Hollywood's Exclusion of Autistic Actors Highlights its Biggest Diversity Problem: Disability

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There's no rule book that says "no asian actors are to be used" but if you look at tv shows, there are hardly any Asian characters, and when there are, they're usually working at Asian restaurants. There are plenty of Asian actors who want to play good parts. And I think the same is true for autistics. I recently went to an audition for an autistic character and there were a ton of autistic guys my age auditioning for the part. All of them were white though, ironically. . .

BTW, if you hire a person with Asperger's to play a character with Asperger's, that's not exactly acting.

Playing a character is pretty much the definition of acting. The only time it would be "not exactly acting" is if the actor with asperger's is playing themselves.

Do you think it's not acting if a gay actor plays a gay character or a straight actor plays a straight character? Obviously that's ridiculous.

I also agree that there's not enough actors who are on the spectrum. Who better to play an autistic character than someone on the spectrum them self. I've also seen more accurate portrayals than Rain Man.

IF....

The actor had a huge bankable box office draw and the producters can get insurance on them, the directors would have no problems. There are tons of actors with less than stellar lives that always get parts. Why? People will go to a Sean Penn movie. Penn could have infant sacrifices on his front yard, and would still get parts. His name is a draw.

It's all about butts in the seats. If the director has an part would he rather have Brad Pitt or unknown ASD actor for an Aspergers character? An Indie film might bite, because getting press about the actor being "authentic" is all good. Any pub is good for film.

Everyone brings up "Asian" actors. If you want to piss off the overseas market, plunk a Korean or Japanese actor in a movie set in China. I get America lumps all Asians together, but it is a very different deal across the pond. It's like saying Indian or Pakistani, who the hell cares? Say that line at the local Mumbai ex pat.

Also, you are white with a certain background, do you think you could fairly represent
what an African American ASD man growing up in the Cass Corridor in Detroit would be like? Anything you could suggest is either general or from the white, college educated background or extrapolating. The production would pick you as a consultant, because you are a known quantity in the ASD community. Just like Penn, Cruise, or whatever latest foo-foo puts fans in the seats.

Hollyweird is all about ocean linear filled with Benjamins. If having *authentic* autistic actor playing an ASD character gets people to part with cash, it will happen.

I haven't really noticed that myself...though I do tend to watch more movies than t.v shows. Also I didn't know there were a lot of prospective autistic actors that are stuck not getting any good parts simply because they have autism. I myself have not heard of a lot of actors with it or at least who are open.

Did any of those guys auditioning get the role? and how do you know they all had autism?

Don't know.

And I knew they had autism because I know some of them and talked to them.

Maybe people expect that it will be difficult to work with an autistic person on the set when the autistic person behaves like the autistic character they have in mind for a film and they expect the working process to be difficult with an autistic person.

And from my personal experience as being a professional dancer in ballet and contemporary dance I was and am difficult for people to work with, I need special accommodations.
In balletschool I did not know how to respond to teachers, I was mute and had shutdowns all the time.
When I said something it was sometimes very rude or it did not make any sense to them.
In Pas de Deux I had meltdowns because people touch you and I was very hypersensitive to touch, it really hurted me.
As a result I got kicked out after two years.
But I continued training and reached professional level.
Auditions: up to 200 people warming up, unpredictable noise everywhere, I am also visually sensitive when there is lot of movement and color, I went into freeze each time.

I sometimes got a job because people watched me in training.
In two of them I did fairly well because I was a hard worker and they did not mind me being mute.
But often I was hard to deal with during rehearsals, going into shutdowns because we were required to learn things fast and I am very slow in absorbing movement people show to me, and because of sensory overloads and there is a lot of social stuff going on, it's hard for someone with autism.
I often need a lot of time and space for myself to work on choreography all by myself which is often not given.

I cannot adopt a character when I do not feel it. And I often do not feel it to be another person.
But I can feel music very strongly.
So when I do dance now it is with someone I know for almost 20 years, we make our own work, sometimes with one or two more people (which is the maximum I want to deal with) and I have all time and space for myself I need and then I do deliver good work.

Maybe Hollywoodfilmregisseurs have no trust that it will be easy working with an autistic person at the set and have no time for special accommodations.

Err, that doesn't stop productions from casting method actors. And there are a lot of method actors... look at jared leto in suicide squad:

LOL! Yes, you as a consultant are the authority on artistic integrity.

An autistic actor playing the part of an autistic character has the realism of an African playing the part of an African rather than a European with dark brown makeup. It just makes practical sense.

let's make it interesting:

should southern european peasants from the middle ages be portrayed by present-day middle-eastern peasants? (physically there's no significant difference, so it's theoretically possible) if not, then what defines the difference between this question and the question of aspie characters being supposed to be portrayed by real-life aspies? (not a rhetorical question btw. i can see several important differences myself. i mean it as food for thought)

also: "being yourself in real-life situations" and "being sort-of-like yourself on cue" are extremely different things. the knowledge of something doesn't equal the practice of it. which is really one of the biggest typical weaknesses of high-functioning autism in the first place. and the fact that you are yourself doesn't even equal a knowledge of yourself either, let alone an understanding of the way how you're seen by others (another typical aspie weakness), or any talent to reproduce that impression, which is what really matters when you're acting

and anyway... the movie industry is not a representative democracy or a meritocracy. it never was, and never will be. it's a non-essential competitive business, and it fundamentally depends and relies on popularity

Last edited by anagram on 22 Aug 2016, 4:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Not really, they cast Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhal in Brokeback Mountain because it was challenging to portray that kind of male intamacy if you aren't gay. I've heard lots of actors, directors, and producers say the same thing about things like that in interviews when asked why not use an actual gay person. You could have a Cuban play Scarface but its more impressive when Al Pacino plays Cuban (would be more impressive if he spoke Spanish through the entire film). You could cast me in Napoleon Dynamite 2 I'll just act like myself, my voice already sounds just like that, i already look at the ground and say stuff like "I cant right now i gotta stay home and mix fertilizer for plants, god" "polar bears paws are on average 12 inches in diameter, you can hunt them but you probably need a bazooka".

I do get what Alex Plank is getting at , in regards to the operative principle of " nothing about us without us" . Like for example , in " Sue Thomas F.B. Eye" a hearing impaired woman was cast to play the title character , whom was based upon an actual deaf woman . https://www.verywell.com/deanne-bray-deaf-actress-1046172 So featuring actors whom have the same conditions as the characters they portray is not unprecedented . But , in order to comply with the before mentioned principle , all that a production really needs to do at the very least is to include at least some of such people . Like for instance , not every developmentally challenged character in the movie "I Am Sam" , including the title character , played by actor Sean Penn , were themselves diagnosed with a mental disability . However the film did feature some in supporting roles .

This is a topic that's been on my mind before.

Aside from the hurdles that autistics face in being represented in media, let alone, be even portrayed by an actual autistic person, are the social rigors involved in becoming an actor. What do I mean by that?

Most actors have sociable personalities, that do well when it comes to making first impressions, getting others to do social favors for them or vice-verca - they have the social know-how to advance in the field, which are most the things that are obstacles or barriers to those of us autistics. It's just like how it is difficult for autistic activists to be heard, because we lack the natural NT charisma that communicates well to other NTs. That's not to say it's not possible. Aubrey Plaza was so awkward in her interview for Parks and Recreation, that her awkwardness in itself was an asset, but the reality is for us autistics, as long as we are under-represented by media, and NT's social charm plays into their ability to more likely obtain these roles, it's a very steep uphill to climb.

The only solution I see that can work this out is greater representation of autistics, and a mindful casting director that is specifically looking for an autistic actor. I don't see that happening on a large scale, but it might make it in an indie production.

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