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CODA makes history at the 2022 Academy Awards. The film, which brings Deaf actors and the Deaf community to the forefront, secured the Oscar in the best picture category. The coming-of-age comedy-drama film written and directed by Sian Heder won over popular productions with big budgets, including Belfast and Power of the Dog.
After the film’s well-deserved winning, Eugenio Derbez , which plays Bernardo Villalobos, a music teacher trying to help a 17-year-old girl develop her singing voice after being the only hearing member of her family, reacts on how surprised he is that CODA, a remake movie with a budget of $10 million, won three Academy Awards.
“CODA was the smallest movie of all. A low-budget movie competing with huge films like Dune, Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley, [Steven] Spielberg’s West Side Story, we thought we weren’t going to have a chance of winning against these superstars and million dollar movies,” says the Mexican actor during an interview with Despierta America.
“And to be honest, the costumes that I wore in the movie, I brought them myself because there was no budget,” reveals Derbez. “I wanted a special wardrobe, a modern wardrobe, and they told me, ‘we don’t have money. There is only what we already bought.’ So I said, well, don’t worry, I’ll take care of my clothes,” he added. “That’s how small the budget was on this movie, and that it won is a complete surprise to us.”
According to the actor, when he met Troy Kotsur, they shared a special moment that didn’t need any words. “Troy told me, ‘I just saw your movie Instructions Not Included because I wanted to get to know you better,’” Eugenio said, adding that Kotsur wanted to share something else. Still, they couldn’t keep on communicating because the director called Derbez to start filming.
“I did my scene, and from far, Troy and I locked eyes and just looking at each other, he was able to communicate. They can’t communicate verbally, but these actors‘ capacity to express themselves with their eyes is so special that when the director said ‘cut,’ we ran toward each other and hugged for about three minutes. And that was the first day we met,” Derbez says.
“From there, we became a family, and I have learned so much from this community. I hope they don’t get overlooked and fall into stereotypes like [Hollywood] did to Latinos. They call us to be a gangster, a drug dealer, or gardener. I hope the Deaf community is also considered for movies that don’t have to be with Deaf people. That for me is inclusivity,” he said.
CODA (an acronym for “child of deaf adults”), which is now streaming on Apple TV+, tells the story of Ruby Rossi (Emilia Jones), a teenage girl who works mornings before school to help her parents and brother keep their fishing business afloat. After joining her high school’s choir club, Ruby finds herself drawn to her duet partner and her latent passion for singing. CODA is also the first best picture win for a streaming service.