We’ve reached the 20th anniversary of the drama I Am Sam. Starring Sean Penn in his Oscar-nominated lead role as a father with an intellectual disability, the film was directed by Jessie Nelson, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Kristine Johnson. Looking back at the movie in honor of its big anniversary, Nelson opened up about her memories of developing I Am Sam two decades ago in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
For the most part, Nelson looks back at I Am Sam rather fondly. Because of her continued love and support for the disability community, the film also still holds a special place with the filmmaker. There were some difficulties in the film’s production she also remembers, however, as Penn was not her ideal casting choice. Nelson says she didn’t have a choice with the casting 20 years ago, but if the film were to be made today, she wouldn’t follow through with it unless someone from the community was in the lead role.
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This has nothing to do with Penn’s abilities as an actor. In fact, Nelson describes his portrayal as an “undeniably beautiful” performance, and she’s very happy with how it turned out, given the circumstances. The director says she was even dropped from the project at one point due to these casting clashes, but her hope was to make sure her lead would give Sam the proper characterization.
Jessie Nelson knew from the start of production on I Am Sam that the lead needed to be a big name star, and her top choice at that point was Sean Penn. She still felt determined to get representation from the community in the film, which she was able to do when casting Sam’s circle of friends. Even this came with its challenges, but Nelson was able to win this particular battle.
Jay Ruderman, president of the Ruderman Family Foundation which advocates for people with disabilities, spoke with THR about how actors have been winning Best Actor awards at the Oscars for decades. We’ve even seen it happen in the past two ceremonies. This year, Anthony Hopkins became the oldest-ever Oscar winner for his performance as a man suffering from dementia in The Father. Last year, Joaquin Phoenix won a Best Actor Oscar for Joker based on his portrayal of a mentally ill man suffering from emotional incontinence.
“In the past 30 years, half of the men who have won the Best Actor Oscar have won for playing a disability,” Ruderman said. “Twenty percent of the American public, and of the world’s public, has some form of disability, and routinely they’ve been excluded from representing themselves in entertainment.”
