The Best Picture Oscar for “CODA” was historic for many reasons – including the fact that it honored a film with an authentic cast of deaf people, after people with disabilities had historically been ignored or misrepresented in Hollywood.
So can we expect a flood of films about the disabled? Maybe. The 2022 Oscar contenders show that so far it’s a trickle, not a flood. “Causeway,” “Cha Cha Real Smooth,” “The Greatest Beer Run Ever” and “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” all feature an authentic cast, with disabled characters played by disabled actors. (What a concept!)
Beer Run director and co-writer Peter Farrelly and his brother Bobby have always cast actors with disabilities.
“Twenty percent of the world’s population is disabled,” he says. The variety. “In making movies or TV shows, it’s not the real world if there aren’t people with disabilities.”
‘Cha Cha’ writer-director-star Cooper Raiff says it never occurred to him to audition non-autistic actors for the central role of Lola, who is on the autism spectrum , as does the actress who plays her, Vanessa Burghardt.
Raiff tells The variety“In a film, I always try to make a scene more real and authentic. And the first step is to choose someone who will play the role the best. So casting a neurotypical actor would be a waste of time. They would do research but would not have the heart.
“Lady Chatterley’s Lover” is the second feature film by director Laure de Clermont-Tonnere. Her 2013 short, “Atlantic Avenue,” featured Leopoldine Huyghues-Despointes, an actress in a wheelchair. So when it came to the role of wheelchair user Lord Clifford Chatterley, “we obviously wanted to open up the casting to people with disabilities,” she says. “It’s important to be authentic and also to give a chance” to actors with disabilities.
The role is played by Matthew Duckett, a stage actor with cerebral palsy who is making his film debut.
Deaf actor Russell Harvard has a scene in “Causeway,” as Jennifer Lawrence’s brother, and it’s memorable.
Four award-winning films with characters with disabilities isn’t enough to accurately represent the world, but it’s a leap from most years at the Oscars. These films help put to rest the question of whether actors with disabilities can successfully work in Hollywood: they already are.
After the #OscarsSoWhite movement in 2015, policy makers worked to make the industry, including the Oscars, more inclusive.
This year’s contestants show the growth of racial/ethnic and gender diversity since 2015, including “Bardo”, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”, “Emancipation”, “The Inspection”, “Till”, “The woman king” and “Women who speak”. But so far, people with disabilities are not always part of the inclusion movement.
Burghardt says that before “Cha Cha,” his agents usually wouldn’t disclose his autism: “There’s a bias and I wouldn’t have had those auditions in the first place.”
Farrelly points out that for years a script would have had to specify that a character was non-white for employers to consider. “People have finally opened their minds and now racial diversity doesn’t need to be declared. This is what I hope will happen to people with disabilities; give them an audition and you might be shocked at how many good actors don’t stand a chance.
Farrelly’s fact-based “Beer Run” centers on Chickie (Zac Efron) and her friends, including Brandon (MacGregor Arney), whose cerebral palsy and crutch are never commented on; they are just part of everyday life.
Jenni Gold directed the documentary “CinemAbility: The Art of Inclusion”, which focuses on this subject.
She says The variety“It’s important for employers to understand that people with disabilities are fully capable of doing their job. »
She is part of a group working to form a committee at the Directors Guild on hiring people with disabilities.
“There are so many programs dealing with diversity, but they rarely mention disability. Now things are opening up, even in corporate America, and that’s a good thing.
It feels like hiring someone with a disability will increase the complications and budget of a project.
Farrelly exclaims, “It’s a myth! I hear that all the time. I’ve worked with literally hundreds of actors with disabilities, and they’ve never held us back. They are the most prepared actors I have ever worked with. It’s 2022. We can make it work.
As for jobs behind the camera, some people currently work there, but keeping their disabilities a secret. Director Gold knows that some entry-level jobs are difficult for people with disabilities. Farrelly says there are “so many opportunities” for artists with disabilities in post-production.
The French-born director from Clermont-Tonnere seems genuinely surprised that a disabled worker – behind or in front of the camera – could make production more difficult.
“I’ve never heard of that. It does not mean anything. Why? This should never be a problem.
Burghardt summarizes with a sigh: “Every conversation I have is about my condition. Having a disability shouldn’t be such a big deal.