OARacle Newsletter

In an article on the Fraser website, the writer notes that movies and tv shows have often gotten “much about the autism experience wrong.” From titles like Rain Man and The Good Doctor giving the impression that autistic individuals are emotionless savants to Atypical and Music, which uses a neurotypical actor to portray an autistic character, the accuracy, depiction, and inclusion of autistic characters in the media has left a lot to be desired.

Ezra, however, does things differently.

For starters, Ezra is a film depicting the relationship between a father and his autistic son, inspired by the screenwriter, Tony Spiridakis, and his own autistic son. The film features William Fitzgerald, an autistic actor, playing Ezra, an autistic character. Spiridakis, the screenwriter who has a neurodivergent son, said in an article on the New York City NBC news site, “I realized this was not my son’s issue at all. It took a long while for that lightbulb to go off in my head, similar to Max, that [as] a father I wasn’t supposed to find a solution to this, that my son was just wired differently and in a wonderful way. And that changed everything.”

DeNiro, who also has an autistic child, said in the same article, “It’s something I understand as far as having a child in Ezra’s situation. I liked the whole feeling of the film, the people involved…It had all the right feelings, and heart.”

In addition to the personal connection to autism, the production of the film was heavily focused on inclusivity and accessibility. According to the Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism, everyone involved with the film took part in an autism education session, the production team explored the film set with an inexperienced Fitzgerald, and accommodations were proactively used on site.

Not only did these accommodations and adjustments create greater accessibility, but they also increased the quality of production. As reported by the Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism, the use of accommodations and encouraging actors to be their true selves made the film more authentic.

This encapsulates the perspective of many autistic self-advocates and disability rights activists that autistic people do not need to be fixed or cured, but, rather, that they were born with inherent differences and need to be understood and accepted.

With starring actors like DeNiro, Whoopi Goldberg, and Rainn Wilson, this film, which was released on May 31, hits on issues that are relevant and meaningful to the autistic community. As described in the review on the Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism website, those include the ableism of Ezra’s teachers and the choice between conforming to a terrible system, dropping out completely and forming a new system, or working within the existing system to foster change.

“The fact that Ezra is autistic, William is autistic, whether someone’s neurodivergent or not, that’s really a metaphor for what everyone feels in life, wanting to conform, wanting to fit certain societal norms,” William Goldwyn, the film’s director said in the NBC article. “And as a parent wanting your child to succeed and fit in, we put a lot of pressure on our children, on ourselves. So, if people can watch this movie and say whether I’m a member of the autistic community, whether I have a child who is, it really doesn’t matter because we all can relate.”

Fitzgerald said of his first film experience, “The movie was really cool. I’d never made a movie before, so I didn’t know what to expect. But everyone was really nice and helpful,” Fitzgerald told Montclair Local, “When I was preparing and practicing, my dad gave me some advice that was ‘Just be with your scene partner.’ And since that was Bobby [Cannavale] 90% of the time, I would say to myself ‘Be with Bobby.’ It was kind of my mantra.”

In the review of the film on the Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism, the writer notes, “In 2017, the British show Pablo broke the mold by hiring autistic writers and actors to make something truly amazing. Ezra continues in this new tradition, showing that when autistic people are creatively involved it strengthens not only representation, but the very quality of a film itself.”

Ben VanHook is an AuDHD (autistic and ADHD) master’s student at George Mason University studying public policy and is currently employed at OAR as the community support coordinator.