The Direct spoke with the talented subjects and filmmakers behind the upcoming documentary Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore at SXSW, including Marlee Matlin, Lauren Ridloff, Shoshannah Stern (Director), Robyn Kopp (Producer), and Sara Newens (Editor).
The movie tells the story of the titular legendary deaf actress and how her journey was crucial to bringing change to the entertainment industry and opened up countless doors for improved accessibility and awareness.
How The Challenges Faced By These Deaf Acting Legends Have Evolved
"I Think Today, People Are More Aware of the Issue of Accessibility."
- The Direct: "How have your personal challenges that you faced within the industry changed and evolved since when you started compared to where you are now?"
Marlee Matlin: It's been a long time. It's almost been 38 years since I started, and I think the changes [are] slowly and gradually happening. But I think it's not because of me taking, you know, a voice and saying, This is what we need to do, and this is what we shouldn't be doing.
And making noise, really from day one, is how I approach it. And most times, people have been listening too. Other times, people don't want to listen to, or they don't have the guts to listen to, they just want to take the easy route, or they want to keep using the same people over and over again.
But I think today, people are more aware of the issue of accessibility. I think that people are just more clued in. But there are still people who don't get it because they're worried about ratings or they're worried about the box office, and yet, I am confident that the things that are happening and changing that we're going to get things done as long as we, just keep going and not stopping.
The film also follows deaf actress Lauren Ridloff, who is known for her major roles in both The Walking Dead and Eternals.
Lauren Ridloff: Well, I feel that there's more unity in terms of telling what we actually need to see change in Hollywood. The topic of filmmaking is not just singular anymore. I think that is the biggest shift. I think now, here on the red carpet, we have Marlee, we have Shoshannah. We have friends who are actually here in town promoting his documentary, as well as other filmmakers.
There's power in numbers, and I think we have that opportunity to share our experience and information. What are the best practices? And I think that's the biggest change that has happened.
The Challenges of Creating a Documentary
"I [Promised Myself] That I Would Never Use the World Challenge..."
- The Direct: "Putting together and creating a documentary is a lot of work, and there's a lot of challenges, but what, what do you think was the most surprising challenge that you just didn't expect when you were getting it all done."
Shoshannah Stern: Well, I made a promise to myself that when I took this job, and said yes, that I would direct for the very first time in my life, but I would never use the word challenge, and I would replace that word with opportunity.
And I'm so happy that I did that because when I started watching documentaries to prepare for doing this film, I was realizing, oh, all documentaries out in the world have been about hearing people directed by hearing people who use spoken English, and I am going to do a documentary about someone who communicates in American Sign Language, and I also communicate in American Sign Language, which is visual based.
So how am I going to take the camera from the interview to like an archival piece and then have a voiceover on it? We can't do that. And so I thought we have this really fun opportunity to see just what it would be like to reshape the form of documentary and just see what a visually faced documentary would look like. And I made sure to find people.
We call ourselves the Avengers. The Avengers Assemble. And everyone saw it as well as an opportunity. And it was just magical. I'm proud of it.
Robyn Kopp: I think, from a producing standpoint, I underestimated—because I had never really been around many deaf people in my life, just hadn't happened.
And so I was unprepared for all of the added thinking I had to do to make sure that all of our interviews, all of our shoots were as accessible as possible. That the playing field was super level. And what I learned, and what Shoshannah taught me, is that hearing people, those of us that can hear, we often need as much accessibility as deaf people in order for me to understand what was happening in the interview where Shoshannah was interviewing Marley, I needed accessibility.
I needed interpreters to tell me what was going on. And so we all benefit from accessibility in the world. And so that was something that I learned on both the production level, but also on a deep human level.
Sara Newens: I can talk about in the edit, having to work with ASL as our primary language, which is a visual language. It was a very different editing approach than I was used to. We had to come up with some creative solutions to make sure that it was always on screen and always accessible to the audience.
So, we have a lot of split screens in the film. We don't really have any voiceover, we don't really have B-roll covering like you normally would edit you, you know, to cover up some cuts, show a photo, social, home videos. It's a great crutch.
Why Now Is the Perfect Time for Marlee Matlin's Documentary
"I Think the Times Are Perfect for This Kind of Film..."
- The Direct: "Why is now the perfect time for this film?"
Marlee Matlin: I think the times are perfect for this kind of film, because there's no better time. American Masters approached me and said, 'Do you want to do the show?'
And because I've been around for a while, and there are so many stories that have been waiting to be told, that it would think it was perfect to put them all together in one package. So I think it was good and it was just the perfect time for Shoshannah to put this together.
Lauren Ridloff: I don't think now is, I think yesterday is the perfect time, but it's better now than never.
Robyn Kopp: Oh my gosh. Well, I think I would say now, because Marlee's story is timeless and should always be told.
I think at this moment, right now in March 2025, the idea that services for people with disabilities, the idea that inclusion is being attacked in many ways at the highest level of government, like a film like this, that just shows that this incredible woman was paving the way and working so hard to create rights for everyone.
That gives me hope because she did that then, and so many of us need to keep doing that and carry the torch and keep going. And I'm just so inspired and hopeful from Marlee, and I think we could all use that right now.
Sara Newens: I just think making this film made me realize, just the little bit of shift and how we engage in the world would be so much more accessible to everybody.
We just, there were just, like, small things we could do, like captioning every film... There's just ways that we can engage more with the deaf community as hearing people that we can engage more just shifting a little bit of how we approach things.
The full video interviews can be seen here:
Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore does not currently have a release window, but it did screen at SXSW.
