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Speechless is not a show about disabilities. And in no way is it inspirational.
While the truth behind that remains to be seen when the ABC series debuts on September 21, creators were vigilant to subvert any implication of an after school special in the new series featuring a child with special needs. The show takes neither a ‘woe is me’ mindset, nor a ‘gee, aren’t we lucky, look at the lessons we’ve learned from life’ attitude.
Speechless stars Minnie Driver as a mother who will do anything for her husband Jimmy (John Ross Bowie), and her kids Ray (Mason Cook), Dylan (Kyla Kenedy) and JJ, her eldest son with a disability, played by Micah Fowler (Labor Day), a young actor with cerebral palsy.
“At its core it’s a show about being different, not apologizing about being different, and embracing who you are,” Executive Producer Scott Silveri said during the Television Critics Association summer press tour Thursday in Beverly Hills. The show is inspired by his own experience.
“For me it’s a question of writing what you know,” Silveri said. “I came from a family with a brother with special needs. It’s something I’ve been wanting to write for a long time … it’s a very personal story and I feel lucky to get the chance to tell it, and to find a network that happened to be looking for the same thing.”
The series is first and foremost a comedy, Silveri reiterated throughout the panel. It’s not an issue-based show.
“But when it is, we want to get it right,” he said. “Because there are so few representations of disability on television, you can’t help but feel the responsibility of doing it in an intelligent way.”
There are a lot of people on staff with experience in managing disabilities, and producers worked closely with Fowler and his parents to nail the authenticity.
Driver said her character of Mya has been particularly difficult to pull off, but she understands where she’s coming from.
“I’m a mother,” she said. “All mothers fight hard for their children. To have a child with special needs you have to fight so much harder. I was up for the challenge.”
Producers tried readings with Driver using both an American and her native English accent, and went with her natural voice.
“The real truth is you can get away with a lot more when you speak with a British accent,” Driver joked. “You can say very rude things, and make them sound charming.”
While she often renders people speechless with her blunt comments in the series, Silveri said he was particularly interested in exploring how to present JJ’s literal speechless communication to viewers.
“The character being nonverbal was baked in from the beginning,” he said. “But there’s so many different ways to attack that.”
He decided to bring in Cedric Yarbrough as a character that speaks for JJ—a decision that proved a lot more comedic than relying just on computers and speech technology.
Yarbrough said he really wanted his character to say away from being the savior—“the magical negro who comes in and fixes everything.”
“I wanted to make sure this guy doesn’t know much of anything,” he said. “He’s going to make mistakes … but he genuinely loves the kid. He has a good heart.”
It’s clear the real savior of the show is Fowler.
“Micah did us a real solid by putting himself on tape,” Silveri said of his audition. “He lit up the screen. He was effortlessly endearing, funny, and gave us everything we were looking for.” The show should be the same without his spirit, performance and energy, he said.
Fowler said JJ is a much funnier character than those he’s played in the past, and the role doesn’t seem to be a stretch. When asked about his favorite comedy, Fowler’s answer brought chuckles to the room. ‘
“… Probably this show,” he said.
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