“CODA” star Emilia Jones will portray whistleblower Reality Winner in “Winner,” a dark-comedy biopic from director Susanna Fogel.
Winner, a former U.S. Air Force member and NSA contractor, served in prison after she leaked an intelligence report about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Her five and a half years behind bars is the longest sentence ever given to someone charged under the Espionage Act for leaking a government document.
Described as a “fresh take on the traditional whistleblower thriller,” the coming-of-age story “Winner” is based on Kerry Howley’s 2017 New York Magazine feature that portrays a brilliant and young misfit from Texas who finds her morals challenged while serving in the U.S. Air Force and working as a NSA contractor.
“As a filmmaker, I strive to tell stories that interrogate the world we live in and the systems that are broken in it. But in a fun way,” said Fogel, whose credits include “Booksmart” and “The Spy Who Dumped Me.” She co-wrote “Winner” with Hawley.
Fogel continued, “Reality Winner is the perfect heroine for a film that meditates on ideas of personal power, morality, and finding your voice. She’s a true individual: she speaks many languages, she loves her guns, she could destroy you on Twitter, and her obsession with Pikachu is unmatched. Clearly, she’s the perfect mouthpiece for a generation of people who are unique and fed up with feeling powerless. And there is no one more perfect to play her than Emilia...
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