British actor and campaigner Adam Pearson, who stars in the dark comedy A Different Man, has urged the movie industry to stop seeing disability as a “risk”.
Pearson, who stars in the film, which follows an actor with neurofibromatosis who undergoes an experimental procedure to change his face, said the industry can be very risk-averse when exploring disability.
“Nowadays, for some reason, disability is seen as a risk. I don’t know where that comes from,” the 40-year-old actor, who has neurofibromatosis, told the PA news agency on the red carpet of the Bafta film awards.
“Maybe people struggle to separate disability and inability. I don’t know what goes through people’s heads. Now that A Different Man is out the excuses have got to stop.”
Pearson added: “I don’t think there’s like a reason not to pull the trigger on these kind of stories and these kind of films starring disabled actors anymore.
“Now we need to finally lower the drawbridge and get disabled actors and our differences on set and let their talent shine for itself.”
A Different Man also stars Sebastian Stan, who is up for a best acting gong for playing the Donald Trump before he became the US president in The Apprentice.
Pearson called Stan a “once-in-a-generation actor”, and added that he had “two break out amazing performances this year, and that doesn’t just happen”.
He added: “I’m blessed and honoured to have known him and worked with him.”
A Different Man won best feature film at the Gotham Film Awards, while Stan won the best acting gong at the Golden Globes for the same movie.
