[Elliot]

https://www.nme.com/news/music/sia-r...w-film-2822026

Sia has received backlash online for casting a neurotypical actor as the autistic lead in her upcoming new film, Music.

The singer’s directorial debut follows Music, a young girl with nonverbal autism, who finds herself in the care of her older half-sister, the newly sober Zu (played by Kate Hudson).

A press release describes the film as “a wholly original exploration of the healing power of love and the importance of community.”

It continued: “Sia’s music is integral to the story of the film as the characters examine the fragile bonds that hold us together and, through fantastical musical sequences, imagine a world where those bonds can be strengthened in times of great challenge.”

The first trailer for the film arrived on Thursday (November 19) and the response has seen many unhappy with Sia’s decision to cast her frequent collaborator Maddie Ziegler as Music rather than someone who actually has autism.

Some social media users accused Sia of ableism and “cripping up” (acting like you have a disability), assuming Sia had failed to consult anyone with lived experience of autism about her movie.



Denying the claims, Sia stated that she based Music’s character on an autistic friend of hers, and that she had a pair of neuroatypical consultants around her at all times.

She also explained that she originally attempted to cast someone on the spectrum, but because of the rapid shooting schedule and the level of functionality of the character, she eventually decided to go with Ziegler.

“I actually tried working with a beautiful young girl non verbal on the spectrum and she found it unpleasant and stressful,” Sia tweeted. “So that’s why I cast Maddie.”

She added that she had “cast thirteen neuroatypical people, three trans folk, and not as ****ing prostitutes or drug addicts but as doctors, nurses and singers. ****ing sad nobody’s even seen the dang movie. My heart has always been in the right place.”

In reply to a tweet that accused Sia’s Twitter thread of “really encapsulat[ing] the whole problem”, she wrote: “The movie is both a love letter to caregivers and to the autism community. I have my own unique view of the community, and felt it is underrepresented and compelled to make it. If that makes me a **** I’m a ****, but my intentions are awesome.”

One Twitter user, who stated that they were an autistic actor, said: “Several autistic actors, myself included, responded to these tweets. We all said we could have acted in it on short notice. These excuses are just that- excuses. The fact of the matter is zero effort was made to include anyone who is actually autistic.”

Sia replied: “Maybe you’re just a bad actor.”

Evidently frustrated by the backlash, Sia at one point tweeted: “Grrrrrrrrrr. ****ity **** why don’t you watch my film before you judge it? FURY.”

[Oliver_W]

People whinging about nothing ...it's no different to someone who's straight playing an LGBT character, or vice versa. Nothing wrong with it at all.

[Barry.]

Doesn’t bother me tbf

[MTVN]

I'm sure there are autistic actors but I would have thought that acting is a pretty challenging profession for people with autism so it's not easy to cast for a role like that if you refuse to select people who are 'neurotypical'

It's not like 'neurotypical' people are incapable of portraying such a role sensitively, surely a film like Rain Man did a lot of good in that regard?

[Denver]

I don't think it matters if its done with justice and proffessionism its when it isn't done with the best intentions that bother me

[Amy Jade]

Sia has worked with Ziegler for years. If she felt she did the role justice then people should just piss off quite frankly.

[Tom4784]

Outrage for the sake of it. The only time such outrage is justified is with issues of race. It annoys me when people try to kick up a fuss about other kinds of casting.

Like with Love Simon, the lead actor was embroiled in controversy because he wasn't gay and I'm just like, it's a mainstream film about a gay person that isn't also a weepy tragedy or a ****ty softcore flick and people are complaining about the actor? When such films are few and far between in the first place?

The whole point of acting is that you embody characters that are different to yourself, it's tiring to see people missing the point purposefully just to chase clout on twitter.

[Denver]

Also with these sort of outrages its usually by people who are not affected in their daily life about what they are being outraged about

[Morgan.]

The part that bothered me was ‘maybe you’re a bad actor’. By all means defend your decision and explain your process, but to disregard someone’s potential talent because they questioned your motive is a bit disgusting.

[GoldHeart]

Originally Posted by Dezzy

Outrage for the sake of it. The only time such outrage is justified is with issues of race. It annoys me when people try to kick up a fuss about other kinds of casting.

Like with Love Simon, the lead actor was embroiled in controversy because he wasn't gay and I'm just like, it's a mainstream film about a gay person that isn't also a weepy tragedy or a ****ty softcore flick and people are complaining about the actor? When such films are few and far between in the first place?

The whole point of acting is that you embody characters that are different to yourself, it's tiring to see people missing the point purposefully just to chase clout on twitter.

This reminds me of the uproar over Rain man , all of a sudden now people think it's bad & insensitive that Dustin Hoffman played a man with autism .

Actors especially good actors are meant to be able to play any role surely . And Dustin Hoffman was amazing in Rain Man . That's the whole point to put yourself in the characters shoes .

[Amy Jade]

Originally Posted by Morgan.

The part that bothered me was ‘maybe you’re a bad actor’. By all means defend your decision and explain your process, but to disregard someone’s potential talent because they questioned your motive is a bit disgusting.

Maybe they were bad actors though?

Sia said they initially cast an autistic actress and she found it too stressful to work at the pace production allowed. She shouldn't have to sit and justify why every single person never got the job to make them feel better. As actors they'll get told a lot worse, trust me.

[Denver]

Originally Posted by Amy Jade

Maybe they were bad actors though?

Sia said they initially cast an autistic actress and she found it too stressful to work at the pace production allowed. She shouldn't have to sit and justify why every single person never got the job to make them feel better. As actors they'll get told a lot worse, trust me.

Also as an actor then shouldn't just be expecting to be offered a job they have to earn that right

[Amy Jade]

Originally Posted by GoldHeart

This reminds me of the uproar over Rain man , all of a sudden now people think it's bad & insensitive that Dustin Hoffman played a man with autism .

Actors especially good actors are meant to be able to play any role surely . And Dustin Hoffman was amazing in Rain Man . That's the whole point to put yourself in the characters shoes .

Same with Leonardo DiCaprio in 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape' his performance was absolutely brilliant yet when he won an Oscar I remember the fumes on twitter about him playing a disability but it's called ACTING.

[Ammi]

...I didn’t know that Sia was making this movie but it looks excellent...I’m not sure what or why the controversy, with other movie featuring characters on the spectrum and played by ‘neuro typical’ actors..(...my spell check finds that word very controversial....)...obviously there was Rain Man and Forrest Gump, (possibly..)...Salmon Fishing in the Yemen with Ewan McGregor..in recent years I’ve watched a few less well known movies featuring autistic characters but they were excellent movies and the characters were played by actors who don’t have autism...Extremely loud and Incredibly Close is about a boy who loses his ‘dependent’ parent in 911, a beautiful story...and Please Stand By has Dakota Fanning as a Star Trek fan, also a beautiful story...and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time stage production based on the book, didn’t feature an autistic actor as Christopher, either...

...’maybe you’re a bad actor’ is a bit harsh, though...but then, to lay criticism on a movie before it’s seen is also harsh, so....


...it looks really interesting anyway...and from the trailer, Maddie Ziegler looks very well cast by Sia......

Youtube video

[Shaun]

Originally Posted by MTVN

I'm sure there are autistic actors but I would have thought that acting is a pretty challenging profession for people with autism so it's not easy to cast for a role like that if you refuse to select people who are 'neurotypical'

It's not like 'neurotypical' people are incapable of portraying such a role sensitively, surely a film like Rain Man did a lot of good in that regard?

Yeah I'm unsure about how well people on the spectrum are able to deliver acting performances tbh. Not to tar everyone with the same brush or anything, but it strikes me that the self-analysis, channeling other characters, finding different motivations etc. would be difficult for some?

I wouldn't compare it to Hollywood casting heterosexual people in homosexual/transgender roles though. There are plenty of gay and trans actors capable of those roles and the argument that always pops up about that particular issue is really a demand for LGBT actors to get more work, rather than continue to lavish praise on straight/cis people for donning on a story that isn't theirs. Obviously it's fine in doses, and there have been many instances of excellent and earnest performances (Sean Penn in Milk, Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club, to name two recent-ish ones), but the whole thing only gets so heated a discussion because gay actors are often overlooked or pigeon-holed as "only gay roles" unless they're living in the closet.

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by Shaun

Yeah I'm unsure about how well people on the spectrum are able to deliver acting performances tbh. Not to tar everyone with the same brush or anything, but it strikes me that the self-analysis, channeling other characters, finding different motivations etc. would be difficult for some?

Yes and no - I think there are many autistic actors out there capable of playing great characters who are autistic. However I personally (as the parent of a child with autism and nonverbal learning disability) think that the part that's being overlooked by the "outraged community" is that the character isn't just an autistic character, they are a non-verbal learning disabled character... and yes I have doubts about how well a non-LD autistic actor could sensitively portray learning disability.

Ironically, in this case, I think the Twitter Autistic Community is guilty of stereotyping in insisting that the best person to play a non-verbal autistic child with learning disability would be a verbal autistic person WITHOUT learning disability.

ALSO - and this is a huge one for me - being autistic is not a character trait and does not define personality! Frankly the idea that the best person to portray this specific person and their character (and Sia says this is based on someone she knows) is a case of "any old autistic person will do, they're all the same" is actually really ****ing offensive. The best person to play this girl is the person who best captures their individual personality... whether they happen to be autistic or not.

So yeah. My honest opinion is that the section of Autistic Twitter that's up-in-arms about this needs to frankly **** off because just being autistic doesn't mean they have any experience of or know anything at all about, firstly, complex non-verbal learning disability, but more importantly, the personality of the person the story is based on.

My daughter loves to dance, in a really sort of wild & free "interpretive style", and she was OBSESSED with the video for "Chandelier". Watched it over and over, copying the dancing (minus the cartwheels, though she gave it her best shot ) and I think she "saw a lot of herself" in Maddie Ziegler in that video. I think she'll potentially do a great job.


Also I'm like 90% sure Sia is on the spectrum, so...

[Nicky91]

don't come for my precious Sia, some random trash gossip tabloid


trailer of that movie looks good, and also i agree with what Ammi said, it looks like she made a good casting there, but in all honesty i didn't know she also makes movies, but is this her debut at that maybe?

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by Nicky91

don't come for my precious Sia, some random trash gossip tabloid

In this case it's more the Twitter gangs than the tabloids, they're just reporting on it. Basically groups of "activists" wanting to insist that they speak for everyone because they have a bit of lived-experience... what else is new .

Sia has made the mistake of responding to it of course, she should just have released one official statement explaining the casting choice and then let them burn themselves out instead of feeding into it.

[Tom4784]

It's more important that these roles are written and performed sensitively yet are true to life more than anything else. If someone can embody the role well, and it doesn't come across as making autism out to be a quirk, then that's all that matters I think.

Twitter should be clamouring for better written interpretations of autism than clamouring for only autistic people to play these roles.

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by Dezzy

It's more important that these roles are written and performed sensitively yet are true to life more than anything else. If someone can embody the role well, and it doesn't come across as making autism out to be a quirk, then that's all that matters I think.

Twitter should be clamouring for better written interpretations of autism than clamouring for only autistic people to play these roles.

That's pretty much my thoughts as the parent of an autistic/LD child... being autistic isn't a personality trait, and an autistic character shouldn't have "being autistic" as their only or over-riding defining factor. I honestly think the "community" is unintentionally doing harm here by not recognising that autistic people are individual personalities, and that the best person to play the role is whoever best captures that individual personality... not whoever "does autistic best". It's such a harmful, hurtful stereotype that autistic people are all the same or similar, that it defines them, and the twitter activists themselves seem to be really playing into it... I'm sure not intentionally but my honest impression is that while they obviously understand autism, they don't have a great grasp on the LD/non-verbal side.

I see it the same with sexuality and actors I guess - if someone has written a new, fictional gay character then I think they should probably try to find a gay actor for the role. However, if it's a film about an EXISTING gay person then it's not the same thing - "being gay" isn't the defining part of the character and the vital part is getting whoever captures that individual... e.g. in Bohemian Rhapsody the important thing was the portrayal of Freddie Mercury, capturing his energy and presence, and the right person for the role was the person who nailed that. Waffling a bit but I guess what I'm saying is, the character in this film shouldn't be cast as "an autistic kid" any more than Freddie Mercury should be cast as "a gay man".

[Nicky91]

the theme song for this movie

again a collab with David Guetta

Youtube video

[Smithy]

The film has been dragged for filth and Sia has made some really uncomfortable comments in regards to autistic people

The whole thing is a mess when you read about it

[Mitchell]

As someone who was obsessed with both Sia and her music, **** her, her words and actions have been awful during this entire campaign and deserves all the **** she’s getting,

It’s not just the casting, or the insensitivity displayed, it’s also the absolute trashing of a community that she’s supposedly representing.

As well as this, she’s working with organisations such as Autism Speaks, a ‘charity’ that far from help people with autism, which I’ve seen regularly labelled as a hate group, a charity who are working towards prenatal tests, to tell parents if they’re going to have an autistic child, so they can abort them, for the sole reason of autism.

https://autisticmama.com/do-not-support-autism-speaks/
https://twitter.com/odetoeii/status/...913387009?s=21

[Jessica.]

Yeah, Sia doesn't seem to be doing this for awareness or anything, it's a bit much and I know some people on the spectrum who are upset by it existing because it reinforces some hurtful stereotypes. Sia's response to criticism has been toxic which is unnecessary so I won't be seeing this film anyway.