Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series, which highlights the year’s most talked about screenplays, continues blackberryA biopic of sorts documenting the rise and fall of the OG smartphone.
Tonight’s Gotham Award nominees Glenn Howerton and Jay Baruchel star in the photo by Matt Johnson and Matthew Miller from the book by Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff The signal is lost.
Johnson directed blackberry, which received rave reviews after its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival last winter. IFC Films released the film in theaters in May.
The script focuses on Mike Lazaridis (Baruchel) and Jim Balsillie (Howerton), who founded the Canadian company Research in Motion to develop and market the phone, one of the first with a keyboard and Internet access. It became a symbol of power in the hands of creators from Wall Street to Hollywood—until it wasn’t.
Johnson told Deadline at SXSW that the key to the script was finding a way to inject humor into the drama.
“What Glenn and Jay do in the movie is so unique and I don’t want to say it’s bizarre, but it’s not the kind of movie you’d expect from a stupid, dead cell phone,” he said. “…Real movies are always funny because the people are funny. I’ve never been in a situation in my life that wasn’t somehow funny, even in the most tense moments, and I think most movies are dead and cold if they don’t acknowledge that.”
The cast includes Cary Elwes, Saul Rubinek, Rich Sommer, Martin Donovan, Michael Ironside and Johnson.
Click below to read the script.
Source: Deadline
Bernice Bonaparte is an author and entertainment journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a passion for pop culture and a talent for staying up-to-date on the latest entertainment news, Bernice has become a trusted source for information on the entertainment industry.
