMENTER invites us inside Milgram’s whirring mind, beginning with his obedience research and wending a path to uncover how inner obsessions and the times in which he lived shaped a parade of human behavior inquiries.

The North American deal follows the film’s world premiere at Sundance in January and sets up a theatrical release later this year.

Michael Almereyda directed the story starring Peter Saarsgard as Stanley Milgram, who rocked the world in the 1960s with his infamous Yale study on obedience to authority.

Rounding out the key Experimenter cast are Winona Ryder, Jim Gaffigan, Taryn Manning, Anton Yelchin, Kellan Lutz, John Leguizamo, Anthony Edwards, Josh Hamilton, Lori Singer, Vondie Curtis-Hall and Dennis Haysbert.

Uri Singer, Fabio Golombek, Isen Robbins and Aimee Schoof produced.

Magnolia brokered the deal with Cinetic Media for the film-makers.

Source: Screen International