Mark Wahlberg’s documentary production house is ringing up “the real BlackBerry story.”
Wahlberg’s Unrealistic Ideas says it is moving ahead with a feature-length documentary centred around the history of the Waterloo, Ont.-based smartphone maker.
The company says the still-untitled BlackBerry doc will tap into interviews with former executives and staff at the company once known as Research In Motion to recount the hand-held device’s rise and subsequent fall in the mobile phone wars.
Last year, BlackBerry was the focus of a satirical comedy from Canadian director Matt Johnson that earned awards and critical praise, but scorn from some in the local tech community who complained it played too loosely with the facts.
Producers of the untitled documentary say their project will be the “definitive look” at BlackBerry, led by filmmaker Eddie Schmidt, a director on the Chelsea Handler series “Chelsea Does” and producer of feature docs This Film is Not Yet Rated and Twist of Faith.
Wahlberg’s company is behind several notable HBO projects, including the docuseries McMillions, about con artists who scammed the McDonald’s Monopoly game, and Movie Pass, Movie Crash, which recalled the origins of the popular cinema membership.
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Jay Baruchel is taking on a more dramatic role in the film Blackberry where he plays company co-founder Mike Lazaridis. Baruchel spoke to CBC’s Eli Glasner about the challenge and what attracted him to the part.
The BlackBerry documentary, which does not have a release date, will be made in co-operation with Canadian technology firm Viral Nation.
The Mississauga, Ont.-based company partnered with the RIM alumni association to develop a historical online archive of BlackBerry’s history and originally shopped around the idea with various documentary makers.