BlackBerry director Matt Johnson on Canadian cinema, Canadian excellence and our need for a national voice
In a Q interview, Johnson explains why Canada was on his mind during the making of BlackBerry
When Matt Johnson signed on to direct BlackBerry, he approached the project with Canada on his mind. The Toronto-based Canadian filmmaker (best known for his low-budget indie films The Dirties and Operation Avalanche) understood that most audiences outside of Canada wouldn't know that the story of the world's first smartphone is actually ultra-Canadian.
"Ninety-nine per cent of the international people who talk to me about this film say the same thing: 'I didn't know BlackBerry was Canadian,'" Johnson tells Q's Tom Power in an interview.
"It's almost like this didn't happen on the world stage. Our country doesn't get the credit for the fact that we invented the smartphone."
From Johnson's perspective, there are more than a few areas where Canada's international legacy is lacking, but that's only because he wants to see this country succeed.
"In some ways, people use 'Canadian' as a marker of almost indistinction," he says. "This is sort of an inside joke: if you say something looks 'really Canadian,' it almost seems like an ersatz American, like there's something slightly wrong with it. There's an uncanny valley to it, which is normally what 'Canadian' means when you're referring to cinema."
With BlackBerry (which is now available to stream as a three-part series on CBC Gem), Johnson sought to bring greater recognition to Canada by highlighting Canadian excellence. The film's largely Canadian cast includes several actors who he says people don't typically recognize as being Canadian, such as Michael Ironside and Saul Rubinek.
"I wanted to have … this kind of fractal relationship within the film where you were having the same experience at the actor-level that you were at the product-level — which I know sounds so pretentious," he tells Power.
"I love the concept of people being like, 'Oh my gosh, I remember that product or actor! Oh, and I didn't know that they were Canadian, or it was Canadian.' Right? I wanted that experience to be happening on multiple levels throughout the film, which is why there's so many of these amazing character actors that I wanted to bring out and showcase in the movie."
Nobody outside of Canada cares or knows that we have any kind of cinema of distinction at all — and it's a travesty.- Matt Johnson
When it comes to Canada's national voice, Johnson feels very strongly that there's a huge opportunity for a new generation of filmmakers to redefine English Canadian cinema on an international level.
"Quebec is a different country in terms of its cultural relevance," he says. "English Canadian cinema has zero international identity. And I don't mean 0.1 per cent, I mean zero. Nobody outside of Canada cares or knows that we have any kind of cinema of distinction at all — and it's a travesty.… I think if you were to poll just somebody on the street, even in a major city, I don't think they'd even be able to name a Canadian film."
Now, Johnson says his life's mission is to get young people to believe that they can make interesting movies without leaving the country.
"I think worse than all of the national problems we have — the funding problems, our own insecurity about our identity — worse than all of that is the fact that the major marker of success for any [Canadian] artist, musician, filmmaker or whatever is to leave. So long as that remains the number one goal of every young person who wants to make it, we're never going to be able to cobble together a meaningful creative identity in this country because we're going to lose all of our role models."
WATCH | Matt Johnson's interview with Tom Power:
The full interview with Matt Johnson is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Interview with Matt Johnson produced by Mitch Pollock.
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