Glenn Howerton on playing Jim Balsillie, the bombastic CEO who brought BlackBerry to life
The actor explains why the story of BlackBerry isn't so much about tech as it is about ego
At some point in your life, did you have a BlackBerry or know someone who had a BlackBerry?
The revolutionary mobile phone from the Canadian company BlackBerry Limited (formerly known as Research In Motion, or RIM) was the first all-in-one device that allowed users to make calls, send texts and check email.
Glenn Howerton plays former CEO Jim Balsillie in the new movie BlackBerry, which charts the spectacular rise and catastrophic fall of the world's first smartphone. In an interview with Q's Tom Power, the actor said he "very purposely never got one."
"Everything that everybody loved about the BlackBerry was everything that I did not want, which is to be available at all times for email, basically," said Howerton. "That was like my nightmare."
Though Howerton was resistant to adopting the BlackBerry, he was drawn to the story of the company and the people who founded it, which is why he signed on to the film.
"As much as [the movie] is about the rise and fall of the company BlackBerry, it's really about the characters — it's about the people who built the company," he said. "That's the most interesting thing about it, is the culture that they created, the things that they did together collectively…. I love that the main focus of the film is really on the people and how they built it. And, you know, the chaos of building it. That's what makes the movie work for me."
WATCH | Official trailer for BlackBerry:
In preparation for the role, Howerton said "there wasn't a tremendous amount of material out there in the public view" about Balsillie for him to consume, but the script was well-researched.
"I really just put all my focus on the man that was in the script," he said. "Even down to, like, 'Do you think it's important that I have a Canadian accent of some kind?' You know what I mean? And [director Matt Johnson] said, 'No, please don't.' It was interesting to us to think of Jim … as the kind of person who ... purposely lost his accent."
For Howerton, playing a person who has no regard for consequences and is willing to crush anybody in his path was a particularly enjoyable part of the job.
"Look, it's cathartic," he said. "It's cathartic to, I don't know, just be the bowling ball knocking over all the pins instead of being one of the pins or standing on the sidelines. It's wish fulfillment. It's fun. It is a release to smash a phone."
WATCH | Glenn Howerton on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia:
The full interview with Glenn Howerton is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. He also talks about playing characters who are narcissists, 17 years of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and how his fighter pilot dad inspired his acting career. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Interview with Glenn Howerton produced by Vanessa Nigro.