“Well, who’s ready for a scary documentary?” director Erin Lee Carr asks at the Royal Alexandra Theatre on Friday night. Her introduction to the Toronto International Film Festival premiere of “Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan & Sara” is no exaggeration. In fact, “Fanatical” is both a horror and a mystery.
“If there's one lesson to be learned from the film, it's to listen to your gut,” Tegan later says during the Q&A.
The film — which will be released on Hulu in the U.S. and Disney+ in Canada on Oct. 18 — is a grueling investigation into what the Canadian indie rock duo has endured behind the scenes for 16 years and counting. Carr and her team attempt to track down the person who has been posing via email and direct messages as Tegan Quin, also referred to as “Fake Tegan” and “Fegan.”
Tegan and Sarah Quinn, 42-year-old identical Canadian twins known for hits like “Closer” and “Walking with a Ghost,” are usually entertaining storytellers, their conversations between songs filled with jokes and low-key humor, but there’s nothing funny about “Fanatical.” The documentary shows how exhausting, terrifying and violating the ordeal was for the duo, not to mention their families and some uninformed fans (who are interviewed in the film) who were duped into believing they had developed a legitimate friendship with one of their favorite musicians. In one particularly horrific instance, Fegan became flirtatious and sexually charged, then turned abusive.
The “very creepy story,” as Tegan calls it at the beginning of the film, begins in 2008 when a fan, Julie, messages Tegan on her profile page and she responds. The scammer starts sending her song demos and shares private information. Over time, a friendship develops between the two, and in 2011, Vegan shares a link and password to a flash drive containing the sisters’ passport photo pages. “It felt weird,” Julie says in the film, so she messaged Tegan and Sarah’s management at the time. “They have no idea who you are,” the response comes back.
“Then,” said Tegan, “Tegan has a big problem.”
If having their passports, demos, and personal information shared by the impersonator wasn't creepy and disturbing enough, the trolling becomes even more intrusive and daring when Vegan begins to connect with Tegan and Sarah's fans, building close friendships.
Fearing that things would get worse if they went public, Tegan kept the email hacking and phishing operation a secret from the media. But during a Q&A session following the show, she said that after hearing about a seasoned scammer on the “Sweet Bobby” podcast two years ago, “it opened up a lot of memories about fake Tegan that I hadn’t thought about for a long time.”
She began writing her own story, then contacted music journalist Jenny Eliscu (a producer on the project) who introduced her to Carr, who has directed some sensitive or personal subjects, notably 2019's “Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal,” 2021's “Britney v. Spears,” and 2021's “Ringleader: The Case of the Bling Ring.”
“I’m more confident that they have the compassion and the empathy and the knowledge to handle this with care,” Tegan said after the show, “because the most important thing for me and Sarah, always, is to respect our audience. Because I don’t think we’re going to get respect again if we don’t respect you first.”
The sisters formed the indie rock duo in 1995 as teenagers and built a large and loyal fan base, especially within the gay community. They were early adopters of the Internet, connecting with fans via a website and message board, but Sarah “didn't like the Internet” and didn't embrace it the way Tegan did.
Tegan also spoke to fans outside of shows and at merchandise tables. The sisters began to wonder if the scammer was someone they knew. But while “Fegan” was damaging to their sense of security and trust, “Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan & Sara” is also a cautionary tale for fans to be more careful and cautious in the age of DMs and now AI.
“It’s important to me that we don’t feel like we’re criticizing our fans or fans in general,” Tegan said after the show. “I think the vast majority of people on this planet are good and kind, and their curiosity probably lives within a healthy range, but I think every artist peaks, and the peak of our careers happened during this time, and it lit a fire. It made us very nervous about how we communicate online — and distrust.”
While no one was physically harmed in this scam, “Fanatical” shows the ripple effect on fans who were scammed. One said she could no longer listen to their music.
Carr explained in the Q&A that the fans interviewed for the film and who shared their correspondence agreed to do so to help catch the perpetrator. “I was very clear that it was never my intention to embarrass anyone,” Carr said. “This was an incredibly complex and real portrait of a person. So, I said, ‘Here’s where you’re going to prove in your own experience that this was real.’”
“Fake crowns still do that to this day, and we have reason to believe that,” she concluded. “And I said, ‘Our making this film will hopefully stop the bleeding.’”
