Sia defends her decision to cast Maddie as an autistic teen in movie Music

[PawsUpJago 1,956]

11 hours ago, ALGAYDO said:

 

I’m curious as to what your opinions are on white actors portraying POC. Like when they hire a Caucasian to play an Egyptian, or like when Scarlet Johansson played an Asian character. 

Well that is a different kettle of fish to me honestly, I'm definitely not defending the Hollywood white-washing by any means, as we all know there are many talented POC actors out there and so many yet to be discovered that would of course be better suited to play POC roles. 

But to me this is very different to what we were discussing previously. 

[JusKeepBreathin 19,311]

12 hours ago, President Biden said:

And he did the same in Glee

Actually in Glee he had an actor in a wheelchair that didn't have any disabilities. 

[Pennywise 36,079]

Y'all wanna know when it'll be okay for neurotypical actors to play differently abled people? Or when it'll be okay for non-trans actors to play trans people, or straight actors to play gay people? 

 

WHEN HOLLYWOOD STOPS SHADOWBANNING MINORITY ACTORS. 

 

So don't talk about an issue of representation if you don't know ****, thank you. 

[Serial Chiller 8,044]

12 hours ago, Chromatography said:

of course she’s going to cast her godchild who has starred as a dancer in her music videos since what, 2013? no one should be shocked by this move. the way she handled it on twitter was questionable, yes, but i don’t like this mindset that people must be something to play that role (other than race ofc). but why should a gay person be denied a straight role? that’s what yall are saying 

The problem is representation. In a perfect world, yes, you don’t have to be the character you act, but historically, and even to today, minorities and disabled people have been constantly portrayed by white majority/ able bodied actors even when actors of those groups are available to cast.

The opposite is rarely true. Has there ever been a high profile case of a disabled/ trans actor/actress playing abled/cis roles?  So, the argument here is that if these folks aren’t even chosen for these roles then what roles do they have? 

This is along the same line as the All lives matter argument. Yes it is semantically true but with the historical and social context it becomes a way to invalidate the voice of poc. 

 

[Rat Boy 43,594]

Okay so I watched the trailer. I work with people on the spectrum. The way Maddie is acting is not an accurate representation of people on the spectrum. Her portrayal seems watered down and based on societal stereotypes rather than real experiences. Did they not consult with anyone before making this movie?

[Suuus 5,632]

12 hours ago, myluis617 said:

I totally can see that happening. Like it most likely be 10x more difficult to get the project done. Like imagine an autistic having to learn choreography on top of lines sounds like a nightmare for both director and actor. 

There are austistic people who can dance act so please dont downtalk them like this we are a very diverse group of people 

[River 117,603]

it's like some people thinks that autistic people are stupid geez..

autistic dancers and actors didn't decide yesterday that this is what they want, they worked all their lives for that and learned and practiced how to overcome their condition to act and dance the best.

[Shipper 13,088]

39 minutes ago, Mer Boy said:

Okay so I watched the trailer. I work with people on the spectrum. The way Maddie is acting is not an accurate representation of people on the spectrum. Her portrayal seems watered down and based on societal stereotypes rather than real experiences. Did they not consult with anyone before making this movie?

Based on an interview, Maddie said she looked at YouTube videos to research for the role. 

[Rat Boy 43,594]

1 minute ago, Shipper said:

Based on an interview, Maddie said she looked at YouTube videos to research for the role. 

   

[roomdivide 132]

Sia did nothing wrong here.

[Jill 30,301]

55 minutes ago, Mer Boy said:

Okay so I watched the trailer. I work with people on the spectrum. The way Maddie is acting is not an accurate representation of people on the spectrum. Her portrayal seems watered down and based on societal stereotypes rather than real experiences. Did they not consult with anyone before making this movie?

I defend Sia when it comes to all of these accusations because it seems to me that people don't realize the slippery slope they're creating when questioning an actor's ability to act, but your take does raise some concerns. I hope that the movie is made from a place of love and acceptance, at least, whatever the end result turns out like.

[Shipper 13,088]

Maddie didn't do anything wrong. She is a child herself and has been starring in Sia's music videos for years. She would do what Sia asks of her. 

Sia on the other hand could have responded better in Twitter. She fanned the fire. As for representation, she could also have tried better to ensure she tried to cast a neuro atypical actress first. Sia said she tried to cast someone with autism but the girl was "low functioning" and could not handle the stress and demands for the film. This small tidbit of info was like a can of worms. In the US it is in the law for employers to make a job accessible to the employee with disability by modifying the environment and offering accomodations. I think the lack of info on how she tried to or didn't try to do this irked people off. Basically, Sia was providing fodder for people to get pissed at her for. 

Tbh, if Sia stopped ranting on Twitter last week, it would not have been so bad. Her responses on twitter was what made more people in the community more pissed at her. 

I'm sure the movie will be fine though and I look forward to watch it.

[uo111 5,265]

13 hours ago, CCSir said:

This. It could not have been more of a trainwreck.

Her comments show real disregard for many actors in the autistic community who have great acting potential. The thing is, she's not just making a statement about whether or not it was okay for her to hire Maddie in this movie specifically, she's almost pushing the horrendous idea that disabled actors are incapable of being involved in big productions. 

I’m sorry but people with this level of disability are incapable of being involved in big productions and it would be unethical to have them because they can’t even consent.

[Rat Boy 43,594]

13 minutes ago, uo111 said:

I’m sorry but people with this level of disability are incapable of being involved in big productions and it would be unethical to have them because they can’t even consent.

This is not true.

My job is to support people with autism when they are working (in a diverse range of settings including studios). Someone with autism could've worked in this production if they had the right support (which can easily be found imo).

Many people with autism have the cognitive capacity to consent btw. Please don't assume that someone is incapable of consenting to things because they have autism. 

[PunkTheFunk 124,496]

18 hours ago, 4BLAiNE said:

As an actor myself - it is a very dangerous situation to start to insist that the only way a role can be considered ‘true to’ or ‘respectful’ to a condition / situation / sexuality, is for that role to be played by someone with said condition. 
 

The entire essence of performance is to tell stories of those we may not ‘be’ - but those we respect enough to research and portray in a way that is as true to representation as possible. I became an actor for that exact reason - because I wanted to be enlightened and informed by learning about people different to me - to make me less ignorant to their circumstances.
 

I think people need to watch this film before making any accusation of misrepresentation. By all means, criticise the portrayal if it isn’t accurate / respectful, but I feel this outrage is unfounded at this point.

This should be the case in a perfect world where everyone has equal opportunities. Unfortunately, we don't live in that world. 

To use an example, cis men have been playing trans roles in film and TV for ages, all while real trans people have been shut out of the entertainment industry. Is there anything inherently wrong with a cis man playing a trans person? No. An actor should be able to play any role they want. But why should that cis man be selected for that role when there are plenty of other talented and perfectly capable trans actors out there, unless that cis man is somehow able to give a more accurate portrayal of a trans person than an actual trans person? Then again, why are women cast in films when we could just get men to play female roles? Why do we cast POC in roles written for POC when we can just get a white person to put on some makeup? 

The same goes for this situation. Why should Maddie be cast as an autistic person when there are likely many autistic actors out there who haven't been afforded the right opportunities before and can probably do a better job?