WTHR | Director Susanna Fogel previews biopic on whistleblower Reality Winner @WTHR13News | Uploaded 2 days ago | Updated 10 hours ago
Based on a true story, "Winner" follows a girl named Reality Winner (Emilia Jones), who is an Air Force veteran who works for the National Security Agency when she comes across government secrets regarding Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election.
"It's really a coming-of-age story about a regular girl faced with this decision of what's the right thing to do? What's the patriotic thing to do? Is it an individual's responsibility to tell the truth or are they supposed to follow the leader, and what if that leader's corrupt?" said director Susanna Fogel ("The Spy Who Dumped Me," "Booksmart").
Winner was arrested in 2017 when she leaked the intelligence report to a news website.
"I knew her as a headline, a blip, something to scroll past, which is how we consume most of our news now and for the last few years," Fogel said. "Years later, I read this article in the New York magazine that Kerry Howley wrote, who also wrote the script, and that was really a longform, in-depth look at this woman and who she actually was."
The dramedy biopic, also starring Connie Britton and Zach Galifianakis, is now in select theaters and available to buy or rent digitally.
MORE: https://www.wthr.com/article/entertainment/movies/reality-winner-director-interview-susanna-fogel-russian-interference-election-emilia-jones-whistleblower/531-f9ee71d1-dda8-47b1-91bd-7e957a17c45f
Based on a true story, "Winner" follows a girl named Reality Winner (Emilia Jones), who is an Air Force veteran who works for the National Security Agency when she comes across government secrets regarding Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election.
"It's really a coming-of-age story about a regular girl faced with this decision of what's the right thing to do? What's the patriotic thing to do? Is it an individual's responsibility to tell the truth or are they supposed to follow the leader, and what if that leader's corrupt?" said director Susanna Fogel ("The Spy Who Dumped Me," "Booksmart").
Winner was arrested in 2017 when she leaked the intelligence report to a news website.
"I knew her as a headline, a blip, something to scroll past, which is how we consume most of our news now and for the last few years," Fogel said. "Years later, I read this article in the New York magazine that Kerry Howley wrote, who also wrote the script, and that was really a longform, in-depth look at this woman and who she actually was."
The dramedy biopic, also starring Connie Britton and Zach Galifianakis, is now in select theaters and available to buy or rent digitally.
MORE: https://www.wthr.com/article/entertainment/movies/reality-winner-director-interview-susanna-fogel-russian-interference-election-emilia-jones-whistleblower/531-f9ee71d1-dda8-47b1-91bd-7e957a17c45f
