For Saskatchewan residents of a certain age, the name Percy Schmeiser is a familiar one.

In the late 1990s, the Bruno area farmer took the Monsanto corporation to the supreme court after the company found their genetically modified seeds in his canola crop. Schmeiser, who saved his seeds year after year, insisted that the Monsanto variants had blown off of a neighbour's truck and into his field. But Monsanto insisted that he had infringed their patent, and set off on a court challenge to recoup their perceived losses.

What followed was a particularly divisive moment in Saskatchewan agricultural history, as Schmeiser appealed the case all the way to the supreme court. As some believed he was a thief, others believed he was a David versus a Goliath, painting Monsanto as the bully.

Now, that uniquely Saskatchewan story is getting the Hollywood treatment, in a feature film starring Christopher Walken as the titular farmer. The film heavily leans into the latter option; depicting Schmeiser as the hero; a take that some fear might re-ignite the old fear of GMO crops and of Monsanto in particular.

Clark Johnson directed the film. He sat down with Swift Current Online to talk about his takeaway from the film and what interested him in the story, and the divisiveness of the case both when it occurred, and now.

"What I'm hoping that other people walk out of the theatre with is, aside from the compelling nature of the story. The Schmeisers put a lot on the line to defend their position. You can agree or not agree, but they really passionately defended themselves and championed independent farmers like that."

From a family of activists and aware of the struggle of farmers tangentially through his family's causes, Johnson normally develops his own projects independently, but when he was approached for this film he said that the message of the story grew on him organically.

“The more I learn about what a farmer faces not just in the big picture but every day and seasonally, it became even more compelling. I'm really glad I jumped on this I learned so much.”

The same held true, he said, for the film's star. Getting his start as a special effects technician on The Dead Zone, the 1983 film starring Christopher Walken, Johnson says that engaging the venerated actor for the role of a Saskatchewan farmer was perhaps not an obvious choice, but one that ended up working out well as the 77-year-old actor bought into the part.

“When we started to engage in him playing this guy; I mean whose first choice would be a guy from Queens to play Saskatchewan farmer? But it grew on both of us, and he so connected with the guy and with the idea. He learned how to drive the combine; he laid out tonight perfect swath. He really got it and it ended up being great.”

Beyond the subject matter, the film itself is also the subject of minor controversy, not only for the fears of some that it could reignite the divisiveness surrounding GMO foods, a field that Monsanto, with its Roundup Ready seeds helped to popularize. But also in the fact that a distinctly Saskatchewan film was shot in Manitoba due to the lack of a Saskatchewan film and video tax credit.

While Johnson admits that it was unfortunate that funding kept the film from being made in Saskatchewan, he stresses that a number of the crew were from the province and that unfortunately, it's the reality of the independent film business where the money is tight.

In the end, he doesn't feel that that the potential controversies detract from the message of the film; that of an appreciation for a farmer's struggles and a message to not take food security for granted.

"We city people, we take our food source for granted. Even during the COVID times, you start to hear all the tragic terrible stories about what's happening on farms because of this and in the slaughterhouses, etc. But we tend to take it for granted. You go to the grocery store and you buy your canola oil. You bring home you cook your meal, you don’t even think about it. What I hope people will get from this movie; people like me that go ‘there's Majesty to that. There's alchemy. It's a science but it's also an art.”