Next Best Picture Podcast

If there's any hope that writer-director Sian Heder has for her Sundance-winning film "CODA," it's for her actors to get the recognition they deserve. It's a fair hope that her actors, including deaf performers Marlee Matlin, Troy Kotsur, and Daniel Durant, would receive accolades that so rarely come to performances like these. The Oscar-winning Matlin is one of the rare exceptions, though Heder notes Matlin still hasn't had the career she deserves. "CODA" centers on Ruby, a hearing child of deaf adults, played by newcomer Emilia Jones. Roughly 40% of the film is comprised of ASL, something that brought unique challenges for Heder. In a conversation with Next Best Picture, Heder discusses the missed opportunities she sees when creators avoid casting actors with a disability and why she wants the world to see Troy Kotsur and Daniel Durant as major stars. Speaking of Troy Kotsur, watching "Children of a Lesser God" as a 17-year-old, he promised his friends that he would work with Marlee Matlin one day. Thirty-f