Director Clement Virgo adapts true story of slavery into futuristic fairy tale in ‘Steal Away’

TORONTO – When Clement Virgo read a book about an enslaved teenager who fled to Canada, he was captivated by the story, but after helming the harrowing CBC miniseries “The Book of Negroes,” the Toronto director was hesitant to take on another historical adaptation.

“I didn’t want to make another costume drama about the effects of bondage or slavery,” Virgo said ahead of the release of his latest project, “Steal Away.”

The genre-bending film is inspired by Canadian author Karolyn Smardz Frost’s book “Steal Away Home,” which tells the true story of Cecelia Reynolds, a 15-year-old freedom seeker who started a new life in Toronto but maintained a correspondence with her former owner in Louisville, Ky., who was around the same age.

Instead of being set in the 1850s, Virgo’s adaptation takes place in an unspecified dystopian time period that features futuristic, Southern-inspired fashion and vintage cars. Police officers patrol the streets, arresting refugees who enter the state without proper immigration documents, reflecting contemporary migration crises.

Virgo said he and his partner and the film’s co-writer, Tamara Faith Berger, decided they wanted to put the story inside a dark fairy-tale world, creating their own genre.

“What if we kind of … try to take the basic story, locate it in a dark fantasy genre, a dark fairy tale genre, and have it speak about the past, but also have it have resonance about the contemporary world?” Virgo said.

“How do you connect… the transatlantic slave trade with the kind of migration of people across borders, or colonialism, or what’s happened during the Second World War — or any number of conflict or strife around the world — that sort of speaks to that and not have it be specifically about a time and a place, but about a kind of collective history, you know?”

The Canadian-Belgian co-production is the Toronto filmmaker’s followup to his 2022 film, “Brother,” which won the Canadian Screen Award for best picture.

Virgo said “Brother,” a coming-of-age tale that follows two Jamaican-Canadian siblings as they navigate complexities of growing up in Toronto’s Scarborough suburb in the 1990s, came naturally to him, so for “Steal Away” he wanted a new challenge.

“I wanted to experiment a little bit and kind of push those boundaries and just to kind of stretch myself.”

The film opens with “Once upon a time” written on the screen, a decision the filmmaker said would let the audience know “you won’t be seeing any cellphones” during this story.

“It’s a way to say to the audience that this film takes place out of contemporary time,” he said. “This film is metaphor, an allegory. You won’t see anyone tweeting in this movie, you won’t see someone scrolling on social media,” he said with a smile.

Virgo described the movie, which he filmed in Belgium, as “a tale of two princesses.”

Australian actress Angourie Rice plays a privileged teenager isolated from the outside world by her mother, who keeps her sheltered in an opulent mansion; San Diego-born Mallori Johnson plays a refugee modelled after Cecelia Reynolds.

The two young women become entwined in a complex relationship tinged by the wealthy one’s jealousy and infatuation.

Their characters play off an almost forced friendship, competing for the attention of the men in the household.

“Angourie and Mallori met for the first time in Belgium and I just loved their chemistry. And I just wanted to stay out of their way, and let them do their thing.”

Virgo and Berger previously worked together on “Lie with Me,” an erotic thrilled released in 2005 that was based on Berger’s debut novel. The story follows a young woman, played by Lauren Lee Smith, in the throes of a sexually charged affair.

Smith reunites with the duo in “Steal Away,” in which she plays the wealthy mother of Rice’s character.

“She has a great spirit, you know — fearless in terms of her approach to her work,” Virgo said about Smith.

It’s been over 30 years since Virgo premiered “Rude,” his feature film debut, at the Cannes Film Festival. The auteur director has won six Canadian Screen Awards since then, including best drama program and best director for 2015’s “The Book of Negroes.”

Virgo took charge in every aspect of “Steal Away” as director, producer and writer, noting the drive and ambition it takes to create a movie and get it into theatres.

“As a filmmaker, every single film, you have to will into existence through a combination of perseverance and resilience … you have to be an egocentric,” he said.

“And you also have to be kind of tender and vulnerable and have a lot of humility.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 16, 2026.