Actress Ruth Madeley discusses starring in the new Apple film Being Heumann

A major movie about one of the most pivotal times in the disability rights movement is in theaters. Being Human is being called a heartfelt real-life drama follows the late activist Judy Heumann. Actress Ruth Madeley plays Judy, joins us this morning. Thank you so much for being here. What a story this is and what a woman Judy was. I know. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to talk about Judy and tell the world how great this movie is. Yeah. So this all brings us back to 1977. More than 100 people with disabilities did a whole sit-in in the San Francisco Federal Building. It was a huge protest, really forcing the government to enforce part of the Rehabilitation Act, which basically requires federal spaces to have access. Access. It's amazing to look back and think how much there wasn't that was accessible to so many people. Absolutely. And this was even before I was born. And the fact that I had the privilege of growing up in a world that did have curb cuts and things and elevators and access to get on transport was all because of these people and specifically Judy fighting for rights that I never knew that I would need. Wow. Playing this role, clearly huge for you. It was in 2010, President Barack Obama actually selected Judy to lead the International Disability Rights Diplomacy for the State Department. When you were selected to be part of this film, did you feel the pressure to make sure that you depicted Judy as Judy? Absolutely. I mean, the biggest pressure I could ever imagine. But pressure is such a privilege. And what a privilege to be trusted with this character, this story. And yet the... This is the biggest privilege of my career. This is a high-energy film. There is a lot of power in it. What was it like playing in this role? And you get a huge cast, lots of disabled actors as well, which I think was important, especially for this movie, clearly. Absolutely. I think playing Judy, she was such a complex character. people often outside looking in know her as the icon, the mother of the disability rights movement, but we were really, Sian and I were really really passionate about showing all of the different layers that she had, her humour, her vulnerability, her spikiness and I think that's what was so great about having so many different actors with disabilities on this show that we could all just be different characters rather than having to be the one disabled person on the production and hold all of the representation in in one character and i was just so so honored to share the screen with with all of them Yeah. This director, by the way, the same director who did Coda, which was the predominantly deaf cast, which was just so moving and such a good film. So I know this one is just as good. Being Human playing now in select theaters comes to Apple TV this Friday as well. Thank you so much for being with us and being part of this film.