LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Sydney Sweeney, who has garnered a loyal fanbase through her roles like Cassie Howards and Olivia Mossbacher in ‘Euphoria’ and ‘The White Lotus’ respectively, is all set to hit the screens as the infamous NSA whistleblower Reality Winner in the HBO film ‘Reality’. The character, based on a real-life incident, marks a considerable detour in Sweeney’s filmography as she “had a real person to be able to build off of.”
The HBO film ‘Reality’ is based on Tina Satter's 2019 play ‘Is This a Room’, which chronicles the events of June 3, 2017 when Reality Winner was interrogated by the FBI about the classified information leaked to the news agency The Intercept. Sydney Sweeney, who plays the disgraced former Air Force agent, can be seen speaking the exact dialogues from the interrogation transcript.
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Sweeney's homework to embody Reality
Given the gravity and intensity of the role, Sweeney took her traditional approach of journaling points about the character that she would be playing. ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ star told IndieWire, “I was in a memorizing brain boot camp every single night.” She also had multiple Zoom sessions with Winner herself to understand her psyche and add multiple layers to the character. “I Zoomed with her and spent quite a few hours getting to know her. I was able to take that information and that knowledge into the homework that I do to build my characters,” said the ‘Madame Web’ star.
The ‘Everything Sucks’ actress further added that multiple readings of the script also helped her in understanding Winner better. “And then also when I reread the script, I saw so much more of Reality and who she is in it. And it just brought a whole different layer in life to it for me,” the double Emmy nominee shared, adding Winner “would tell” her about “different memories or experiences,” which she would then “expand off.” “I always say they’re my givens from the script — they’re given facts that I then build off of. And instead of just having a script, I had a real person to be able to build off of,” she noted.
‘I wanted to know her as a human’
Sweeney’s inspiration for the character was not to give a vivid picture of what happened but rather to give an insight into Winner’s mind during the interrogation. Reflecting on the primary aim of showcasing Winner's internal turmoil during the tribunal, Sweeney said, “All I wanted going into it as an actor was to focus on her as a human being. Not the headlines surrounding her, not people talking surrounding her. I just wanted to know her as a human and on a human level.” She added, “I loved how raw and real it was.”
Sweeney shared that her goal was to portray a multifaceted character, who is a flesh-and-blood human being with both good and bad features. “I always want people to watch my characters and get to form their own opinions about them instead of me, or circumstance, building that opinion for the audience already. So I try to find as many layers to them as possible just because we all have layers. We all have good and bad and right and wrong choices in us, and good thoughts and bad thoughts and highs and lows,” she said, before adding, “So I want to find all of those complexities that make a human. And especially a woman, we have so many layers to us.”
‘A window into what this woman went through’
Sweeney spoke about the unique concept of the film in another interview with The Hollywood Reporter. She said, “I think that the film has such a unique approach by telling Reality’s story in such an emotional and human way." She added that instead of offering a black-and-white approach, the movie gives a unique humane twist. “I hope that instead of reducing her to just a headline, or interpreting the case through a partisan lens, that this movie can offer a window into what this woman went through on that day, and what she had to endure for her own decisions,” Sweeney remarked.
