representation

One of the surprisingly large number of biopics opening this month is "Breathe," based on the lives of Robin and Diana Cavendish. After getting polio in his late 20s, in 1958, Robin was paralyzed from the neck down, using a mechanical ventilator to breathe. Among other things, the Cavendishes worked with Teddy Hall to invent a wheelchair with a respirator, the first of its kind. The movie hasn't gotten great reviews in general, but it is the latest movie prompting annoyance, at least, from disabled people who think that non-disabled actors (in this case Andrew Garfield) should not be given the role instead of a disabled actor. Another film currently in some theaters is "Stronger," in which Jake Gyllenhaal plays Jeff Bauman, in the story of Bauman's wounding and rehab during/after the Boston Marathon bombing. Bauman has supported JG's casting, and worked with the cast and crew of the film. My general casting opinion is that anybody should play any role in a live theatrical production (color, gender, age, whatever). For movies and TV, though, I think the characters should be portrayed by people who match their salient characteristics as much as possible. For better or for worse, people believe what they see on film (digits), and I think an effort should be made to get it right. I am glad that the kid who plays JJ on "Speechless" actually is someone with Cerebral Palsy (as the character is), even though he is not quite the same - as one might gather from the title, JJ can't talk, but actor Micah Fowler can. Things have improved since 1989, when "My Left Foot" (also about a person with CP) came out. Daniel Day Lewis won an Oscar for playing the adult Christy Brown (Hugh O'Conor, who played his as a child, didn't get any awards that I know of). I don't think anybody tried to find an actor with CP in that case, but nearly thirty years have passed. I have some sympathy with casting a non-disabled person in the case of before and after stories - the other option would be casting a disabled person for the after part and doing a lot of CGI stuff for before. But when it is someone who has always been in a wheelchair/used a ventilator/been blind/whatever, a genuine effort should be made to find an actor with the features of the character. Something that is interesting is that as far as I recall, characters with Down Syndrome always are played by actors with DS. There is the weird example of "Glee," in which case the characters with DS were played by actors with DS, but the character who was paraplegic, using a wheelchair, was played by a non-disabled actor. Inconsistent, and confusing.