Reality Winner has neither the notoriety of Edward Snowden nor that of Chelsea Manning, whistleblowers whose story has been told in film, through documentaries or fiction (Snowden, by Oliver Stone). On June 3, 2017, Reality Winner, 25, was arrested by the FBI for providing The Intercept with NSA (National Security Agency) documents attesting to Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign, favoring the election. of Donald Trump – hackers attacked an American provider of electronic voting software.
The profile of the young woman, the first person convicted under the Espionage Act under the presidency of Trump, is not, however, that of a leftist. He fascinated Tina Satter, a New York theater director. Drawing inspiration from the transcript of the interrogation by two FBI agents, she signed a play, Is This a Room, released on Broadway in 2021, and an exciting first film, theatrically.
LE FIGARO. – The story of Reality Winner is unknown. What led you to make a play and then a film out of it?
Tina Satter. – Unlike whistleblowers Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning, Reality Winner’s story went under the radar. I remember the first time I heard her name on the radio, I thought she was the winner of a reality show. It was only six months after his arrest, in 2017, that I read an article in a magazine about this case and wanted to learn more about his life. And it was while reading the transcript of his interrogation by the FBI at his home, available online, that I thought to myself that there was material for a play, then for a film. Often officers just take notes, but this time they recorded everything. The minutes are in the public domain.
Why did you stay so faithful to the transcript of his interrogation?
It is more than an administrative document. He fascinated me with the strength he exudes. There are no comments to add. The American state is unfolding before our eyes. It also reveals the complex personality of a young woman caught up in an exchange that goes beyond her. The evidence she passed on to The Intercept was not released at that time. She does not suspect that she is implicated. I wanted to restore the reality of the interrogation with maniacal precision. It’s a very stimulating constraint, like when you adapt Shakespeare. I kept the language of the report, the hesitations, the overlaps, the tremors of voice. To play such a score, Sydney Sweeney was brilliant. We shot endless takes to bring out a whole range of emotions. Sydney was able to chat with Reality via FaceTime upstream. She observed his way of speaking, of holding himself. Knowing that Reality is military, athletic, it shows in her posture.
The interrogation seems quite surreal, but FBI agents actually follow a very written procedure…
Yes, the agents are very polite and considerate. Some spectators are surprised that they do not put her under arrest, that they do not read her her rights. The procedure is more subtle. The agents keep telling her that she answers their questions voluntarily. They have a search warrant, but they only use it with his consent, without apparent constraint. She could call a lawyer, she doesn’t. But, under this relaxed and cordial approach, everything is calculated. The agents know exactly how to get her on their land and get her to confess. They are very good actors. They conceal their intentions perfectly.
A young woman being interrogated in her home by older men, you can’t help but see a form of predation…
Yes, this gender dynamic also interested me a lot. The noose is tightening around this 25-year-old young woman. The FBI has few women in its ranks and it is not innocent. Reality, picked up in her denim shorts by these armed men of power, is cornered in an empty room of her house, far from the eyes of the neighbors. Despite the politeness of the officers, she feels psychological and physical pressure.
The troubling aspect of this story is that Reality and its interrogators are on the same side…
Totally, yes. They can speak the same language, even the same military jargon, since she is a veteran of the US Air Force. Reality fascinates me because it is emblematic of the American youth of 2017, with all its contradictions. It is the fruit of post-9/11 America. She owns weapons and practices yoga. Like all millennials, she is lonely but floods social networks with photos. She joined the army and enrolled in college to learn Farsi, Dari and Pashto. She doesn’t see herself as a whistleblower. Stunned by Fox News’ lies, she at one point felt that the American people had a right to know the truth.
Que devient Reality Winner?
She was released from prison in 2021 and remains on probation. She lives in Texas with her stepfather and mother, but she is not allowed to leave the state. Nor to vote. She practices CrossFit and takes care of her horses. She was traumatized by prison. She yearns for a normal life. Seeing the film is still too difficult for her, but she is happy that someone is telling her story.
