Hulu has ordered a documentary on a catfishing scheme that entrapped fans of a popular Canadian rock duo.
Fanatical: The Catfishing Of Tegan and Sara, directed by true crime specialist Erin Lee Carr, will debut on the streaming platform October 18. The film revolves around Tegan Quin and Sara Quin, gay twin sisters from Calgary, Alberta who formed a rock band that attracted devoted followers, many of them from the LGBTQ+ community. But in 2011, Tegan’s personal computer files were hacked, setting off a calamitous chain of events.
“This is a sprawling yet intimate story of how Tegan’s identity was stolen and weaponized in a complex catfish scheme to ensnare members of this community,” states a release from Hulu, triggering a “severe ripple effect of mistrust, anxiety, and self-doubt.”
The film, from Story Syndicate and Carr Lot Productions, attempts to identify whoever is responsible for concocting the scheme.
“…Tegan enlists documentary filmmaker and investigator Erin Lee Carr (Britney Vs. Spears) to find the person stalking her and terrorizing her fans and community for over fifteen years,” notes a synopsis. “Interwoven with the investigation Tegan’s team originally conducted in 2011 they uncover new victims and potential suspects and reveal sinister and unforeseen twists. Told through Tegan’s own voice, the voices of deceived fans, a trove of visceral communications between fake Tegan and their victims, and the visual history of the band’s behind-the-scenes archive, this documentary feature is a thriller, a caper, a whodunnit, and an intimate personal journey rolled into one. It cuts to the heart of love and betrayal, fame and fandom, desire and delusion in the 21st century.”
Tegan and Sara began writing songs at age 14, and recorded their first album, Under Feet Like Ours, in 1999. They have gone on to make another nine studio albums, earning a Grammy Award nomination for the video album Get Along. At the 2015 Oscars, they performed “Everything Is Awesome” from The Lego Movie. The New York Times describes their sound as shifting “from folky indie rock into synth-driven dance tracks and mainstream pop.” They are also the authors of several books, including the memoir High School, which was adapted into a fictional TV series.
Fanatical: The Catfishing Of Tegan and Sara is directed and produced by Erin Lee Carr and produced by Elyssa Hess and Jenny Eliscu. Executive producers include Tegan Quin and Sara Quin; Dan Cogan, Liz Garbus, Jon Bardin and Kate Barry for Story Syndicate.
In addition to Britney Vs. Spears, Carr’s directing credits include The Ringleader: The Case of the Bling Ring, At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal, Mommy Dead and Dearest, and I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth v. Michelle Carter.
Hulu notes its greenlight for Fanatical: The Catfishing Of Tegan and Sara comes on the heels of Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini, “which bowed in June on the platform and became Hulu’s most watched docuseries after one week of streaming.”
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