A Different Man star Adam Pearson is speaking out about the "lazy" way people with disabilities are written into scripts.
The actor, who has neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), a genetic condition that causes tumors to grown along nerves, explained to Variety how Hollywood tends to pigeonhole actors with disabilities into a handful of stereotypical roles.
While attending an interview with the publication at the film's world premiere at Sundance, Pearson, alongside his costars Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve, shared:
"Normally, there are three kinds of roles or tropes or stereotypes, whatever vernacular one wants to use."
"There's either the villain - that because I have a disfigurement, I want to kill Batman or James Bond."
"Then there's the victim, the 'woe is me,' small violin."
He continued:
"And then there's the hero - that because I have a disfigurement but do regular dude stuff, whatever regular dude stuff is, I'm somehow braver than the average guy."
Pearson explained that this type of "lazy" writing is a disservice to both actors and audiences with disabilities.
"I think it's lazy writing. ... Why are non-disabled people writing about disability without consultation?"
"Because when that happens, the end result [is] you might get it right once."
"But nine times out of ten, it's going to be really inauthentic and inaccurate, and serve not only the disabled community accordingly but disabled cinema lovers accordingly."
You can watch the clip below.
People on social media agreed with Pearson that Hollywood needs to do better.
A Different Man is a psychological thriller that tells the story of Edward, who, after undergoing facial reconstructive surgery, becomes fixated on an actor in a stage production based on his earlier life.
You can watch the cast's full interview with Variety below.
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