The crowd-pleasing new movie “Being Heumann” was inspired by the spirit and legacy of its firebrand namesake.
USA TODAY has the exclusive debut of the first full trailer for the true-life drama (in select theaters Nov. 6 and streaming on Apple TV Nov. 13), based on the 2020 memoir of disability rights activist Judy Heumann, who died in 2023.
Director Siân Heder’s follow-up to best picture winner “CODA” stars British actress Ruth Madeley as Judy, who leads a 1977 group sit-in/takeover of a San Francisco federal building wanting equal rights and access for the disabled. The determined bunch demands the federal signature of civil rights regulations under Section 504 of 1973's Rehabilitation Act.
“Judy never took no for an answer. She had a vision
for a world that included disabled people and she had true bravery and ferocity in that fight,” Heder tells USA TODAY. “We were trying to do something that hadn’t been done on this scale before, working with a large ensemble of authentically disabled actors. We created an accessible set, reinventing moviemaking along the way, that allowed these incredible artists to bring the performances they did.
“I hope that would have made Judy proud.”
Madeley was “such a gem when I found her,” Heder says. "She had so much of the same drive and power as Judy, but also her humor and warmth.” But every person cast as a key character was “a unicorn,” the director adds. “I ended up with a beautiful mixture of seasoned performers and first-time actors who had never been on a set before. Everyone brought themselves to these roles and created a truly unique and thrilling ensemble.”
Dylan O’Brien costars as Evan White, a TV reporter who helps out Judy’s cause, while Mark Ruffalo plays Joe Califano, the U.S. secretary of Health, Education and Welfare – and the film’s antagonist of sorts – who’s caught between keeping his job and doing the right thing.
“He was in a terrible position, having been tasked with cutting the federal budget and then being faced with 100 disabled people camped out in his building, demanding that he spend $2 billion in 60 days,” Heder says. “He was a guy who was proud of his civil rights record and felt that he had always been on the right side of history, but in this case, he was the villain.
“That tension really appealed to Mark and he brought such beautiful empathy and humor to a role that could have been some mustache-twirly bad guy.”
Heder hopes Hollywood sees in “Being Heumann” the disabled talent that’s out there in the world and the positives of an inclusive environment.
The filmmaker points out a line in the movie where Evan tells Judy that he was inspired by her story. “Inspired to do something or just inspired?” she asks.
“My hope for the movie is that audiences are inspired to do something,” Heder says. “In a time when a lot of people are feeling powerless, community and collective action are going to save us. We need to amplify the voices of those who haven’t been given a voice. The civil rights that people fought for in the 1970s are more important than ever now. We have to keep fighting for the underdog and speaking truth to power.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ‘Being Heumann’ trailer brings Judy Heumann’s fight to life | Exclusive
