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With the latest iPhone now in people’s hands and Google’s annual Android flagship not far behind, it’s a pertinent time to release a film about the once iconic device that paved the way for both.
BlackBerry hasn’t appeared alongside them on shop shelves for years, and any remaining devices were effectively killed off last January when the company behind them ceased support.
It was an undignified end for a gadget that changed the world, one that became not just ubiquitous with boardrooms and offices (including a certain oval-shaped one), but a true fashion statement.
Thrusting it back into the spotlight in 2023 is director Matt Johnson, who hails not far from BlackBerry’s Ontario HQ.
And yet, against all odds, he says he has no history with the world’s first smartphone whatsoever.
“The timeline of the product was one of the main things I was interested in,” the 37-year-old says.
“A film about the late 90s/early 2000s shift from a more analogue world to a more digital world.
“That’s when I was quite young and a great opportunity to explore that cultural space, all where I grew up.”
‘Hacker-style’ nerds who changed the world
BlackBerry (the film, not the product) picks up in 1996 at tech firm Research In Motion.
At the time, its ragtag crew of engineers are unaware they’re working on perhaps their country’s most famous export since maple syrup.
Mike Lazaridis (Jay Baruchel) and friend Douglas Fregin (Johnson) suspect their “PocketLink” idea for a phone that does email is good, but lack the business sense to turn concept into reality.
BlackBerry’s president Mike Lazaridis and (below) in the film, played by Jay Baruchel
Pic: National Amusements/Piece Of Magic Entertainment
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