{"id":77782,"date":"2023-05-31T00:17:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-31T00:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/?post_type=articles&p=77782"},"modified":"2023-05-31T00:17:00","modified_gmt":"2023-05-31T00:17:00","slug":"sydney-sweeney-portrays-real-life-whistleblower-in-reality","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/sydney-sweeney-portrays-real-life-whistleblower-in-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"Sydney Sweeney Portrays Real-Life Whistleblower in \u2018Reality\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sydney Sweeney in Reality<\/em>, 2023 (Photograph by Courtesy of HBO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We know and love Sydney Sweeney<\/a> as the troubled high schooler Cassie in\u00a0Euphoria<\/em><\/a>, the terrifying and whip-smart daughter Olivia in\u00a0The White Lotus<\/em>, the curious Pippa in\u00a0The Voyeurs<\/em>, the tortured Alice in\u00a0Sharp Objects<\/em>, and the lost Eden in\u00a0The Handmaid\u2019s Tale<\/em><\/a>. Now, the Emmy-nominated actress<\/a> has stepped into the shoes of NSA whistleblower and ex-intelligence specialist Reality Winner.<\/p>\n

Sweeney\u2019s new film Reality<\/em> landed on HBO on Monday. Based on a true story, Tina Satter\u2019s directorial debut follows the FBI\u2019s interrogation of Winner, the then-25-year-old employee for a National Security Agency (NSA) contractor who was suspected of having mishandled classified information. A PSA is typed across the screen in the beginning of the film: \u201cThe FBI documented the following events with an audio recorder. The dialogue in this movie is taken entirely from the transcript of that recording.\u201d The events first inspired Satter\u2019s 2019 play\u00a0Is This a Room\u00a0<\/em>that premiered both off and on Broadway.<\/p>\n

On June 3, 2017, Winner was arrested in Augusta, Georgia for leaking classified documents to the media, detailing Russia\u2019s interference in the 2016 United States presidential election in a stealth email operation. Winner pleaded guilty in 2018 and was given the longest prison sentence ever imposed for the unauthorized release of government information \u2013 just over five years for violating the Espionage Act.<\/p>\n

Winner was released from prison in June 2021 for good behavior. She is concluding her sentence in home confinement and will remain under supervised release until 2024.<\/p>\n

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Sydney Sweeney in Reality<\/em>, 2023 (Photograph by Courtesy of HBO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a sea of high tensions, awkward interactions and hesitant admissions, Sweeney and her co-stars Josh Hamilton and March\u00e1nt Davis give scintillating performances that captivate the audience.<\/p>\n

Sweeney<\/a>\u00a0told\u00a0Entertainment Weekly<\/em><\/a>, \u201cThere were multiple layers to it that I was fascinated and drawn in by.\u201d She said her character \u201cembodies all of these different contradictions that defy what it means to be a woman, a veteran a millennial.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sweeney got in touch with her character when Satter introduced the Euphoria actress to her real-life counterpart. \u201cOnce I met with Reality and I got to know her, she really truly speaks her mind,\u201d Sweeney told Variety<\/em><\/a>. \u201cEverything she was saying in the transcript, she was feeling and thinking. I was able to just find all the different layers underneath it. I truly enjoyed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Sydney Sweeney in Reality<\/em>, 2023 (Photograph by Courtesy of HBO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Earlier this month, the film premiered at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City<\/a>. During the event, Sweeney defended Winner, telling Variety,<\/em><\/a> \u201cI hope that people see\u00a0Reality\u00a0as a human being and that they stop letting articles and tabloids label people and put thoughts into their minds. Hopefully they see this humanized experience and get to come up with their own opinions.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an exciting new experience for myself,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re really just showing a moment in a woman\u2019s life. It\u2019s truly just what happens, verbatim.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since achieving stardom as a Euphoria<\/em> breakout, Sweeney has been calculated in choosing a wide array of characters to play. She told the publication<\/a>, \u201cThere\u2019s always people who see me as Cassie or see me as Olivia. They send me scripts that are just like that. It\u2019s the ones I have to fight for that usually are the ones that I want that are different, like Reality<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

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Photograph by Courtesy of HBO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sweeney said, “I had to audition for it. I had to put myself on tape and send in my audition just like everybody else. It was the same for White Lotus.<\/em> They didn\u2019t think that I was right for White Lotus<\/em> because I did Euphoria<\/em><\/a>. So I put myself on tape, I auditioned for White Lotus<\/em> just like everybody else and had a call back like everybody else.”<\/p>\n

Making sure she isn’t type-casted, Sweeney said, “I could get offered roles that are similar to the ones that I\u2019ve played, but the ones that are different, the ones that surprise people that I do, are the ones that I usually have to fight for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foraying into the romantic-comedy genre<\/a> for the first time in Anyone But You<\/em><\/a> with Glen Powell<\/a>, Sweeney will also star in Echo Valley<\/em> alongside Julianne Moore<\/a>, Immaculate<\/em> with fellow White Lotus<\/em> alum Simona Tabasco<\/a>, Madame Web<\/em><\/a> with Dakota Johnson<\/a> and will reprise her role as Cassie Howard<\/a> in the third season in Euphoria<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31863,"featured_media":77785,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[23,38,3324,16],"yoast_head":"\nSydney Sweeney Portrays Real-Life Whistleblower in \u2018Reality\u2019<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Actress Sydney Sweeney has stepped into the shoes of NSA whistleblower and ex-intelligence specialist Reality Winner for her latest project\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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