Huron County studio makes movie magic for 'BlackBerry' film

The upcoming movie chronicling the meteoric rise and catastrophic fall of Waterloo’s Research in Motion, ‘BlackBerry,’ was made possible by a Goderich, Ont.-based editing studio.

“As scenes were shot, we were doing very quick, rough assembly of the movie, so by the time they were done shooting, it was a 35-day shoot, so on day 37 or 38, we delivered a three hour cut of the movie,” explained Mark Hussey of Goderich’s Faux Pop Media, who was post-production supervisor on the upcoming ‘BlackBerry’ movie.

This is where Curt Lobb took over. The Huron County native, who had worked previously with the producers of ‘BlackBerry,’ spent the better part of the past six months whittling those three hours down to the finished 122 minute product, which hits theatres on May 12.

“It’s really a lot of experimenting, and that’s why when people hear it took half a year to edit a movie, what are you doing all that time, but it’s a ton of just trying thing out, seeing what works, and always trying to make it better,” said Lobb, who recently moved home to Goderich after spending 10 years working in Toronto’s film scene.

Promotional footage from the new 'BlackBerry' movie, opening May 12, 2023. (Source: Elevation Pictures)

Hussey, Lobb, and the rest of Faux Pop Media have made an international name for themselves, with not only their own pop culture film projects, but with their reputation for excellence in film editing, and post-production. ‘BlackBerry’ is becoming the latest feather in their collective cap.

“It proves our model — that we can stay in a small town and still work all around the world,” said Hussey.

‘BlackBerry’ is a true Canadian production. Shot across southwestern Ontario, including some scenes at London, Ont.’s airport, and edited entirely in Goderich.

Because of Faux Pop’s involvement, a special screening of ‘BlackBerry’ featuring Director Matt Johnson will hit screens at Goderich’s Park Theatre on May 15.

Promotional footage from the new 'BlackBerry' movie, opening May 12, 2023. (Source: Elevation Pictures)

“This product that was made in Canada, which attained worldwide success, and then they stayed in Canada, and worked and lived here. That’s kind of the philosophy of the filmmakers who made the movie,” explained Lobb.

He added, “We want to show that we can do it here as well. And Goderich is an even more extreme version of that. We’re not even in the city. No, we’re going to do it in our hometowns, and we can still compete with people worldwide, same way that RIM [Research in Motion] did.”

'BlackBerry' hits theatres May 12, including Goderich’s Park Theatre.

More news on the May 15 special screening, will soon be found on the Movie Links website.