- Welcome back, everybody.
Last month, the cast of the incredible film "CODA"
became the first predominantly deaf cast ever
to win outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture
at the SAG awards.
Incredible.
(audience applauds)
The film is also up for best picture
at the Oscars this year.
I will be shocked and floored if they don't win.
There's so much talent, there's so many great movies,
but this movie literally
is one of my favorite movies I've ever seen.
You can catch it streaming now
on Apple TV plus if you're smart.
Say hello to the cast of "CODA"
Daniel Durant, Troy Kotsur, Marlee Matlin, Emilia Jones.
(upbeat music) (audience applauds)
Hello, hello.
Nice to see you.
Oh, hello.
I will tell you,
I have interviewed so many people.
I'm so lucky this job has been...
I've been so fortunate to get to meet a lot of people
that I love and inspire me.
I have been asking my producer
when this show is going to happen for I don't know how long.
I loved the film.
It was so good.
It was so moving.
I laughed, I cried, I was inspired,
it was thought provoking.
There were so many things happening with the film,
and it's great to have you here.
Thank you for taking the time.
You're so busy winning awards.
But it's great to see you again.
Marlee, thank you for coming back.
- [Marlee's Translator] So, I was counting the days
when I was gonna come back to see you again.
Thank you for having us here,
and I love your show so much.
I love you, love you, love you.
And speaking about I love you,
we are giving you a gift here.
- [Kelly] Oh.
What?
- [Marlee's Translator] Here, this is for you.
This is a very special gift that was made for you.
I'm giving to you by my best friend.
Her name is Alexis Kashar.
- [Kelly] My makeup artist is gonna hate me.
That's so sweet.
- [Marlee's Translator] And it's the sign for I love you.
It's a pendant.
- That's so sweet.
(audience applauds)
- [Marlee's Translator] It's a line of jewelry
called RoseBYANDER.
So that's the name of the jewelry and it's just, I love you.
A one of a kind special jewelry.
- It's amazing 'cause it's coming from you.
It's also a very special meaning.
Side note for me and my daughter that I won't say on air
because I'll cry.
But anyway, there's something special with this sign with me
and my kid as well.
So this is very beautiful.
Thank you so much.
(audience applauds)
Had any of y'all had met before this movie?
- [Marlee's Translator] Yeah, we did.
We knew each other.
We all knew each other.
The three of us knew each other,
but actually working as intensely as we did on this film,
no, we didn't actually.
So I'm so honored to have worked with the two of them.
They're so talented deaf actors,
and it was really more special
to have Emilia on board with us as well.
This is the perfect cast.
You'll never see a more perfect cast.
(audience applauds)
- I could not agree more.
It was, and I've never seen it on film.
That's why I think this is so important in film.
I've never seen a full cast like this.
I've never really had to watch or pay attention
in a different way.
It was such a beautiful and needed experience
that I did not know that I needed.
And I did not know that American sign language,
it's so passionate.
It's a passionate language.
I mean, it's just a full body.
You're not just using your voice.
It's a full body experience
of how deeply hurt you are, or how deeply in love you are,
or, you know, frustrated you are.
It was just such an amazing thing to watch.
- [Marlee's Translator] Exactly.
It's because I mean, it's two things.
We are able to express ourselves, our language,
that's within deaf culture, but we're also damn good actors.
So that's all you could say.
- Yeah. Yeah. - I mean,
when you're doing (indistinct).
(audience applauds)
But this movie is one that most people,
the majority of people probably aren't accustomed to.
I mean, there are other kinds of movies
and those are all wonderful films,
but this is unique and it's special in itself.
And the fact that there's so many different levels
operating at the same time in the film,
people will connect to whatever level
that they're watching in the film.
Whether it's fishing, or songs, or music,
or sign language, or schools, or teenage life,
or family life, it's all in one film.
It's the entire package.
It's a beautiful, wonderful package for the audience.
- I couldn't agree more,
and we talked so much about inclusion
and nobody has ever talked about this before and around me.
So I'm just curious, like Troy, Daniel,
y'all like what kind of movie would you love to do?
Like what kind of movies would you love to see now?
This is like more introduced to pop culture now,
and I feel like hearing a story
that maybe we've heard before
but from a different vantage point is so important.
- [Daniel's Translator] Well, I mean,
we have so many stories.
We have so many more stories about deaf culture to tell.
We really can, and we can play any character.
And I would love to see more deaf superheroes,
and maybe adding more characters
like a deaf character in "Star Wars."
- I know, that was amazing, "The Mandalorian."
"The Mandalorian," it's amazing.
- [Daniel's Translator] He's the first
deaf person on "Star Wars."
So it's a huge honor and I applaud him.
- [Troy's Translator] There's so many things we have.
(audience applauds)
The deaf community has so a rich history of storytelling.
And so I would like to just plant the seed
and share these stories.
There were historical stories in slavery times,
there's a lot of deaf history
and so we can be able to pick those carrots
and bring them forward.
And so I really want to change everyone's perspective
and show everyone what deaf people went through,
because many folks don't understand.
And thanks to "CODA", it speaks for itself.
And it's increasing awareness of the deaf community
and we're bridging two worlds,
the hearing and the deaf world,
for which for so long were separate.
So we focused on one side, we focused on the other,
and where is the center?
The center is the "CODA."
And so Emilia was the center of our story
that pulled both of these communities together.
(audience applauds)
- So is it true that you, Emilia,
you had to learn to sign, fish, sing,
and do an American accent.
You did all the things for this film.
Like most actors aren't asked to do all of that.
- No, I know. I know.
There was a big kind of by every skill that was required,
I just had a no, no, no, no, no, and I was 17 and British.
And so I really didn't think
it was gonna work out for me when I was auditioning, but-
- It was almost as if they were like,
let's like pick a person that's just
we're gonna torture and have to do all these things.
Like I was like, that is a lot of things all at once.
- It was, it was.
It was a lot.
I was also doing my A levels at the time too.
So having to get 15 hours of schoolwork in,
it was a lot of work and it was very, very hard
but it was also so rewarding.
- Absolutely.
I can't imagine this is your first film.
What a beautiful piece of history to be a part of
as your first experience.
- I feel so...
I will honestly be forever grateful and honored
to have been a part of this film.
- Yeah, I will always be impressed.
I was like the fact that I learned
that you did not know sign language before
I was like, wait, what?
I'm such a loser.
I can learn this.
I was like, I can do this.
If she can do this, I can do this.
So Daniel, you and Troy were roommates
while shooting the movie, right?
- [Daniel's Translator] Oh yeah, we were.
Yes, we were.
- I gotta be honest with you.
That had to be one hell of an experience
'cause he seems like fun.
- [Daniel's Translator] Obviously, he is a lot of fun.
You can see.
- [Troy's Translator] Daniel and I,
so we wanted to be roommates
because they were going to separate us in a hotel.
And we really wanted to benefit from the experience
of being roommates like father and son.
And we were able to chat, how to pick up women,
and advice I'd give him about clothes,
and different types of fishing boats, and so on.
And so we moved into an Airbnb together as roommates,
and we were really excited.
You could see the water and the boats
going by in the harbor.
It was really cool.
And at night we were trying to switch all the lights on.
And so we saw these lights slowly starting to switch on,
and we went outside
and we sat on the patio. - And it was beautiful.
- [Troy's Translator] Then what happened?
- [Daniel's Translator] It looked beautiful.
So we're just looking around.
We were so excited, we're here at the "CODA" movie.
We're discussing all of our ideas
and then, you know, we can see a cop pull up
with strobe lights and he walks up to the front door.
And really the cops are here.
So Troy and I get up and we're nervous
and we run downstairs.
We're deaf, we can't hear,
we're telling them from the balcony.
And they're like, okay, and they walk up to the front door.
We let 'em in the house.
We start writing back and forth with the cop.
- [Troy's Translator] So they said there is
a blaring fog horn from your house
that's been going off for hours.
And we said, really?
So the neighbors were complaining and calling the cops
and we didn't know.
We were just enjoying ourselves as the fog horn was blaring.
And we didn't know how to switch it off.
- [Daniel's Translator] I mean, we felt so peaceful.
We can feel bass, but we couldn't hear that fog horn.
We had no idea.
We were having the most beautiful peaceful night,
but really we were destroying our neighbors.
- [Troy's Translator] Yeah, and so we were
trying to figure out how to switch it off.
And so we were trying all the light switches
and they looked all the same.
So one of the light switches was actually the fog horn.
So that's where the big screw up was.
- Oh my.
And we need to mention everybody
that Troy is the first deaf male actor
to earn an Oscar nomination and to win
an individual SAG award.
(audience cheers)
I mean, it's exciting.
So how does that feel?
- [Troy's Translator] Of course I'm extremely excited,
and it's great to finally be recognized.
It means that our peers are accepting our work as artists.
Not because we're deaf, we're just actors
who happen to be deaf
and we're being recognized for our talent.
And so I'm so glad.
It's been a long and tough journey for me.
I feel like I've received an honorary PhD
when getting these nominations,
and it's like I finally arrived at their level
and I feel so blessed.
(audience applauds)
You know, the decisions that I made in my life
brought me here, but Marlee was such an important role model
and she kept me alive.
She gave Daniel and I hope.
And so Marley was a great representative
for the deaf community for so many years,
and now we're able to come up
and so I'm so grateful to Marlee for that.
(audience applauds)
- [Daniel's Translator] I agree.
- It's so interesting 'cause Marlee we've seen in movies.
I've seen movies, TV, I've seen Marlee in so many things
and it's like, it's one of those things where it's like,
why are we just seeing like one person?
Like, she's amazing,
but like there has to be a whole community.
And I feel like Marlee was very important for you
to be a part of this movie in particular,
because it not only showcases like your gifts
your talent as an actor, but also to help highlight
other actors that just happen to be deaf
that love what they do and excel at what they do.
Is this such an important project for you?
- [Marlee's Translator] Absolutely.
I mean, it's been 35 years being in the industry
that I've tried to spread the message to people that yes,
I'm here, but I'm not the only one.
There are so many other deaf actors out there,
deaf directors, deaf writers, and Codas.
People who can sign and who can act.
And it's sometimes, you know, would fall on deaf ears.
That sounds ironic, but it takes collaboration.
It takes one to listen, to spread the message.
It takes work, it takes homework.
But at the end of the day, we are here,
we're focused on doing whatever it is we can do.
We can continue to make noise,
but the key is collaboration.
It's collaboration in all ways.