We’ve reached the 20th anniversary of the dramaI Am Sam. StarringSean Pennin his Oscar-nominated lead role as a father with an intellectual disability, the film was directed by Jessie Nelson, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Kristine Johnson. Looking back at the movie in honor of its big anniversary, Nelson opened up about her memories of developingI Am Samtwo decades ago in a new interview withThe Hollywood Reporter.
For the most part, Nelson looks back atI Am Samrather fondly. Because of her continued love and support for thedisability community, the film also still holds a special place with the filmmaker. There were some difficulties in the film’s production she also remembers, however, as Penn was not her ideal casting choice. Nelson says she didn’t have a choice with the casting 20 years ago, but if the film were to be made today, she wouldn’t follow through with it unless someone from the community was in the lead role.
“I wouldn’t make that movie today without a lead being from the community. But that movie would not have been made 20 years ago. It wasn’t like I had the choice: ‘Make that movie with a lead from the community, or not.’ It was ‘The only way this movie will get made isthis.’"
This has nothing to do withPenn’s abilities as an actor. In fact, Nelson describes his portrayal as an “undeniably beautiful” performance, and she’s very happy with how it turned out, given the circumstances. The director says she was even dropped from the project at one point due to these casting clashes, but her hope was to make sure her lead would give Sam the proper characterization.
“At that time, they would not allow me to hire a real disabled actor to play the role. They were afraid to put a budget of that size on the shoulders of an actor from that community.”
Jessie Nelson knew from the start of production onI Am Samthat the lead needed to be a big name star, and her top choice at that point was Sean Penn. She still felt determined to get representation from the community in the film, which she was able to do when casting Sam’s circle of friends. Even this came with its challenges, but Nelson was able to win this particular battle.
“It was such a battle even to just get the friends of Sean to be from the disabled community in the movie, and that was such a victory at the time to be able to hire those actors… Everybody quickly realized that those were all misconceptions, and actually bringing that community on board is the best thing that can happen for a film, whether there are disabled characters or not.”
Jay Ruderman, president of the Ruderman Family Foundation which advocates for people with disabilities, spoke with THR about how actors have been winning Best Actor awards at the Oscars for decades. We’ve even seen it happen in the past two ceremonies. This year, Anthony Hopkins became the oldest-ever Oscar winner for his performance as a man suffering from dementia inThe Father.Last year, Joaquin Phoenix won a Best Actor Oscar forJokerbased on his portrayal of a mentally ill man suffering from emotional incontinence.
“In the past 30 years, half of the men who have won theBest Actor Oscarhave won for playing a disability,” Ruderman said. “Twenty percent of the American public, and of the world’s public, has some form of disability, and routinely they’ve been excluded from representing themselves in entertainment.”
