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Carnegie Mellon University graduate Sian Heder, center, directs Emilia Jones and Ferdia Walsh-Peelo on the set of  the AppleTV+ movie "Coda."
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CMU grad Sian Heder reflects on her first Oscar nomination for 'CODA'

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CMU grad Sian Heder reflects on her first Oscar nomination for 'CODA'

Most awards seasons feature a small-budget movie or two that charm enough audiences to earn their way onto the big stage. Think films like “Juno” or “Little Miss Sunshine.”

This year’s little movie that could is “CODA,” which was released in theaters and on AppleTV+ in August. The remake of the 2014 French film “La Famille Bélier” about a CODA (child of deaf adults) navigating her adolescent life in a New England fishing town was nominated for best picture, best supporting actor and best adapted screenplay at the 2022 Academy Awards.

That adapted screenplay bid marked the first Oscar nomination for Sian Heder, a 1999 Carnegie Mellon University graduate who served as both the writer and director on “CODA.” The 44-year-old Cambridge, Mass., native knows “CODA” is an underdog in a field that also includes Jane Campion (“The Power of the Dog”) and Denis Villeneuve (“Dune”). But just getting to be there on March 27 is proof that all her hard work was worth it.

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“I poured everything into that script,” Heder told the Post-Gazette. “I did a ton of research on the deaf and fishing communities. I really took that story on as an incredible responsibility and I really wanted to tell it right and honor the community it’s about. To see it achieve that is really amazing.”

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Heder credits CMU with introducing her to a lifelong group of friend who are “not just my social circle but also often times my collaborators.” She’s still very close with Pittsburgh native and fellow CMU graduate Zachary Quinto, and she said studying acting there turned out to be “an amazing base for me as a director” in terms of learning how to draw the best performances out of actors.

“I think it was an intense time because you’re 18 years old and finding yourself,” Heder said. “It’s a very challenging school in terms of confronting who you are and developing a skill set as an actor.”

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When she wasn’t studying, Heder spent a lot of time taking in the local art scene at places like The Andy Warhol Museum and Mattress Factory. She grew to appreciate the region’s cinematic possibilities and said she considered shooting her 2016 film “Tellulah” here before basing the production in New York City.

As a kid, Heder spent summers in Gloucester, Mass., where “CODA” was both shot and set. After attending CMU, she noticed parallels between Gloucester and Pittsburgh. Both cities were built on one industry — fishing and steel, respectively — and had to reinvent themselves when those industries collapsed.

“I think they are similar places in that they are a true portrait of working-class America and a working-class America that’s disappearing,” she said.

Before “CODA,” Heder cut her teeth as a writer on shows like TNT’s “Men of a Certain Age” and the first three seasons of Netflix’s “Orange is the New Black.” She joked that she was “the one dumb*** on set who didn’t” buy stock in Netflix during the first season of the prison dramedy.

Sian Heder accepts the award for Best Adapted Screenplay for "CODA" onstage during the 94th Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Calif., on March 27, 2022.
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“Netflix was a DVD company,” Heder said. “I was like, ‘What is this, a web series I’m working on?’ ... It’s amazing to see how far it’s come since then and that the streamers are really dominating.”

Image DescriptionCarnegie Mellon University graduate Sian Heder (L) directs Eugenio Derbez during the filming of the AppleTV+ movie “Coda.”(HBO photo)

It’s still wild to Heder that “CODA” premiered more than a year ago at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival and was quickly acquired by Apple for a record-breaking $25 million. Since then, it’s become a 2022 awards-season darling mostly due to word of mouth from folks who enjoyed the story of CODA and high school student Ruby Rossi (Emilia Jones), who tries to foster her newfound love of singing while also helping her family save their fishing business.

“It’s just continued to build and build and build because people see the movie and want to tell their friends about it,” she said. “That’s the coolest thing.”

Heder calls the film a “love letter to family,” and academy voters clearly adored it. “Totally stunned” by her nomination, she said the day became even sweeter when she found out that Troy Kotsur, who plays Ruby’s father, had been nominated for best supporting actor. “He is absolutely incredible at what he does.” 

Heder has never been to the Oscars before, and she’s excited to be in the same room as industry legends like Campion and Steven Spielberg. She said that after the nominations were released, a high school friend reminded her that she wrote in his yearbook a promise that he would be her date to the Oscars one day.

“He’s going to have to fight with my husband on that one,” she said.

Regardless of how “CODA” does at the Oscars, the film has already done wonders for Heder’s career. She’s the co-showrunner on the AppleTV+ anthology series “Little America” and in June struck a deal to continue working for the company. She is currently working on two films: the sci-fi love story “Impossible” and “Being Heumann,” based on the memoir of disabilities rights activist Judy Heumann.

More importantly, “CODA” is already making an impact in the entertainment industry. Heder said that a deaf filmmaker came up to her after a recent screening and told her that his long-gestating film was finally about to be made thanks to the success of “CODA.”

That’s worth more than all the Oscars in the world to Heder.

“I hope that this means that more projects that represent deafness or disability and portray these communities in a way that’s entertaining and fun have wide reach,” she said. “I hope more projects are greenlit and more stories are told, which it looks like is happening.”

Joshua Axelrod: jaxelrod@post-gazette.com and Twitter @jaxelburgh.    

 

First Published: February 25, 2022, 11:00 a.m.

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Carnegie Mellon University graduate Sian Heder, center, directs Emilia Jones and Ferdia Walsh-Peelo on the set of the AppleTV+ movie "Coda."  (AppleTV+)
Carnegie Mellon University graduate Sian Heder directs Eugenio Derbez during the filming of "Coda."  (HBO)
Emilia Jones and Troy Kotsur in the AppleTV+ film "Coda."  (AppleTV+)
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