{"id":4326,"date":"2020-09-24T12:31:57","date_gmt":"2020-09-24T16:31:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/?p=4326"},"modified":"2020-09-24T23:38:08","modified_gmt":"2020-09-25T03:38:08","slug":"interview-andrew-hinderaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/2020\/09\/24\/interview-andrew-hinderaker\/","title":{"rendered":"Netflix Hit ‘Away’ Creator Andrew Hinderaker on Disability in the Media (and Wheelchairs in Space)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Netflix is on a tear in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and I just can\u2019t get enough of new shows to binge watch during my downtime\u2014especially since world travel isn\u2019t exactly a thing right now. I\u2019m a huge space geek, so I was intrigued when I recently saw that one of the top new shows on the streaming platform was about a mission to Mars, called Away<\/a><\/em>. I\u2019m also a fan of Hilary Swank and Josh Charles, who play the two main characters, so I started the binge.  What I saw in the first few episodes totally blew my mind\u2014but not for the reason you might think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You see, one of the main characters becomes disabled at the beginning of the season, and has to start using a wheelchair. Even worse, his spouse is in space on a three-year mission to Mars while he has to care for his teenage daughter at home. What follows in Away<\/em> is some of the most realistic and authentic representation of disability and wheelchair use I\u2019ve seen, not just on TV, but in the media as a whole. I was lucky enough to spend some time speaking with the show\u2019s creator, Andrew Hinderaker, about how his vision for disability representation in Away<\/em> grew out of his personal experiences, and what he sees for wheelchair users in media\u2019s future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sylvia Longmire (SL): I know the starting point for\u00a0Away\u00a0was an\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Esquire<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0article by the same name<\/strong><\/a> about Scott Kelly\u2019s extended stay at the International Space Station, and then I read an interview of you that said you had been physically separated from your partner during a severe illness.\u00a0Could you talk about how these events combined in your mind to create what we see now in\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Away<\/strong>?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrew Hinderaker (AH):<\/strong> Yeah, absolutely. Well, you nailed it, really.  The entire article that was brought to me from Esquire<\/em> magazine was extraordinary and moving, but the moment that struck me the most was this moment that the journalist Chris Jones writes about, where Scott Kelly is up in the International Space Station and learns that his sister-in-law, [former US Representative] Gabby Giffords, has been shot, and I just thought that it was so profoundly moving to read about Scott and his family \u2013 Gabby, Mark, everybody \u2013 trying to negotiate that moment, particularly Scott trying to negotiate it from a distance.  And for me it felt really profound, and something I connected to personally. Because my partner and I have been together for over 15 years \u2013 and a lot of our relationship has been long distance and we were physically apart.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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AWAY (L to R) Writer JESSICA GOLDBERG and Writer ANDREW HINDERAKER in episode 101 of AWAY Cr. DIYAH PERA\/NETFLIX \u00a9 2020<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I was in Chicago opening a play when she was diagnosed with a really serious illness, really serious disease, and so that experience that is described in the article of, sort of one moment, you\u2019re somewhere doing the thing that you really feel like you\u2019re put on earth to do, in Scott\u2019s case, be an astronaut (and in this case put on Earth is the wrong expression because he was literally not on Earth), that he was really fulfilling his purpose. And then the next moment, something catastrophic happens to someone you love and you really want to be home.  It was just something I connected to profoundly, and was really grappling with and wanted to explore, and so I knew that that would be a fundamental part of the series as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SL: One of the main characters, Matt Logan (played by Josh Charles) unexpectedly becomes a wheelchair user early in the season.  The amount of detail shown regarding his transition – for example a slide board, the hospital bed on the first floor, the grabber, the ramp, etc., – is amazing, and frankly quite surprising to many of us in the wheelchair community because we\u2019re not used to seeing that level of detail in a show, or a film where a wheelchair user might rarely be shown. These things are very real to us, but they are often invisible to TV audiences.  What was the process for including those details \u2013 either using consultants, or other wheelchair users, etc. \u2013 and why do you think it\u2019s important to show those details?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

AH:<\/strong> Well, first, thank you so much for saying that.  It is really important to me and it\u2019s important to the show, and it just means a tremendous amount, if that was in any way successful.  For me, I mean, I almost need to go back a little bit.  I started my career as a playwright in Chicago and the first theater company, and really the first artist, that took a chance on me and produced my play is the extraordinary theater and TV\/film artist and actor named Michael Patrick Thronton, who is the Artistic Director of The Gift Theater Company in Chicago.  And he is, interestingly, also in the show.  He plays Hilary\u2019s psychiatrist, Dr. Fred Putney, and is in five of ten episodes. And Mike gave me my first production, and was one of the lead characters in that play, and I really credit Mike enormously because he was so good in that play.  That play kind of launched my career, so I went to New York.  And Mike is a wheelchair user, and he and I have closely collaborated since 2008.  He\u2019s my closest artistic collaborator; we\u2019ve done, I want to say five projects together: theater, TV and film. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Actor Michael Patrick Thornton (iMDB)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I mention him because I have to credit him in terms of\u2014if  I have any ability to write stories that have it feel authentic and real and true and lived, it\u2019s in large part because of my close collaboration with Mike.  And we have done a number of projects together with roles where it\u2019s not specified that the role is a wheelchair user, like in Away<\/em>.  But we also did this theater project called Colossal<\/em> where Mike played the main character, and the main character is a former football player and dancer. It\u2019s in the wake of a spinal injury that he endured on the field. And so that play in particular, it was absolutely essential, that every detail\u2014because so much of the play was about a character in the wake of an injury\u2014and so it was vital that absolutely every detail had to be correct dramaturgically.  I would argue it\u2019s vital regardless, but particularly in this play.  And so I think that\u2019s probably where that philosophy was crystalized and I think carried through.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You know, that play, the character that Mike played, and subsequently we produced around the country, it actually can\u2019t be produced unless the actor playing Mike, is a wheelchair user. So I think that that was just sort of my artistic philosophy.  And that\u2019s really a philosophy that is, I hope, present in every aspect of the show, Away<\/em>.  You know, we did an immense amount of research on the astronauts, on space exploration, and so it to me it should be no less detailed and no less authentic than when you\u2019re exploring the aftermath of a stroke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SL: Do you think that this level of authenticity can help other show creators and producers realize the value of it when it comes to casting actors with disabilities?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

AH: <\/strong>I hope so. I mean, I think that with the role of Matt that Josh Charles plays, it\u2019s quite complex because when the when the series begins, the character is not a wheelchair user and then, subsequently, is.  However, we have a couple of languages in the show of both flashbacks and magical realism that are pretty present in the first season, and the plan is actually even more present as season two and season three progress.  So I think that role is\u2014you know I\u2019m still educating myself, but it\u2019s a complex question, how you approach a role like that. But, my opinion is if the character is a wheelchair user, and barring complexities like I\u2019m talking about with Matt\u2019s character, they should always be cast with actors who use wheelchairs unequivocally, end of sentence, period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Actor Josh Charles as Matt Logan in ‘Away’<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

SL: Now I want to get a little hypothetical here with you\u2026 There\u2019s an episode where Matt has to make a critical decision: stay in his physical therapy program longer for a better chance of recovery, or go home to be there for his daughter, who\u2019s struggling emotionally.  Can you talk a bit about Matt\u2019s mental struggle to make this decision, and how things maybe might have been different had he made another choice?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

AH: <\/strong>Sure, I think that storyline came out of\u2014honestly, it came from conversations when I was doing research for the play I mentioned, Colossal<\/em>, which is kind of where I went to such depths about that play.  You know, one of the things that a number of folks talked about during their own stage in rehab was this idea that it can often be advantageous to stay in the hospital longer, and maximize the amount of time you\u2019re spending at rehab.  And that sometimes the hospital can be motivated financially to have you leave prior to when your rehab can be optimized. So, that always stuck with me.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the case of Matt, it\u2019s a particularly interesting story because you\u2019re always looking at dilemmas for characters where they\u2019re faced two choices that are equally valid, and so the idea of staying in the hospital and maximizing his recovery versus getting home and being more of a presence for his daughter \u2013 particularly when his co-parent is away in space \u2013 felt like that\u2019s a real dilemma.  Where there\u2019s validity to both choices, I think that we\u2019re interested in the idea of exploring whether there\u2019s a cost to the choice that Matt makes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SL:<\/strong> Both Emma Green (the crew commander played by Hilary Swank) and her husband Matt go through significant emotional struggles in parallel \u2013 even though, she\u2019s in space and he\u2019s on earth \u2013 related to inadequacy, fear, and isolation, but for very different reasons.  Do you think that these parallel struggles, particularly with the insider look into Matt\u2019s life as a new wheelchair user, can help audiences empathize a bit more with wheelchair life?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

AH: <\/strong>That\u2019s the aspiration.  Absolutely.  There\u2019s a line where Alexis, Matt\u2019s daughter, is talking to the family psychiatrist \u2013 I mentioned played by Michael Partick Thornton, Dr. Putney \u2013 and given that Mike is a wheelchair user, Putney, then, is a wheelchair user. Alexis asks the psychiatrist if it\u2019s hard being in a wheelchair, and his response is that it\u2019s sometimes hard being in a world that wasn\u2019t designed for chairs. That came out of conversations as well, and that\u2019s sort of the aspiration in any storytelling is enhanced empathy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think it depends who the audience is, but often the audience, certain members of the audience, are folks like myself who might otherwise not appreciate the experiences that that someone has gone, is going through. I mentioned myself because I just have an enormous amount of privilege in my life given how I go through the world, identifying as a straight White male who doesn\u2019t use a wheelchair. I feel like the world was in many ways designed for me, whether I asked for it or not.  And part of my responsibility as a human being is to understand that, and to understand the ways in which the world wasn\u2019t designed for other groups of people and to try to rectify that.  To me, that begins with empathy, and you can\u2019t have empathy if you don\u2019t have authentic representation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SL:<\/strong> On a bit of a more whimsical track, let\u2019s talk wheelchairs in space!  Now, I write a travel blog, so I would be remiss if I did not talk about space travel. But seriously, the astronaut crew is incredibly diverse, which sends the message that whether you\u2019re Black, White, Chinese, Indian, male or female, you can dream of going into space.  Can you talk a little bit about the diversity of the cast, and do you see wheelchair users or people with other disabilities eventually in space, whether in reality or on screen?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

AH: <\/strong>I love this question so much! I don\u2019t know where to begin.  The diversity of the show absolutely was intentional, but again was sparked from something I read in that article.  Because in addition to focusing on Scott Kelly, it also talks about the International Space Station itself, and its rather improbable alliance between all of these countries that might not normally get along, and came together because they had to, because they wouldn\u2019t have been able to build this laboratory in the sky without each other\u2019s expertise and money.  That is generally accepted as the analogue for a mission to Mars: that if the world can figure out way to work together, that\u2019s how we get there.  So it was vital that this show embody that.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, I was really starting with what\u2019s real and true, and in terms of starting with what\u2019s real and true, at the moment, the specifications \u2013 for example for NASA \u2013 are so specific in terms of health and what\u2019s allowed and what\u2019s not allowed that 99% of the population is ruled out at the offset.  However, all I can say, intentionally cryptically, is that in season two (should we be lucky enough to get it, there\u2019s not been a season ordered) the question of wheelchair users in space is one we intend to explore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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AWAY (L to R) Writer ANDREW HINDERAKER and Director JET WILKINSON in episode 110 of AWAY Cr. DIYAH PERA\/NETFLIX \u00a9 2020<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

SL: That\u2019s so awesome!  That\u2019s fantastic, and considering how well it\u2019s doing in the ratings, I am very, very optimistic about a season two.  So I\u2019ll definitely keep my fingers crossed!  Is there anything else that you\u2019d like to say to my wheelchair-using and people-with-disabilities audience?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

AH: <\/strong>Aw, thank you. I genuinely appreciate your kind words more than I can say, and we just had a number of folks consulting on the show to try to get those details right. I want to reiterate that for me, my perspective on the character of Matt, is it\u2019s incredibly complicated considering how that character is portrayed, and I\u2019m so profoundly grateful to Josh Charles and the work that he does so beautifully. Because what you\u2019re describing in terms of getting all the details right, it\u2019s not just a matter of doing the research involving experts, involving people who have a lived experience and having consultant \u2013 although that\u2019s vital \u2013 it also requires an actor who insists on getting everything right and authentic, and I want to give him due credit.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I also just want to echo what you said, as we look ahead, the goal to me is to tell stories that reflect the world in which we live, and to tell them authentically and to reframe our perspectives so that we are more cognizant of our blind spots and assumptions. And you know when you were describing the experience of\u2014I can\u2019t remember how you said it so beautifully, but you were talking about being disabled because of the design of systems and structures. I can\u2019t remember exactly how you said it but it was so great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SL: It\u2019s really just along the lines of the world not being designed for us. That the medical model of disability says we\u2019re disabled because of a condition or a disease, but the social model says that we\u2019re disabled because of the world around us, and if the world around us were accessible, we wouldn\u2019t be disabled. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

AH:<\/strong> Right, and I had that experience so acutely, to where I was working on Colossal<\/em>, I did a lot of research at the Rehab Institute of Chicago, which is where Michael Thornton and I would just also\u2014I\u2019m obviously biased he\u2019s like my closest collaborator \u00ad\u2013 he\u2019s just one of the most extraordinary actors and human beings alive. That\u2019s where Mike did his rehab after he had a spinal stroke in his early 20s, and being at the Rehab Institute of Chicago and being in a  building that was designed for people who use chairs was such a vital and radical reorientation for me.  I mean, I feel like for one moment to have the tables turned for just a second in one building, to understand the ways in which, my physical reality is often catered to, whether I\u2019m aware of it or not, that I think that is the responsibility of art and storytelling, to redesign paradigms that are more inclusive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SL: Well, the beautiful thing about universal design and accessible design is that if you make it accessible for wheelchair users and people with disabilities, absolutely anybody can use it.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

AH:<\/strong> That’s right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SL: So that, in my opinion, that should be the baseline.  But, I\u2019m biased!  Again, Andrew, thank you so much for your vision and for your effort to really increase the visibility and representation of wheelchair users in <\/em>Away, and congratulations on your success with the show! <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

AH:<\/strong> Well, thank you for taking the time.  It\u2019s probably the favorite conversation I\u2019ve had in all these conversations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SL: That makes me feel so good! And best of luck moving forward and fingers crossed for season two.  So, thank you<\/em><\/strong>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Away<\/span><\/a> is streaming NOW on Netflix.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n