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| TX: 14.11.08 - Special People PRESENTER: PETER WHITE |
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| Downloaded from www.bbc.co.uk/radio4 THE ATTACHED TRANSCRIPT WAS TYPED FROM A RECORDING AND NOT COPIED FROM AN ORIGINAL SCRIPT. BECAUSE OF THE RISK OF MISHEARING AND THE DIFFICULTY IN SOME CASES OF IDENTIFYING INDIVIDUAL SPEAKERS, THE BBC CANNOT VOUCH FOR ITS COMPLETE ACCURACY. WHITE Now the portrayal of disabled - disability on screen has often led to protests in the past about the casting of able bodied actors in disabled roles. From Daniel Day-Lewis as the disabled writer Christy Brown in My Left Foot to Dustin Hoffman in Rainman. The latest film to feel the considerable wrath of the American disability lobby is the $25 million movie Blindness. Sandro Monetti is a Hollywood based British film journalist and he's been following this row. MONETTI Well in 21 of America's states members of the National Federation of the Blind protested the opening of Blindness. Their objection to the film was the way it portrayed blind people as uncivilised and animalistic. The movie is about an epidemic that causes everyone in a city to go blind and unlike similar stories, like Day of the Triffids, where everyone eventually sort of banded together and overcome the threat, here people completely fall apart. They're shown not able to use the toilet properly, they become physically and sexually aggressive with each other. And so the National Federation of the Blind in America launched the largest protest in their history about the film. WHITE How large, I mean how strong was the representation? MONETTI In 80 separate cities there were large gatherings of blind protestors camped right outside the movie waving placards - Don't see this film - and that seems to be reflected in the US box office figures. WHITE I gather the protestors also had reservations about the way the film was cast as well. MONETTI Everybody in the movie, apart from one character is blind, but they didn't hire any blind actors. We also have 700 extras in the film who were trained to simulate blindness. Cast members are Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Danny Glover were trained in what it's like to be blind but apparently not by blind people, just by other people who'd researched the mannerisms of blind people. WHITE And how have the filmmakers reacted to this barrage of criticism? MONETTI Well interestingly the director of Blindness - Fernando Meirelles - the man behind previously acclaimed films like City of God and the Constant Gardener, he says that it's not his business to please the audience or sections of the audience, what he was interested in was making a provocative film. His argument was that in times of crisis people resort to their basic instincts - seeking eating and sex - and that's what he wanted to make this movie about. That wasn't a response which went down well with the 50,000 members of America's National Federation of the Blind but you know he was effectively saying that he's not interested, he's going to make the film he wants to make and he stands and falls by his decision and it seems that it was the wrong one judging by the box office and the critical reception. WHITE Well the film isn't out here until next Friday but it's already attracted a fair bit of criticism. So is it reasonable always to expect a movie to cast disabled actors to play disabled roles? By contrast Special People is a low budget British film made by an independent company and distributed by Gorilla Films. Well I spoke to the actors and director as they prepared for their premier. Just to put you in the picture - Special People is a film starring disabled people about disabled people making a film. CLIP How do you think it's going so far? It's been a tough shoot - well we haven't actually shot anything yet. It's fair to say we've had more than our share of problems. What's the film about? It's about a disabled girl's struggle to climb a mountain. The story is a metaphor for the realities young disabled people face everyday in life. PROUD My name is David Proud and I play the character of Scott Swadkins. I think you get a sense of authenticity when you use disabled actors that you wouldn't get if you put an able bodied actor into - into the same role. Blindness, which from all accounts, doesn't actually have anyone that's blind in it which is a complete missed opportunity really to encourage some new talent into the industry. And the fact that it's an American production as well, when they're supposed to be pushing the boundaries of the industry, I think that they've kind of set it back in a way and that the English industry is a lot more advanced in those terms. WHITE Some of the people who play disabled parts are extremely good actors, people like Daniel Day-Lewis, you could think of lots of other examples, and acting is that - it's precisely that - acting something you're not. PROUD It's a good point. I mean James McAvoy in Inside I'm Dancing was a superb performance but I would love to see a show where a blind person actually plays somebody who could see. I don't think there's any excuses anymore for able bodied actors in disabled roles, I think that time has come and gone. CLIP What is it then? This new film club? Well it's a community project, so social drama really centering around the lives of a group of kids who all have pretty severe disabilities. It's just lifting the lid on the reality of their lives. Sounds really interesting. When we do it all on stage I'm sure but since when was this about being popular? EDGAR I'm Justin Edgar, I'm the director of Special People. WHITE How difficult has it been to place this film and publicise this film compared, perhaps, with other representations of disability? EDGAR Although a lot of people won't say this out loud what they're thinking is disability is not commercial. But we were lucky enough to get some really good finances behind the film, they believed in what we were trying to do. And getting the film out there again has been struggle, getting it into cinemas against a film like Blindness, which has a huge marketing machine behind it and we don't have that kind of mechanism. It's been a very difficult film to get to the screen. CLIP I like you. What do you mean? I fancy you. Shut up. You're not my type. Is it because I'm disabled? WHITE That character is played by Sasha Hardway. As well as acting you've gone into modelling as well, you've certainly decided to make life difficult for yourself. HARDWAY It seems that you can only really model for things like Stannah Stair lift or wheelchairs, it would be nice to do more modelling which isn't to do with my disability. WHITE Tell me a bit about your acting, what kind of things have you done? HARDWAY The first film that I did was Stephen Poliakoff and it was Friends and Crocodiles. Everyone looked after me and I had a trailer with a ramp in it. I has to ask for a disabled toilet though because they didn't have one on site but they managed to get one quite quickly, which was good. And then the people were quite helpful. WHITE Justin, what about the issue of logistics, the fact that there are complications as far as staging something with disabled people in it? EDGAR Well I think there's a big misconception in the film industry that it's difficult or it's a health and safety hazard somehow to have people with disabilities on set. And I think with this film we've proved it's completely rubbish. We had no problems, no issues with access or anything else on set. Fair enough you have to plan and think in advance but it's a pretty slim excuse really. CLIP I carried out a full risk assessment. All the correct safety procedures were observed. I checked the brakes myself. She was very lucky. She doesn't use that leg that much and she was already in a wheelchair. WHITE What about the even more difficult argument that we're looking for a really experienced actor to play this part? EDGAR Well I think it's our responsibility as filmmakers to find those actors and give them the experience and give them the opportunities to show their skills and talent. To me it's like you had actors blacking up Alec Guinness in Passage to India for example, blacking up to play an Indian character. I think we're in an era now when there is enough disabled talent around to really make an impact and make a difference and get into films and change that status quo. CLIP What a brilliant location. You've got permissions to film here then? Don't need it Dave, this is the countryside. [Gun shot] You there, get up where I can see you! Sorry. There's a fee for filming on this land. BBC pay me £1,000 a day. It's just a community project about disabled kids struggling. I don't give a monkeys. WHITE I think that's another BBC cut we'll be seeing. Both Special People and the American film Blindness are released here Back to the You and Yours homepage The BBC is not responsible for external websites |
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