‘It’s innately ridiculous’: New documentary recalls story of former CTV broadcaster turned bank robber

WATCH: An Amazon Prime video documentary is diving into a strange slice of Saskatchewan’s history, following the story of a CTV broadcaster turned bank robber.

In 2017, a very odd string of bank robberies swept through the prairies.

“It’s comedic, whether you’re laughing with Steve or I think a fair amount of the time, we’re actually laughing at Steve. What’s going on here is funny,” Charlie Siskel, co-director of ‘The Sexiest Man in Winnipeg,’ said.

The crimes were odd for a number of reasons, but most notably because the perpetrator was Steve Vogelsang, a well-known CTV sports broadcaster who at one time was named ‘the Sexiest Man in Winnipeg.’

“The more that we looked into it, the more intrigued we were because we couldn’t quite figure him out....So that was sort of our challenge is like how to make a why-done-it, you know, instead of a whodunit,” Ben Daughtrey, the other half of the film’s directing team, said.

The Saskatoon-born reporter attempted to rob six banks, including branches in Regina, Saskatoon, and Medicine Hat, where he was quickly apprehended due to the poorly executed nature of his crimes.

“We were fascinated by the story, reading it and then looking at the footage, seeing the guy who Steve presents himself as and sort of looking for clues about who he might really be. Underneath the facade of a guy who had a taste of fame, lost it, and went to what seemed like really extreme lengths to get it back. Robbing a bunch of banks is a really questionable way to get famous again,” Siskel said.

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This twist on true crime features the real Steve Vogelsang, returning to the scenes of his crimes and sharing his experiences. He goes into detail about his personal struggles, which he claimed to be the driving factors behind the crimes.

“It’s innately ridiculous. I mean, one of the things that didn’t even strike Charlie and I until about a quarter of the way through cutting it, was that he was reenacting his own crimes. And I was like, who does that?” Daughtrey said.

Vogelsang’s participation proved to be both an asset and a challenge for the directors. The eccentric ex-broadcaster recalls his version of events, which are often criticized by the other interview subjects in the film who don’t buy all of Vogelsang’s story.

“That was a huge challenge for us was, we have to take the reins from Steve a bit....how do we insert our voice into this in a way that allows us to be almost like, Steve’s Jiminy Cricket, his conscience,” Daughtrey said.

“Steve is a natural storyteller. He made his living doing this as a journalist, as a person in front of the camera. I think in so many ways, Steve knows exactly what he’s doing and knew exactly what he was doing, not only as a medium for criminal, but as an all too willing, documentary subject,” Siskel said.

Given all of the time spent creating the film with Vogelsang, the directors certainly came up with their own personal opinions regarding the broadcaster turned criminal’s motivations. Siskel says, this was something that made the editing process challenging at times.

“When you have a subject like Steve who’s trying to assert control, there’s a dance there. And I think you see that in the filmmaking. And we were interested in exposing that and exploring that and asking the audience, what do you make of this story? What do you make of the motivations of the filmmakers? What do you make of your own motivations? And then ultimately, what do you think of Steve?” Siskel said.

While the film tells a ridiculous story in its intended nature, the directors said there was real harm caused by Vogelsang’s actions, which they wanted to showcase.

“These were not victimless crimes, as we point out in the film and try to take stock of the fact that there were people who are traumatized by these crimes. The tellers in the banks, they didn’t know that Steve wasn’t carrying a real gun,” Siskel said.

The documentary itself eventually breaks the fourth wall, highlighting the fact that many people believe Vogelsang carried out his crimes with the intention of gaining attention like documentaries and news articles.

The directors said this was something they tried to keep in mind throughout the filmmaking process.

“Steve likes attention. He likes to be on camera. He likes to be the guy in front of the camera, the star. He’s not interested in cleaning up his messes. And he made a lot of messes,” Siskel said.

“Steve’s story that he’s created not only in his mind, but self-actualized and created and had the guts to go out and rob banks in this ridiculous way. So in a way, ironically, we’re honouring Steve’s narrative while simultaneously deconstructing it,” Daughtrey said.

It was also noted by the filmmakers, that the story is a complex one. It is a character study about a man’s rise and fall from grace, and the emotions that accompany that.

“It’s easy for us to throw him under the bus. We could’ve easily just shown the worst side of Steve. And I think it was really important for us to show him in every dimension that we could that was recorded, and Steve didn’t hold back in any way. So I felt like we were as fair to him as we could be,” Daughtrey said.

The directors both shared hope that the film will spark conversation about complex human nature. Regardless of Vogelsang’s intent, the story is undeniably an entertaining one.

“To say that he has his flaws is like the understatement of the century. But he also is just sort of an all too human character. He’s not a monster with bodies buried in his backyard. He’s not that kind of true crime subject. He’s a guy who committed these bank robberies in a sort of comically ridiculous fashion,” Siskel said.

“We hope that the audience will go on the same journey we went on, which is to make up your own mind about Steve. We definitely left our perspective in there, but it’s ambiguous. The audience has to see how they feel about Steve and how they feel about the art of documentary in general,” Daughtrey said.