Quaid's leading role in Novocaine feels like a natural continuation of these genre-bent everymen. He plays Nathan Caine, a mild-mannered assistant bank manager who has congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis (CIPA), a genetic disorder that impacts his nervous system to the point that he can't feel pain or temperature.

Directors Dan Berk and Robert Olsen tell IndieWire's Filmmaker Toolkit podcast about mixing humor, character, and action to create a genre movie in the tradition they grew up on.