Before iPhones and Androids took over the world, there was the BlackBerry. Armed with its signature keyboard and internet access, the story of the unprecedented rise and catastrophic fall of the company is chronicled in BlackBerry, which released its official trailer on Wednesday.
Jay Baruchel stars as Mike Lazaridis, the founder of Blackberry. Along with Douglas Fregin, played by director Matt Johnson (Operation Avalanche), the duo is approached by Jim Balsillie (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Glenn Howerton), who would help turn BlackBerry from a fascinating idea to a billion-dollar company. The relationship between Lazaridis and Balsille became rocky toward the end as the company faced competition from Apple and Google.
BlackBerry is billed as an “insane, outrageous, idiotic, genius, ‘true story.'” The ensemble cast features Cary Elwes (Stranger Things) as Carl Yankowski, Saul Rubinek (True Romance) as John Woodman, Michael Ironside (The Dropout) as Charles Purdy, Rich Sommer (Fair Play) as Paul Stannos, SungWon Cho (Birdgirl) as Ritchie Cheung, Michelle Giroux (Delia’s Gone) as Dara Frankel.
BlackBerry is directed by Johnson from a script he co-wrote with Matt Miller (Nirvanna the Band the Show). The film is based on Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff.
The film premiered at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival and was recently screened at South by Southwest. Reviews have been positive, with Deadline calling it a “triumphant and tragic” story that’s “entertaining, even poignant and moving.”
BlackBerry opens in theaters on May 12.
