CHICAGO – Excelsior! Comic book legend Stan Lee’s famous exclamation puts a fine point on the third and final play of Mark Pracht’s FOUR COLOR TRILOGY, “The House of Ideas,” presented by and staged at City Lit Theater in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood. For tickets/details, click HOUSE OF IDEAS.
Podtalk: Co-Writer/Director/Actor Matt Johnson of ‘BlackBerry’
CHICAGO – As technology goes, it seems so long ago, but at its peak the first multi-use smartphone was nicknamed the “CrackBerry” because of user addiction. The product’s improbable rise and fall is told in the new film “BlackBerry,” co-written/directed and featuring Matt Johnson.
it’s 1996, and Mike Lazaridis (Jay Baruchel) and his business partner and best friend Douglas Fregin (Johnson) are on the edge of creating the world’s first smartphone. Unfortunately for them, they are less business savvy than they are tech, and struggle to keep afloat their Canadian company. Everything changes when cunning business man Jim Balsillie (Glenn Howerton) agrees to fund the concept, bringing with him the money and experience needed to create a prototype of their invention.
Matt Johnson (inset) on Set in ‘BlackBerry’
Photo credit: IFC Films
“BlackBerry” is a Canadian produced film, and Matt Johnson was born in Toronto. After creating the web series “Nirvanna the Band the Show” in 2007 (later turned into a TV series in 2016), he made his directorial debut in 2013 with the feature “The Dirties,” which had a total budget of 55K but won Best Narrative Feature at the Slamdance Festival. After “Operation Avalance” in 2016, “BlackBerry” became his third narrative feature. Matt Johnson appeared at the Chicago Premiere of the film during the Chicago Critics Film Festival, where he sat down for the following interview.
In a Podtalk with Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com, co-writer, director and featured actor Matt Johnson of “BlackBerry” talks about the film’s development, and how he took on a key role …
Trailer for “BlackBerry” …
By PATRICK McDONALD |