Bryan Cranston Plays Disabled Character in 'The Upside'

Bryan Cranston is the latest able-bodied actor in Hollywood to play a disabled character. “The Upside,” which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on Friday, stars Cranston as a wealthy quadriplegic man who hires a man with a criminal record (Kevin Hart) to take care of him. The film is based on the 2011 French film “The Intouchables,” which also stars an able-bodied actor in the role of a disabled man.

At the film’s screening, director Neil Burger told the Press Association in Toronto:

It is a really interesting question, does an able-bodied actor have the right to play a person with a disability? And there’s arguments on both sides of it.

All I know is that we did an incredible amount of research and went at it with as much respect and honesty that we could – and certainly Bryan Cranston did – and our goal is to shed light and be compassionate and be respectful to those communities.

“The Upside” is at least the third film this year to star an able-bodied actor in a disabled role. In July, Alec Baldwin starred as a blind man in the film “Blind,” and in October, Andrew Garfield will play disability advocate Robin Cavendish in “Breathe.”

Lack of casting diversity is repeatedly a problem in Hollywood. According to a report published by The Ruderman Family Foundation in 2016, nearly 20 percent of the country’s population lives with a disability and yet 95 percent of characters with disabilities are played by able-bodied actors.

“While we don’t know the auditioning history of ‘The Upside,’ casting a non-disabled actor to play a character with a disability is highly problematic and deprives performers with disabilities the chance to work and gain exposure,” Jay Ruderman, president of the Ruderman Family Foundation told the Press Association.