"Best Foot Forward" is a story about and by people with disabilities
The Apple TV+ series, loosely based on the memoir of Josh Sundquist, prioritized the representation of disability on both sides of the camera.
Recruiting the right actor for a role often means finding someone who matches the character's description in a script, but Josh Sundquist wasn't sure if that was possible for his show "Best Foot Forward".
"It seems silly in retrospect, but that was four years ago," Sundquist recently recalled. "At the time, it just didn't occur to me that it would even be possible to hire an amputee actor."
Sundquist was helping to cast a fictionalized version of his younger self, the lead role in "Best Foot Forward," which debuts Friday on Apple TV+. Loosely based on Sundquist's memoir, "Just Don't Fall", the series centers on a 12-year-old boy who is the only child in his school with a limb difference. Sundquist, executive producer of the series, lost his left leg to bone cancer when he was 10 years old.
The character's disability is at heart of "Best Foot Forward". but Sundquist's expectations were measured. "I just thought, 'Oh sure, we're going to have to pick an able-bodied kid and have a body double,'" he said. "Because that's all I've seen in my entire life."
To the delight of Sundquist, the production company behind of the series, Muse Entertainment, intended to find an actor who shared the character's disability. After casting newcomer Logan Marmino as the fictional Josh, Sundquist's view of what was possible evolved significantly.
"By the time we arrived where we were lit and started to look for a crew, I was completely converted to the importance of authentic representation both in front of and behind the camera," he said.
What happens on camera often dominates the discourse around representation in entertainment. Although the media has paid some attention to the lack of opportunities for actors with disabilities in recent years, much more needs to be done.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 26% of American adults have a disability, but according to a GLAAD report released earlier this year, characters with disabilities, including children, made up just 2.8% of series regulars across all scripted TV shows. in 2021-22 TV season. (The report did not thoroughly examine the portrayal of people with disabilities on cable and streaming services.) Previous research by GLAAD, from 2021, found that the majority of television characters with disabilities are portrayed by actors without disabilities.
Even when actors with disabilities are cast, that often solves only half the problem, Sundquist noted. In many cases, if you were to turn the camera around, he says, "you would see that the disability is only represented in one direction."
The Apple TV+ series, loosely based on the memoir of Josh Sundquist, prioritized the representation of disability on both sides of the camera.
Recruiting the right actor for a role often means finding someone who matches the character's description in a script, but Josh Sundquist wasn't sure if that was possible for his show "Best Foot Forward".
"It seems silly in retrospect, but that was four years ago," Sundquist recently recalled. "At the time, it just didn't occur to me that it would even be possible to hire an amputee actor."
Sundquist was helping to cast a fictionalized version of his younger self, the lead role in "Best Foot Forward," which debuts Friday on Apple TV+. Loosely based on Sundquist's memoir, "Just Don't Fall", the series centers on a 12-year-old boy who is the only child in his school with a limb difference. Sundquist, executive producer of the series, lost his left leg to bone cancer when he was 10 years old.
The character's disability is at heart of "Best Foot Forward". but Sundquist's expectations were measured. "I just thought, 'Oh sure, we're going to have to pick an able-bodied kid and have a body double,'" he said. "Because that's all I've seen in my entire life."
To the delight of Sundquist, the production company behind of the series, Muse Entertainment, intended to find an actor who shared the character's disability. After casting newcomer Logan Marmino as the fictional Josh, Sundquist's view of what was possible evolved significantly.
"By the time we arrived where we were lit and started to look for a crew, I was completely converted to the importance of authentic representation both in front of and behind the camera," he said.
What happens on camera often dominates the discourse around representation in entertainment. Although the media has paid some attention to the lack of opportunities for actors with disabilities in recent years, much more needs to be done.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 26% of American adults have a disability, but according to a GLAAD report released earlier this year, characters with disabilities, including children, made up just 2.8% of series regulars across all scripted TV shows. in 2021-22 TV season. (The report did not thoroughly examine the portrayal of people with disabilities on cable and streaming services.) Previous research by GLAAD, from 2021, found that the majority of television characters with disabilities are portrayed by actors without disabilities.
Even when actors with disabilities are cast, that often solves only half the problem, Sundquist noted. In many cases, if you were to turn the camera around, he says, "you would see that the disability is only represented in one direction."
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