Leslie Odom Jr film controversy

[MannPhan24601]

Anybody see the drama over Sia's film that stars Leslie Odom Jr? As somebody on the spectrum , It doesn't bother me much that she cast Maddie Ziegler as a young autistic woman (Look at Freddie Highmore on the Good Doctor . He does such a good portrayal ) but her tweets to autistic actors and her statement on why she didn't cast somebody on the spectrum disgust me .....

[HogansHero]

am I missing something or have you buried the lede and in doing so unfairly tarnished LOJ?

[James885]

Is that the girl from that awful Dance Moms show? Can she even act? I think there's a big difference between her and an actor like Freddie Highmore who actually has the chops to bring out the nuances of portraying someone who's autistic.

That aside, the dance portions of the trailer with Leslie Odom Jr look okay but the rest looks pretty meh. Also I love how Sia defended herself by claiming she consulted with Autism Speaks while working on the film. Autism Speaks is a generally horrid organization that is rife with controversy. 

[LizzieCurry]

For a summation: https://ew.com/movies/sia-music-movie-autism-controversy/

(It's a mess, Sia's terrible, and I mostly feel bad for LOJ's twitter mentions right now. Stop replying all when you don't have to, people!)

[Fosse76]

She said the girl she originally cast was too overwhelmed being on set. The complaint by some others to simply accommodate the girl by making changes to the set are clearly from people who have never been on a movie set before. There is only so much that can be done to reasonably accommodate someone with those kinds of needs. So the idea that autistic characters should only be played by autistic actors is ridiculous.

But her response to that particular criticism is pretty tone deaf. Instead of explaining that it's too costly and impractical to make the accommodation that this particular actress needed, she writes on an off-the-wall rant about hiring prostitutes and trans people to play doctors. As if that's comparable.

[qolbinau]

Within the trashy pop music world Sia is Sondheim as a writer and Bernadette Peters as a singer. As far as I'm concerned, she is a genius. The 1 minute trailer looks incredible and I am glad that Sia has been able to showcase and tell the story of a character with autism on a major stage. This is rare, and although perhaps a missed opportunity RE: actor of choice still something to be celebrated in my opinion. 

Unfortunately, Sia suffers openly from a myriad of emotional problems herself and you are unlikely going to get a PR filtered response. I would suggest if people have an issue with her or her movie just boycott it and move on.