This film focuses on the only hearing member of a deaf family – and it has a noteworthy legacy
CODA first hit the headlines back in January when it won four major prizes at the Sundance Film Festival and was snapped up by Apple TV+ for a reported festival record of $25m (£18m).
Now the movie has been released on the streaming service and is likely to be one of their contenders come awards season, but it is the legacy it is leaving in terms of accessibility that is really noteworthy.
CODA stands for Child of Deaf Adults and the film centres on Ruby – the only hearing member of a deaf family – whose loyalties are torn when she discovers a passion for singing that could lead her away from the family home and business.
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The drama features deaf actors in many of the main roles, and much of its dialogue is shown through American Sign Language (ASL).
Writer and director Sian Heder told Sky News that in researching the project she quickly realised she was planning to do something that is rarely seen on screen.
“I wish I could say it was an easier ride,” Heder said.
“When I started writing the script, I went out and I was like, okay, I got to go find the deaf movies, and you’re looking for them and you’re going back to Children Of A Lesser God 30 years ago – which is Marlee Matlin’s Oscar-winning performance – but since then it’s just so few and far between, I could count them on one hand, the stories that portray deaf characters, especially in leading roles.
“[I was] looking for these portrayals and trying to find a pure ASL scene on screen where you’re watching characters relate in ASL and so it was interesting to sort of be heading into a bit of unknown territory where it was like: ‘Oh, there’s no roadmap for this, we’re going to discover this on our own.'”
Heder said that visiting the set of US show This Close – which was created by and stars deaf actors – helped her to understand what was needed to capture the story she’d written on film, and that she’s now hoping to set an example for other film-makers.
Marlee Matlin (right) appears in CODA. Pic: Apple
“Figuring out how many interpreters do we need to have on set and where do they need to be, and, you know, we have a vocal track – someone at the monitor who’s just speaking the lines into a track so the editor can cut those scenes.”
“Now I want to sort of share that information because I think people are daunted when they think about it – it’s like ‘how did you work with deaf actors?’ And I’m like, ‘actually it was really easy once we put the things in place to facilitate communication on set and make an accessible set.’
“But there isn’t really a way that it’s normally been done because it hasn’t been done very often.”
And it’s not just the on-screen action which is likely to have an impact on future film-making.
Apple have announced that CODA will be the first film ever to have burned-in subtitles, meaning that it will be accessible to anyone that wants to watch it.
Sian Heder says stories like CODA are rarely seen on screen. Pic: Appla
Matlin plays the main character’s mother in CODA, and says she was captivated by the project as soon as she read the script.
“I didn’t want anyone else to take it away, I wanted this role, the opportunity, and I thought this was a story that was a long time in coming that we really needed to share,” Matlin told Sky News.
“It had to do with deaf culture and sign language and on so many levels it was a universal story as well, it was the perfect vehicle for me as an actor to be involved.”
Matlin hopes that just as she did decades ago with Children of a Lesser God, this film will encourage audiences to realise stories about the deaf community can be relevant to anyone.
“I hope that people will be able to see – the same way they saw Children Of A Lesser God – they’ll be taken aback by seeing a deaf character, now we’re talking about several deaf characters carrying the film, that people will see now finally realising, oh, OK, there are thousands of stories, universal stories that are within the deaf community that need to be told and to be shared.
“The beauty of our culture, the beauty of our language, the beauty of our stories, as I said, just to remind people that we’re people just like everybody else, and we have wonderful stories to tell.”
Her husband in the film is played by deaf stage actor Troy Kotsur.
He is also the real-life father of a CODA who he admits “saw the parallels” between what happens in the film and their own family experiences.
Troy Kotsur (right) plays Matlin’s husband in CODA. Pic: Apple
Kotsur told Sky News that it’s difficult for hearing people to understand what it’s like being a CODA – his on-screen daughter Ruby is teased at school by teenagers who have no idea what her life is like.
“She had a hard time trying to articulate what it’s like growing up in a deaf family, nobody understands that,” he explained.
“And it’s different than a typical experience where you have a different spoken language – here with deaf culture and sign language she had to sign at home because that’s the language that we used as a family and then leaving home, she had to adapt and didn’t sign very much.
“The movie depicts her journey navigating between two separate worlds, and this is an opportunity to really share that with the viewers about what it’s like being a CODA.”
For Emilia Jones, who plays Ruby, landing the role meant learning ASL, learning to fish and having singing lessons for the first time.
But despite it sounding like a daunting list of tasks, the actress explained to Sky News that she relished the opportunity, and particularly enjoyed learning ASL which she did for nine months before getting to set, then more intensively with ASL Masters Alexandria Wailes and Anne Tomasetti.
Emilia Jones’ character discovers a passion for singing. Pic: Apple
Jones said: “I wanted to be pushed and I wanted to be challenged so they pushed me very hard.
“I guess it’s like when you’re learning French, you go and live in France and you learn so much more, so the minute I landed, I started intense training and then I met Troy, Daniel [Durant who plays her brother Leo] and Marlee and we kind of started rehearsals and we worked closely together, I just learnt so much faster.”
For Heder, seeing her the words she wrote come alive on screen via ASL was a process she describes as “incredible” – starting when she and ASL Master Alexandria Wailes went through the script line by line, long before they got on set.
Heder explained: “She would read the line of dialogue and she would talk to me about my intention with the line and the emotional state of the character and then she would give me her sign choices and say, ‘what do you think about this?’
“I remember there was a line where the sign for dead was kind of a passive sign [so I asked] ‘is there something more active – she’s really angry in this moment – that could kind of be sharper?’ And so the sign for ‘killing me’ was like a much more dynamic sign in that moment.
“And it was just the coolest process to go through line by line and discover together this completely visual language.”
CODA is in cinemas and available to stream on Apple TV_.
RuPaul has said his “heart is broken” following the death of former Drag Race winner, The Vivienne.
The drag queen and TV presenter said on Instagram on Monday he joined the entire Drag Race universe in mourning the loss of The Vivienne, whom he called “an incredibly talented queen and a lovely human being”.
The Vivienne, whose real name was James Lee Williams, won the first series of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK in 2019.
Read more: The Vivienne’s rise as a drag ‘trailblazer’
The 32-year-old’s death was confirmed by their publicist Simon Jones on Sunday evening.
Danny Beard, who won the reality show in 2022, called The Vivienne “a proper entertainer” and “one of the most passionate, talented, geeky, girls I’ve ever known” and their death meant “there’s a piece missing now”.
Cheddar Gorgeous, that year’s runner-up, said on Instagram they had lost “a peer, a friend and an icon”, adding that “the entire world of entertainment grieves” and it was “impossible to make sense of such sadness”.
RuPaul joined the entire Drag Race universe in mourning the loss of The Vivienne
Bagachipz said on social media they would “talk to you before I go onstage for every single show I do”, calling The Vivienne a “powerhouse when you hit that stage”.
The Vivienne’s ex-husband, David Ludford, said the performer “made me feel love and shown me what it was really like to love someone”.
The Vivienne at the UK premiere of Wicked in November. Pic: AP
The Vivienne, 32, rose to prominence in 2015 after becoming the UK Drag Ambassador for the American series of RuPaul’s Drag Race.
The show sees drag queens competing in front of a panel of judges to become the next drag superstar.
The Vivienne, whose drag name came from their love of designer Vivienne Westwood, later competed in the first UK series of the show in 2019, going on to win it after lip-syncing in the final to the Wham! hit I’m Your Man.
Williams, who was born in Wales, also came third on the 2023 series of Dancing On Ice.
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A spokesman for Cheshire Police said officers were called to a house in Chorlton-by-Backford, near Chester, at 12.22pm on Sunday following reports of a sudden death.
The force said there were “no suspicious circumstances”.
Entertainment
Golden Globes 2025: Emilia Perez, The Brutalist, Wicked, Baby Reindeer and Shogun among the night’s big winners
Emilia Perez and The Brutalist were the big film winners at this year’s Golden Globe Awards, with Shogun and Baby Reindeer leading the field for TV.
Emilia Perez, an operatic musical which tells the story of a Mexican drug lord who changes gender, was named best comedy or musical, best non-English language film and also won best song, while star Zoe Saldana picked up the award for best supporting actress.
Accepting the film’s top award, trans actress Karla Sofia Gascon, 52, told the audience: “The light always wins over darkness. You can maybe put us in jail. You can beat us up. But you never can take away our soul or existence or identity… I am who I am. Not who you want.”
Postwar epic The Brutalist won the awards for best drama, best actor for star Adrien Brody – who plays a Hungarian architect attempting to build a life in the US after the Second World War in the film – and best director for Brady Corbet.
The Brutalist actor Adrien Brody, winner of the award for best male actor in a drama, with his co-stars Felicity Jones and Guy Pearce. Pic: AP
Kieran Culkin was among the acting winners for his performance in A Real Pain. Pic: Reuters/Mario Anzuoni
There were also acting wins for Demi Moore (The Substance), Sebastian Stan (A Different Man), Fernanda Torres (I’m Still Here) and Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain).
Moore, 62, gave an emotional speech as she collected her statuette, saying it was the first award of her 45-year acting career and that she was “in shock” to beat the likes of Wicked star Cynthia Erivo and Challengers actress Zendaya.
Demi Moore picked up the Golden Globe for best performance by a female actor in a motion picture – musical or comedy – for The Substance. Pic: AP
Wicked stars and filmmakers (L-R): Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Marc Platt, and Jon M Chu. Pic: AP
“Thirty years ago, I had a producer tell me that I was a popcorn actress,” she said, adding that it made her feel that while she could make box office hits, she would never be “acknowledged”. When she came across the script for The Substance, however, she said it felt like the universe telling her, “you’re not done”.
The Wizard Of Oz prequel blockbuster Wicked, the most talked about film of the year, missed out on acting awards for its stars Erivo and Ariana Grande, but took home the cinematic and box office achievement prize.
In his speech, director Jon M Chu said: “In a time where pessimism and cynicism rule the planet, that we can still make art that is a radical act of optimism that is empowerment and that is joy… this means so much to all of us.”
Baby Reindeer and the other TV wins
Hiroyuki Sanada scooped one of three acting awards for Shogun. Pic: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters
In the TV categories, Japenese historical drama Shogun dominated, picking up three acting awards for its stars Hiroyuki Sanada, Anna Sawai and Tadanobu Asano, and also the prize for best drama.
Baby Reindeer also had a successful night, with a supporting gong for actress Jessica Gunning, and the award for best limited series.
The series, about a comedian and barman who is stalked by an older woman, was a huge hit and criticially acclaimed, but has more recently made headlines for facing a lawsuit from a woman who says the show identified her as the “real” Martha, the character played by Gunning.
Baby Reindeer was named best limited TV series. Pic: Reuters
Accepting the award, creator and star Richard Gadd told the audience that people often ask him why such a dark show has been so successful.
“I think in a lot of ways, people were kind of crying out for something that… spoke to the kind of painful inconsistencies of being human,” the 35-year-old said. I think for a while now, there’s been this kind of belief in television that stories that are too dark and complicated won’t sell and no one will watch them.
“So I hope that Baby Reindeer has done away with that theory. Because I think right now, when the world’s in the state that it’s in, and people are really struggling, we need stories that speak to the complicated and difficult nature of our times.”
Read more:
The red carpet in pictures
The full list of winners
Colin Farrell was recognised for his performance in The Penguin. Pic: Reuters/Mario Anzuoni
Gadd missed out on the acting award in the show’s category – which was won by Irish star Colin Farrell, 48, for his portrayal of Batman villain Penguin in the series of the same name.
Farrell, who wore heavy prosthetics as he campaigned to be the new kingpin of Gotham in the show, joked on stage that he had “no one to thank” and that he “did it all by myself”.
The ceremony in Los Angeles was hosted by comedian Nikki Glaser, who made jokes about everything from Ozempic, the drug being used for weight loss by Hollywood stars, to Sean “Diddy” Combs – who has pleaded not guilty to charges of sex trafficking and racketeering and is currently in jail awaiting trial after being arrested last year.
“Welcome to the 82nd Golden Globes, Ozempic’s biggest night,” Glaser said as she opened the ceremony.
She also referenced the huge A-list support for Kamala Harris in the election – and how it didn’t translate to a win.
“You could really do anything… except tell the country who to vote for,” she said.
Ahead of the evented, authorities said they had implemented “increased security measures” following the vehicle attack in New Orleans and Las Vegas Cybertruck explosion on New Year’s Day.
A heavy police presence surrounded the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles, with a wider and more enforced perimeter than usual around the hotel.
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