Deaf actor Lauren Ridloff will portray Marvel’s first deaf superhero in Chloe Zhao’s “The Eternals,” set for release in November. Zack Gottsagen, an actor with Down syndrome, won acclaim starring in 2019’s “The Peanut Butter Falcon” alongside Shia LaBeouf. There have been advances in recent years. A 2017 study from the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism found that just 2.7% of characters in the 100 highest-earning movies in 2016 were disabled, revealing the huge chasm between the population and what’s on screens. adults - approximately 61 million people - has a disability that impacts major life activities. And I would say that about every role across the board.”Īccording to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 4 U.S. “Troy is incredibly talented and he won this part, but there were other amazing actors that came in and auditioned for that role. I remember people saying, ‘Well, are there deaf actors out there?’ And there are a world of deaf actors out there,” she said. “When we started casting … I think everyone needed to be educated. Heder, who began learning ASL a year before filming, says the industry should shift from its tendency to cast non-disabled actors as characters with disabilities. Although diversity has been a hot topic in recent years, discussions are generally centered only around race and gender. Heder and the actors say they hope “CODA” challenges Hollywood. “We are as varied as people who can hear, and this is one facet of the deaf community.” “For people who have never seen deaf people or have never even seen sign language and they think that the we’re all the same, that we live the same way, that we come from the same mind-set, we are not,” said Matlin. “No offense to the other projects that I’ve been involved in where there were deaf characters in them, (but) I found that since ‘Children of a Lesser God,’ there wasn’t really a profound exploration of characters being deaf, whether they were authentically deaf or the story was about being deaf or love in the deaf and hearing communities,” she said. Matlin, who won the best actress Academy Award in 1987 for “Children of a Lesser God,” says “CODA” is “the full package” in portraying the deaf community on screen. Subtitles are used when family members are communicating with each other, but only Ruby’s translations are heard when they speak with hearing people. They also made adjustments if scenes were not true to deaf culture. “It’s a good experience for the audience to come into deaf culture and get an inside view of what it looks like.”ĭuring filming, two ASL experts reviewed the script, helped Heder interpret the scenes and relay messages to the cast. And when I read it over, that gave me some flashbacks based on my experience in this world,” said Kotsur, recalling first reading the script. “The first thing that came to mind is my daughter, who is a real-life CODA. Ruby and her brother tease and sign profane insults at each other, while their parents’ extremely active sex life plays out in awkward, hysterical situations. The film highlights the humanity of those with disabilities while dispelling myths, showing in one instance how deaf people experience music. “But I love, I love, I love a challenge and I love a film that will educate me and make me grow as a person.” I’ve never had a singing lesson before we started,” she said. “I remember thinking whoever is lucky enough to be able to play Ruby is a very, very, very lucky girl because it’s not very often that you have so many skills that you can learn for a film. The 18-year-old British actor had no formal training in either. Jones wasn’t an obvious choice to play the role of Ruby, which demanded singing and knowledge of American Sign Language. The family is forced to figure out how they’ll survive without her.ĭeaf actors Troy Kotsur, Daniel Durant and Marlee Matlin - the only deaf actor to win an Oscar - play Ruby’s family. The movie follows Ruby, the only hearing person in her New England family, as she contemplates leaving their struggling fishing business - and her role as their interpreter - to pursue her own dreams at the Berklee College of Music. Written and directed by Sian Heder, it was shot in Gloucester, Massachusetts, during the summer of 2019.
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