To celebrate the release of the beautiful new film CODA, which arrives this week, we sat down with the irrepressible cast and writer/director Sian Heder to find out more.
Seventeen-year-old Ruby (Emilia Jones) is the sole hearing member of a deaf family—a CODA, child of deaf adults. Her life revolves around acting as an interpreter for her parents (Marlee Matlin, Troy Kotsur) and working on the family’s struggling fishing boat every day before school with her father and older brother (Daniel Durant). But when Ruby joins her high school’s choir club, she discovers a gift for singing and soon finds herself drawn to her duet partner Miles (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo). Encouraged by her enthusiastic, tough-love choirmaster (Eugenio Derbez) to apply to a prestigious music school, Ruby finds herself torn between the obligations she feels to her family and the pursuit of her own dreams.
We were delighted to speak to all of the Rossi family – Emilia Jones, Marlee Matlin, Troy Kotsur, and Daniel Durant – about everything from accents, fishing, awards, their hopes for the film’s connection to audiences, showing the positives of the deaf culture and the importance of getting the story as authentic as possible. In addition, writer/director Sian Heder tells us about her approach, how she wanted to film to feel and look, her knack for casting, and all the positivity surrounding the film’s release.
You can view all our interviews below:
CODA is released in cinemas and on Apple TV+ on Friday, August 13th.
