Anticipation high in Waterloo, Ont. ahead of 'BlackBerry' movie release

“BlackBerry,” a movie about the rise and fall of the world’s first smartphone, hits Canadian theatres May 12 and likely nowhere is anticipation higher than in the titular technology’s hometown.

“I’ve never had an event sell out so fast,” says John Tutt, owner of Waterloo, Ont.’s Princess Cinemas, which is hosting a special community screening of “BlackBerry” on May 25.

Tutt says former employees of Research In Motion (RIM), the company that created the revolutionary phone, contacted him with the idea for the event. All of the nearly 500 tickets sold out within a week.

The evening will feature guest speakers including the film’s director Matt Johnson and even a specially brewed “BLACKBERRY” beer created by Stockyards Brewing in Kitchener.

The movie stars Jay Baruchel as RIM’s co-founder Mike Lazaridis and Glenn Howerton as the company’s co-CEO, Jim Balsillie.

Adapted from the non-fiction book “Losing the Signal: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of BlackBerry,” the film infuses humour and “takes certain liberties and deviates from the facts on occasion,” says Matthew Miller, who co-wrote the screenplay with Johnson and is one of the movie’s producers.

“I'm sure that the people who were there at the time will have thoughts and opinions about some of the liberties that we took. And we look forward to hearing what they think,” Miller says.

Matthew Miller, co-writer and producer of "Blackberry" spoke with CTV Kitchener ahead of the film's theatrical release in Canada. (Submitted/Elevation Pictures)

A CANADIAN SUCCESS STORY

Miller says he was attracted to the project partly because it’s a Canadian success story.

“It’s a story about Canadians really pushing the envelope in their field and creating one of the most successful companies in the history of our country, and certainly one of the most successful products to ever come out of the country. And I think as Canadians, we don’t always do the best job of celebrating ourselves or marketing ourselves to the rest of the world.”

Miller says he and Johnson spent time in Waterloo doing research in the years leading up to production of the film and were impressed by the huge impact RIM had on the community.

“Everyone we spoke to, they either had an uncle, a cousin, a friend – somebody who worked at RIM. I think that’s pretty rare where you go to a place and a private company – not a government organization or anything – everybody in town is kind of connected to that.”

Ottawa-born Jay Baruchel portrays RIM co-founder Mike Lazaridis in "BlackBerry." (Submitted/Elevation Pictures.)

'LIKE A HIGH SCHOOL REUNION'

Miller hopes watching the movie will be a source of pride for former employees and ultimately have the feeling of “being at a high school reunion, maybe with a little less pain.”

“That feeling of seeing old familiar faces, and you know, reviving the pride that you once had in this product, in this place, and the work that you did there.”

“Because there's a lot of really intelligent people all over the world, who we've met, who say, ‘Oh, I used to work at RIM.’ They've all gone on to do other great things elsewhere. And it's time to sort of look back and remember the great work that they [did] together while at RIM.”

Miller also hopes watching the movie is entertaining – whether former employees are noting the things filmmakers got wrong or recognizing aspects they got right.

“I hope some people would watch it and [think]… ‘Oh, it was like that’ or ‘oh yeah, Mike really did used to behave that way’ or ‘that is the song Jim used to listen to all the time.’”

As for people portrayed in the film, Miller says only Balsillie has accepted filmmakers’ invitation to see it.

“He appreciates sort of the satire of it,” Miller says, adding Balsillie’s support means a lot to them.

Actor Glenn Howerton and former CEO of BlackBerry, Jim Balsillie attend the "BlackBerry" Canadian Premiere held at TIFF Bell Light Box in Toronto on April 21, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO - George Pimentel

THREE-PART SERIES COMING TO TV

Following the release of the film, a three-part TV series will air on CBC later this year or early in 2024, Miller says.

A bit like an extended edition of the film, each episode will be one hour long.

“It’s the same cast, the same story, just structured a little differently,” Miller says.