July is Pride Disability Month and a new indie film starring two disabled actors is creating a lot of buzz in Hollywood. California Live’s Danielle Nottingham sat down with "Daruma" actors Tobias Forrest and John Lawson to talk about the importance of representation and authentic casting in films. Daruma is the first film to star two disabled leads in a storyline that is not about a disability. Forrest and Lawson star as neighbors Patrick and Robert who have to transport Patrick’s young daughter across the country to live wither her maternal grandparents. The film recently sold out on its premiere night at TCL Chinese Theatre.
“It proves that there is an audience out there for authentically cast films with disabled people and it has nothing to do with disability, it’s just two guys discovering the human experience,” says Lawson who is a double hand amputee.
One in four people identify as having a disability yet Gracenote Inclusion Analytics says only 8.8% of the top recurring cast members in popular broadcast, cable and streaming programs represent the disabled community. Forrest, who is wheelchair bound after a spinal cord injury, says making the film has been a dream come true, “the movie was inclusive and the audience was inclusive. This was a unique chance for John and I to be able to play guys a bit like ourselves. We happen to be neighbors in real life and friends in real life.”
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Daruma also stars Barry Bostwick and Abigail Hawk.
