Siân Heder & The ‘Being Heumann’ Crew On Creating An Inclusive Film & Production Environment — Contenders London

“I think we created history,” Being Heumann producer Kevin Walsh concluded this morning during a Q&A session at Deadline’s Contenders London. The veteran producer wasn’t speaking specifically about the feature film, but the accessible environment he and director Siân Heder created on the film’s set. “We are as proud of that as we are of the movie,” Walsh continued. The Apple Original Films title tells the true story of disability-rights advocate Judy Heumann, played by Doctor Who alum Ruth Madeley. Based on Heumann’s memoir, it centers on the year 1977, when Heumann led more than 100 disabled people to take over the San Francisco Federal Building, kicking off a 28-day sit-in — the longest occupation of a federal building in U.S. history. The protesters form a tightly bound community, refusing to leave until the government enforces Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, which required all federal spaces to become accessible. Watch on Deadline “We really approached this film with the same kind of relentlessness that Judy approached her life,” Walsh said. “We had 10 disabled leads. It took a lot of detail to make it accessible. Making ramps that were accessible with trailers, retrofitting hair and makeup trailers for disabled actors to be able to use. It took a company like Apple to really support us.” Discussing the origins of the project, Heder said a friend who worked on the Sundance documentary Crip Camp, which starred the late Judy Heumann, tipped her off about Heumann’s life story. “A friend of mine was the accessibility coordinator for Crip Camp at Sundance, and she sent me a text message and said, I’m hanging out with this woman, Judy Heumann. She’s the coolest woman on the planet, and someone should make a movie about her,” Heder explained. “I’d had a very profound experience on Coda, entering the deaf community and really understanding how many of these stories aren’t told. There are so many of these incredible stories within the disability community, and they are just never represented.” Heder said she later saw Crip Camp and read Heumann’s memoir, which introduced her to the story of the 504 protests. “I was just really intrigued by Judy because she’s so funny. She was this little woman with this Brooklyn accent. She was so self-possessed and so hilariously in command of everybody,” Heder said. Being Heumann debuted last month at TIFF and screens this week in London as one of the London Film Festival headline galas. The film will debut in select theaters on November 6 before dropping on Apple TV on November 13.