Sydney Sweeney felt the “weight” of playing a whistleblower in new film Reality – but the pressure spurred her on
Sydney Sweeney. Image: HBO
As calls for institutional scrutiny reach deafening levels across the globe, how whistleblowers are punished by the systems they expose is an increasingly pressing issue. At the age of 25, US Air Force member and NSA translator Reality Winner leaked government intel disclosing Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election. For her crime, she received the longest sentence ever imposed for unauthorised release of government information to the media – just over five years in prison.
Winner’s story is the basis for the tense new film Reality, but the film stays clear of tackling Trump’s victory, electoral transparency and voter data harvesting. For Reality’s star Sydney Sweeney, a rising young actor who’s already gained popularity and acclaim for her roles in Euphoria and The White Lotus, it was a much more human concern. “It was me being able to amplify what Reality went through in that moment. All that weight you felt was truly just me living in it.”
Working with writer-director Tina Satter, Sweeney was keen to show that behind the complex and nebulous discussion surrounding what Winner leaked,...
In the wake of Operation Sindoor, India’s cross-border counterstrike following the Pahalgam terror attack, government fact-checking units swung into high alert to highlight and debunk misleading i...