Locally shot film focuses on whistleblower’s origin story

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This article was published 25/10/2022 (1442 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When it comes to picking a first project to executive produce, local filmmaker Myron John Tataryn literally picked a Winner.

Winner is a biopic about Reality Winner, the whistleblower who exposed Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The film, already in production, stars Emilia Jones in the title role, with Connie Britton and Zach Galifianakis as her parents. Directed by Susanna Fogel, it will continue shooting throughout Manitoba until mid-November.

Tataryn, who graduated from the University of Winnipeg with a major in film studies in 2018, is taking the role of executive producer under the shingle of the company Thundersnow Pictures, which he formed with producer partner Terry Dougas.

It’s a very exciting project to be a part of,” he says in a phone interview. “I got incredibly lucky with this.”

The cast is especially exciting, he says, taking on the task of showing how Reality Winner — a former member of the U.S. air force and NSA contractor who was sentenced to more than five years in prison for violating the Espionage Act of 1917 — came to risk everything to expose Russian meddling in American democracy.

“It pretty much starts from around the time when she was young, with her learning about 9/11 and seeing that on TV.”

Winner was influenced by her father to do the right thing, Tataryn explains.

“(It shows) how his teachings and her upbringing changed who she is. It’s less about the leaking of the documents itself and more about her life.

“It’s kind of in the style of The Big Short,” Tataryn says, referring to Adam McKay’s 2015 satiric dissection of the economic collapse of 2008. “It’s definitely got that vibe to it.”

The 20-year-old British actress Jones, also known for the Netflix series Locke & Keye, is coming off the success of the 2021 Oscar winner for best picture, CODA, in which she played the daughter of deaf parents. She has also had previous experience working in Winnipeg on the 2018 horror film Incident in a Ghostland.

“She told us she really loved Winnipeg,” Tataryn says. “Winnipeg is one of her favourite places with one of the most pleasant crews that she’s ever had to work with.”

The film boasts a couple of significant up-and-comers in the cast, including Kathryn Newton, who plays Paul Rudd’s daughter in the upcoming Marvel movie Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and Danny Ramirez, who played one of the young hotshot pilots under the command of Tom Cruise in the summer hit Top Gun: Maverick.

Behind the camera is cinematographer Steve Yedlin, the DP of choice for director Rian Johnson (Looper, The Last Jedi, Knives Out). Director Susanna Fogel (The Spy Who Dumped Me) is “insanely humble and a wonderful human being,” Tataryn says. “She’s such a kind soul. She’s so passionate about this story and this project.”

Much of the filming is expected to take place on Tataryn’s home turf.

“I’m incredibly grateful to be able to bring my first movie as a EP to my second hometown of Selkirk, shooting in and around the area where I grew up and went to high school,” he says.

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Also wrapping its shoot in November is the original CTV series The Spencer Sisters, starring Lea Thompson and Stacy Farber. In the 10-episode series created by Alan McCullough (Rookie Blue), Thompson (Back to the Future) plays a famed mystery novelist who goes into the private eye business with her hot-headed ex-cop daughter (Farber).

Produced by eOne and Buffalo Gal Pictures, the series is set to be broadcast in 2023. Thompson, in the meantime, will interact with fans at this weekend’s Comiccon on Saturday at the Winnipeg Convention Centre along with cult luminaries including Bruce Campbell, Matthew Lewis (Harry Potter) and Kevin McDonald (Kids in the Hall). The convention runs from Friday to Sunday.

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