Claire Danes as Temple Grandin Tonight on HBO
The Autism News | English
By Melissa Silverstein | Huffington Post
I have been waiting impatiently for about a decade now to see the spark in Claire Danes’ eyes that I saw way back when she played Angela Chase in My So Called Life. She’s been in a bunch of movies and has been lovely and usually very good, but no where near great.
Finally, she has a found a role where she is beyond great, she is stupendous. Claire Danes is revelatory as Temple Grandin animal behaviorist, best-selling author, autistic and expert in autism. This is a fascinating movie and I learned so much about this woman and about autism. Temple did not speak until she was four and if not for her mother would have probably ended up spending her life in an institution. What a loss that would have been.
I was riveted in many ways by the film especially the scenes about how Grandin related to animals, especially cows. I couldn’t believe it when I learned that she has designed over 50% cattle slaughterhouses in the country and they are all designed to promote humane treatment of the animals.
But it is Danes who is a revelation, and I really hope that this will convince her and others that she has the range to dig into meaty roles in the future.
Temple Grandin spent a couple of minutes on the phone with me talking about the film, her work and her life.
W&H: First I want to talk a little bit about your mother. The film shows how your mother never gave up on you. And it’s almost a love story between the two of you. What was your father’s role?
Temple Grandin: Mother was the one who kept me out of an institution. My father, like a lot of dads, had very little input. He would have gone along with the doctors. Back in the 50’s you sort of did what the doctors did. In a lot of families where they have a severely handicapped kid, it’s the mothers that take care of it. I go and do a talk and autism meeting and there are a few dads there. But for every dad there are ten mothers.
W&H: What was so magical for me was your relationship with animals.
TG: When I was in high school I thought everybody thought in pictures like I did. The movie showed how I thought in pictures brilliantly. The other thing that I really liked about the movie was that all my projects that were in the movie. They were all actually done and they were all made. The squeeze machines were built off the drawing. Those were all built exactly the way I did them.
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