0:00

Think with me for a minute about some

0:02

of the portrayals of disabled people you've

0:04

seen on your TV or at the

0:06

movies. I always drive the

0:09

car on Saturday, never drive on Monday. What is it?

0:11

So is this guy. Hey, I'm a good bowler. I've had

0:13

some high scores. The

0:16

only problem was, it was never in my

0:18

lane. Don't

0:21

be too proud of this technological

0:23

terror you've constructed. The ability to

0:25

destroy a planet is insignificant next

0:27

to the power of the force.

0:30

Maybe they're at the heart of an

0:33

inspirational story set to a soaring soundtrack,

0:35

but one-dimensional, not allowed to

0:37

fail or flop. Or

0:39

maybe it's darker. They're

0:42

the butt of jokes, the bad guy,

0:44

or altogether invisible. Maybe

0:46

you can't actually think of any.

0:49

But the new movie Ezra in

0:51

theaters now is different. It's

0:53

the story of Ezra Bernal, a

0:55

pretty fantastic ten-year-old. His dad Max

0:57

is a New York comedian, so

0:59

Ezra knows a good punchline. When

1:02

Max gets a shot at the big time,

1:04

Ezra has thoughts. I

1:06

just got off the phone with Aunt Jane. Turns

1:09

out Jimmy Kimmel wants me to be on his show in Los

1:11

Angeles. That's far. When

1:14

it comes down to it, though, Ezra's got his

1:16

dad's back. Boy, am I gonna get my mojo fun. Mojo

1:20

mon. That's right. Good.

1:23

Ezra is played by William

1:25

Fitzgerald, and they both, actor

1:27

and character, have autism. And

1:30

so does Associate Producer on the movie

1:32

Alex Plank. This movie does

1:34

sort of break down stereotypes about

1:36

autistic people, showing that we're not

1:38

just, you know, all this one

1:40

way. There are a lot

1:43

of subtleties and differences

1:45

between what we do. Consider

1:48

this. People would haven't always gotten it

1:50

right when it comes to portraying neurodivergent

1:52

people. The new movie Ezra is

1:55

flipping the script. From

2:02

NPR, I'm Wanna Summers. The

2:22

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books are sold. It's

3:18

considered this from NPR. Ezra

3:21

is a road trip movie. A movie

3:23

about fathers and sons. In

3:25

this case, the father is Max, played by

3:27

Bobby Conavale. He hasn't

3:29

quite figured out what his son Ezra's

3:32

autism diagnosis means for their life together.

3:35

In a tense moment, Max loads

3:37

Ezra into his father's vintage Cadillac

3:39

convertible and he takes

3:41

off for his friend Nick's bucolic off-season

3:43

summer camp, where he gets real with

3:46

Nick, played by Rainn Wilson, about his

3:48

fears. What are you talking about? I

3:50

think people move away from his, right? He

3:53

has a temper tantrum or he's just walking down the

3:55

street and you know, people aren't trying to be mean.

3:57

It's just that it's easier. the

4:00

word autism comes from the Greek in

4:02

your own world. I don't want him

4:04

in his own world Nick. I want

4:08

him in this world. The

4:12

movie directed by Tony Goldwyn

4:14

draws on the real experiences

4:16

of screenwriter Tony Spiridakis and

4:19

when I talked with Spiridakis and associate

4:21

producer Alex Plank, Spiridakis told

4:23

me about life with his son, Dimitri.

4:25

Raising my son seemed so

4:30

full of a roller

4:32

coaster ride of emotional situations

4:36

and I felt like I was doing a terrible

4:38

job when I got the diagnosis from my son

4:40

and then found that there was a there

4:43

were things happening at school. He was

4:45

constantly getting in trouble and thrown out

4:47

of school and you know I was

4:49

completely taken I didn't

4:51

know what autism was and so when

4:53

the diagnosis came he's only four years

4:55

old. Things happened you know

4:57

I was called to a birthday party where I

5:00

dropped him off and they were playing musical chairs

5:02

and he didn't get a chair and

5:04

that was the end of that party. I mean I

5:06

had to get called back to the house and take

5:08

him out and then the

5:10

person at that party had suggested

5:12

that I have him evaluated. So

5:14

the whole journey of learning who

5:17

my son was based on his

5:21

autism it was uh

5:24

it was the dad me who really

5:26

needed to be educated. Alex I want

5:28

to bring you in here you are a

5:30

producer on this film and an actor but

5:32

you were also the founder of wrongplanet.net which

5:35

is a popular online community for autistic people.

5:37

Can you tell me a little bit about

5:39

how you got involved in this project? Well

5:42

I got involved in this project

5:44

because Tony Goldwyn sent me

5:47

an email which I didn't respond

5:49

to because I have executive functioning issues and then

5:51

he sent me a second email which I did

5:53

respond to and then we had a meeting and

5:55

we talked about the film and he sent me

5:57

the script and I read it and I was

6:00

really in love with the way the

6:03

three generations of men sort of are

6:06

connecting with each other and have autistic

6:08

traits and really

6:12

it's a film to me about love. A

6:14

moment you can talk a little bit more about the

6:16

onset dynamics. Alex, as I understand it, everyone

6:18

involved with the film took part in an

6:20

autism education session. Can you talk a little

6:22

bit about the things that

6:25

you all did to make it an accessible

6:27

set? We looked at over 100

6:29

kids, many of whom

6:32

had never acted before and we watched tapes

6:34

and William's tape came

6:37

in and it was really good. So we

6:40

had a chemistry read and I was just looking

6:42

through my notes here and the first two lines

6:44

say he stims like me and this is the

6:46

guy. So you know

6:48

we were really lucky to find William but in

6:52

terms of providing a good

6:55

experience on set for him and

6:57

creating a movie that I think

7:00

was authentic and true to life

7:02

and respectful of autistic people and

7:05

because really when we see portrayals

7:08

like this on film those things

7:10

really change the way we're treated

7:12

in real life. You know it's

7:15

important to get these things right

7:17

because there's so little portrayals of

7:20

us and generally they aren't portrayed

7:22

by autistic actors. And

7:24

then after that I did a training

7:26

right before we started filming in

7:30

closer media headquarters in New York City and

7:32

then had all the department heads came and

7:35

I just went through all the sort of

7:37

situations that could arise on set and how

7:39

to be respectful of William, how to treat

7:41

sensory issues right. For instance you know we

7:43

even went so far as you know well

7:46

what if you know there's dust on the

7:48

lights and you know it causes the smell

7:50

that he doesn't like you know we want

7:52

to make sure that we're trying to avoid

7:54

any sort of issues like that. There's

7:57

just so many things that went into it and I think

7:59

that In reality, what happened was

8:01

by doing that, it actually made a much

8:04

more positive set environment for everyone.

8:07

It really created an environment where people,

8:11

it was such a loving experience on set. I

8:13

mean, it's one

8:15

of the best memories I've had in my

8:17

life. And I just really

8:20

am proud of what

8:23

came out of that as well. I

8:25

want to talk a little bit more about

8:27

William Fitzgerald, because I mean, he is a

8:30

first time actor. And this role is a

8:32

big lift. He's funny, and he's emotional. And

8:34

in the film, we watch him go line

8:36

for line with this incredible cast of industry

8:38

veterans. I'm curious, for either

8:40

of you, are there ways in

8:43

which the script changed, in which the character

8:45

changed once you found William and started working

8:47

with him as Ezra? There

8:50

wasn't much that needed to be changed at

8:52

all, because he was the type

8:55

of humor that

8:57

he had, the type of speaking without

8:59

a filter, that that was

9:01

what Dimitri was when he was 11. And

9:04

it was what made the script sort

9:08

of vibrant. And he was

9:10

not as, perhaps, inappropriate as

9:12

my son was. And

9:15

I can explain the

9:17

reason to that, being that William

9:19

Fitzgerald's fantastic people. And

9:22

I was probably not a great influence. But

9:25

the idea of what

9:28

needed to change for William was, no.

9:30

It was just about letting William be

9:32

William. And so

9:35

he had instincts at certain points where

9:37

he would improvise something. And all of

9:39

a sudden, it was just explosively funny.

9:41

And then there was my Dimitri, right?

9:44

Because that was where this whole thing

9:46

started. It was the things

9:48

that my son did that got him

9:50

into trouble that I thought were extremely

9:53

brilliant and out of

9:55

the box and fought on in

9:57

some ways. And So what's

9:59

the point? Tony Goldman did, which

10:01

was so wonderful is that he allowed

10:03

William to be William. and that's what

10:06

we all did. And that's everything that

10:08

Alex represents, less everything that the film

10:10

represents. It's not about changing, are fixing

10:12

your child, It's about letting him B

10:15

or C b who they are. And

10:17

I would just add, that's. One.

10:19

Of the things that I really loved

10:21

about him from the very start as

10:24

his so passionate about his interests right?

10:26

Like people who are artistic have special

10:28

interest. I certainly do and I will

10:30

not shut up about them and he's

10:32

the same way. Ah, you know he.

10:34

I was invited over to his house

10:36

by his parents and we spent. About

10:39

an hour watching you know

10:41

you tube videos about history

10:43

as of the Civil War

10:45

assists and the world history

10:48

and and. You. Know he

10:50

just it is so passes and and filled

10:52

with joy and I think that I'm in

10:54

a huge is see that in the stemming

10:56

You know because stemming is not just oh

10:59

I'm overwhelmed. It's also

11:01

I'm excited about this thing I'm talking

11:03

about mean I. I think that. When.

11:05

We got onset. One of the

11:07

things that I really push willing

11:09

to do was was you don't

11:11

sometimes bring his own spencer things

11:13

because I think that's why. His

11:16

character resonates so much with the because it's

11:18

authentic and it and it it taps into

11:20

something that's true to who he is in

11:22

a in a way and and who we

11:24

all are in a way. One of

11:27

the things that stuck with me and the sun

11:29

was as the scene where Max. Is really

11:31

just grappling with the choices he's made and

11:33

how he can best sell up for his.

11:35

Sign and he says i don't want him in

11:37

his own world and want him in this world

11:40

and and all our people have written about that

11:42

mama but it it really just as stayed with

11:44

me to be either if you say more about

11:46

that. This. Is sort of. As

11:49

much lightness and enjoy as there is

11:51

in the film, it's it's for needs.

11:53

That's. The core pain. That's

11:56

like when you ride from a. Really?

11:58

Good deep place, You are

12:00

gonna have to. Share.

12:04

Your. Stuff that. Super.

12:06

Privately and super painful. And I

12:08

think that that line. Is.

12:11

Everything I had to overcome. You

12:13

know I'm I wanted him. In.

12:15

This world? Well you know, The

12:18

journey from Max's. You

12:21

can have, that may be it's it's

12:23

that. Years is his world and your

12:25

world. And I think that's that's the

12:27

most important thing is you trials of

12:29

Pappy. They're in their own world,

12:31

often calm, maybe not all the time.

12:34

The. New have to adjust to who they

12:36

are, not make them become who you think

12:38

they should be. and I think that's also

12:41

something that we as autistic people go through

12:43

you know and sort of a different way

12:45

in that we want to be like everyone

12:47

else and then at least my my journey.

12:50

with that was that realizing that like I

12:52

don't want to be like everyone else, I

12:54

want to be like myself and I think

12:56

that this movie release a explores I in

12:59

a way that I think. We'll

13:01

make people think about. Okay, well maybe

13:03

I shouldn't be trying so hard to

13:05

be something I'm not. so. Nice of you

13:07

or do you hope that people will take away when

13:09

they see the some. For me,

13:12

the biggest thing. That

13:14

I hope and I'm already seen

13:17

People Take away is that there

13:19

is finally a movie where I

13:21

can see myself on screen. I've

13:24

gotten so many messages from autistic

13:26

people who. Went. Into

13:28

watching this movie with a

13:31

lot of skepticism. I'm. Because.

13:35

Pretty. Much every depiction that we

13:37

usually sees is not true life

13:40

and it doesn't represent us and

13:42

a lot of times it's damaging.

13:44

But I've gotten so many messages

13:46

from autistic people who watch the

13:49

film who are in tears sometimes

13:51

because they finally seen something where

13:53

they feel represented, seal seen and

13:55

heard and understood them. That when

13:58

I. When. I love. Seeing

14:00

his people, Feeling. That

14:02

it's captured a part of their own

14:05

lives so that they're not alone and

14:07

they're seeing something. Represented.

14:09

In. I. Think that. As

14:11

much as it does that were the autism

14:13

community I also have to say. That.

14:16

It's it's it's it's the parents

14:18

of. That. Communities.

14:21

That's. Also so well represented in the

14:23

stone. the. The. Things that

14:26

I gather. Very much from fathers

14:28

who come up to me and and just

14:30

bernard cry and then we would tell a

14:32

hug each other and and it's like hardly

14:35

words need to be shared with. It's.

14:37

Been. An overwhelming amount

14:39

of mail that I guess errands

14:41

and family. Courses. So

14:43

happy to see something represented where

14:46

you can do the wrong things.

14:48

But the right thing can happen

14:50

because of love. County

14:52

scared off as and. Alex playing their

14:54

new movie as as thrive in

14:56

theaters now since U S. Thank you

14:59

so much! Thanks you so much. So.

15:01

This episode was pretty spike us

15:03

compress and Catherine saying that was

15:06

edited by Sarah model or executive

15:08

producer or semi in advance. And

15:10

one more thing before we tell

15:12

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