This year, the Oscars will feature a best picture contender about a drummer with hearing loss, a nominated documentary exploring a hippie camp for disabled youths, and a nod for the first film ever to star a deafblind actor.
It’s a step forward for disability representation in Hollywood, nominated filmmakers said but one that must be built on to prevent progress slipping away from screens yet again.
Until now, Tinseltown producers “haven’t done a very good job — but they know that, we’re making them aware of that,” said “Sound of Metal” supporting actor nominee Paul Raci, who was raised by deaf parents.
“I’m one of the guys who has got to be in the forefront of not dropping the ball… keeping them aware of all the deaf artists that we have, all the disabled artists, all the genius that’s out there, all the untold stories,” Raci said in an interview.
The wariness is understandable. This is a road Hollywood has attempted to travel down before.
In 1948, Jane Wyman, a hearing actress, won an Oscar for playing a deaf-mute woman in “Johnny Belinda” — a miscasting Raci likens to “nails on a chalkboard.”
Director of the Oscar-nominated short film “Feeling Through”, Doug Roland is able-bodied, but his short film was inspired by a late-night encounter he had with a deafblind man who needed help crossing a New York street.
He cast first-time actor Robert Tarango, the first deafblind person with a leading role in any movie, according to filmmakers. The film is now on an Oscar shortlist of five.
“That conversation has really started to shift in a very significant way to the disability community, and there’s louder voices being heard,” said Roland.
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