Misny Movie on Hold While New Production Team Pivots to 'Pure Documentary'

When Tim Misny sat down with two filmmakers from Braindagger Films, Moe Taylor and Matthew Klesel, in 2023, the three agreed that a mockumentary was the right format for a Misny Movie.

The ideas ran rampant: Young Misny (with hair) going to trial in the 1980s. The first “I’ll Make Them Pay” TV spots. Misny’s first billboard. Misny falling in love.

“Our vision is somewhat like ‘Millennial meme culture meets 60 Minutes meets ‘Billy On The Street’,” Klesel, 35, told Scene in December. “And we’re gonna kind of weave it into a Documentary Now type of vibe.”

After a summer of hype, including a Misny song competition and rock-off in Lakewood, the megalawyer himself has decided the movie capturing 70 years of his life will not involve actors, recreations, flashbacks or Cleveland-centric camp. Nor will it be produced by Klesel and Taylor.

The Misny Movie, he told Scene, is lined up to be a “pure documentary” more laid-bare in tone.

“I came to the realization: I don’t need script writers, I don’t need Hollywood writers to tell the story,” Misny said in a phone call.

“No recreations, or some animations, no,” he added. “It has to be the genuineness that has worked for me over the last 44 years and continues to work on a daily basis.”

As of December, Misny had planned to script and produce a short film capturing his life, and—eventually—show that film at film festivals and on streaming services.

But those plans were curtailed this summer. After multiple meetings with Taylor, Misny decided that comedy wasn’t the fitting avenue for the legacy, and lessons, he wanted to share with Clevelanders.

In an email, Taylor told Scene that he’s still involved in ideas for the Misny Movie despite two “individual visions for the film” that led to Misny choosing to grab the creative reins.

“Our goal remains the same: to create something that we can both be proud of, and more importantly, something that makes Cleveland proud,” Taylor said. “The journey has taken longer than expected, but we’re committed to getting it right.”

Over the next half year, a timeline for a full-length documentary will be fine-tuned by Misny and his “dream team”: best friend, David Kaman; Amy Kuhn, director of operations for his law firm; Jeff Forsberg, Jr., the property manager of Misnyland, his 80-acre estate in Waite Hill; and Justin Seliskar, his director of promotional events.

Separate from a documentary exploring his life—from his brief stint as a reporter for the Sun News to becoming Cleveland’s most recognizable wrongful injury attorney—will be a sequel, Misny said, connecting his life with his grandfather Joseph Vulich’s upbringing in Croatia.

And for that as well, Misny said he wants the final creative say. Just as he does with his finger-pointing commercials, or his People’s Eyebrow billboards across the state.

“I can’t rely on anyone to tell the story for me because then it wouldn’t be genuine,” he said. “And as I have said repeatedly, I want this to be completely pure, completely honest, and in my voice.”