Sydney Sweeney Talks Berlin Title ‘Reality’ With Director Tina Satter And Teases Her “Unhinged” Upcoming Horror Film ‘Immaculate’
19.02.2023 - 21:11
/ deadline.com
As the 73rd Berlin Film Festival rolls into its first weekend, one of the buzziest titles on the ground is the taut political thriller Reality, starring Euphoria and White Lotus breakout Sydney Sweeney.
The film debuted in the festival’s sidebar Panorama section Saturday evening and has since received widespread acclaim from critics and the wider festival crowd. In Deadline’s review, Damon Wise described the pic as an “astonishingly effective docu-drama hybrid.”
The story follows the real-life U.S. whistleblower Reality Winner, a former intelligence officer who was given the longest prison sentence ever imposed for the unauthorized release of classified material (five years and three months). Winner had passed documents to the media in 2018 about Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections.
Sweeney portrays Winner in the film from director Tina Satter, who adapted the screenplay with James Paul Dallas from her own 2021 Broadway play Is This A Room.
The drama opens on a Saturday afternoon in June 2017 when 25-year-old Winner was confronted at her Georgia home by the FBI. Over a tense 85 minutes, the pic follows the cryptic conversation that took place between Winner and the FBI agents.
Shortly after the film’s debut, Sweeney and Satter spoke to Deadline in Berlin about how they crafted the thriller, the early positive response from audiences, and whether the real Reality Winner has seen the film.
Sweeney also teased her upcoming horror film Immaculate, which Deadline this week revealed also co-stars Simona Tabasco (The White Lotus).
DEADLINE: It’s the morning after the premiere, and you got rave reviews. How does it feel?
TINA SATTER: Pretty damn good! We put a lot of work into this for a long time. And then to