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Los Angeles Times
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
How to have the best Sunday in L.A., according to Marlee Matlin
Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, Marlee Matlin always looked forward to Sundays. It was her father's only day off, so her family made a weekly tradition of meeting up with close friends for breakfast at a local deli. Afterward, she and her family of five would do a season-friendly activity — apple picking in the fall or a Chicago Cubs game during the summer, perhaps — before wrapping up with a finale event they called 'takeout Sundays.' 'Sundays were always my favorite day because I knew that we'd all be together,' says Matlin, who became the first deaf actor to win an Oscar in 1987 at the tender age of 21. During our Zoom call, she communicated via an interpreter. Throughout her career, the 'Coda' star has been vocal about her battles with addiction and sexual abuse, but fans are getting an even more intimate look into her life via her latest project, 'Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore,' which is showing in select theaters nationwide and will be available on demand on August 22. When she was approached to do a documentary, Matlin says it was a no-brainer for her to have her longtime friend and fellow deaf actor, Shoshannah Stern, direct it. 'What better way to have two deaf women who have similar shared life experiences to tell my story?' Matlin says. In the 1980s, she convinced lawmakers to add closed captioning to television programming. The veteran actor and activist has been a self proclaimed 'California girl' for nearly 40 years, but says that she will always be a 'Chicago girl at heart.' (The skyline of the neighborhood she grew up in, Morton Grove, is proudly tattooed on her forearm.) These days, she's enjoying empty-nester life with her husband Kevin Grandalski. Her ideal Sunday in L.A. involves visiting the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, getting her steps in at the Rose Bowl, having a slice of pizza in Eagle Rock and spending quality time with her 14-month-old granddaughter. This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. 6 a.m.: Take care of my pets If I had the choice, I would probably wake up at 8 a.m., but because I have a cat, it's 6 a.m. I also have a dog who needs to be taken out on a walk. Like a fool, he barks at every other dog that we encounter, and I have apologize to each dog owner. Then I have to have to have breakfast. I'm a breakfast person. I don't skip it. I love my oatmeal with a little bit of brown sugar and blueberries. If I'm in the mood, I'll make some turkey bacon and make sure it's extra crispy, and I drink my Red Bull sugar free. I know I'm going to get a lot of flack because I drink a Red Bull in the morning, but that's what I drink. I like my drink, and it's as simple as that. I don't drink coffee. I wish I did, but I don't like the taste. After I've gotten breakfast out of the way, I have to make my bed. I can't even leave the house with an unmade bed. I have to make the bed immediately, and my husband knows that very well. 10 a.m.: Go shopping for new threads I might go to Rose Bowl either for the flea market, which is open once a month, or for a walk. Before I had foot surgery, I would always go and walk around the Rose Bowl at least twice for a total of six miles. I love power walking. Afterward, I would go to a couple of boutiques that I like. I'm a big supporter of small local businesses, so I would stop by Tuck in Pasadena and Everson Clare in La Cañada Flintridge. They are both female-owned, and they care about their customers a great deal. Both of them are very good friends of mine. They both work so hard to get their stores opened. I watched them from their inception to where they are today. They have different clothing styles that seem to fit me well. Then there are some stores that I'll go to in Studio City. You can find me at Sephora, Nordstrom or HomeGoods. 2 p.m.: Pick a favorite L.A. activity If we're in the mood to be active, we'll go to Descanso Gardens or to a Dodgers game. We recently went to Shot of Art, and it's so fun. It's similar to paintball. You create art on a canvas as it spins. I just got reelected as the governor of the Academy Museum, so I'll make sure to go there. Being governor and a member of the Academy, they have been nothing but so supportive of my community and many other underrepresented communities as well. Everyone who has a love for film or history [and] how films are made should go to the museum. Even if you [do] not, you'll be surprised. 4 p.m.: Quality time with my granddaughter Then I'll come back home to spend time with my granddaughter, who is 14 months old. We'll have playtime at the house. She's always exploring. She loves the cat. She runs after her, and I'm always the one having to run after the baby. So there's the three of us running around: cat, baby, then me. I'll take her to the park, which is down the street. Just being with her is the most important thing. We are just in awe of watching her grow, exploring the world and watching what she learns. That's the perfect Sunday for me. 6 p.m.: Enjoy an early dinner I love to cook on Sundays and have an early dinner. I have a whole raft of cookbooks and recipes that I've printed out. I'll just take that big stack and search through it. I'm not somebody who does a whole lot of research. I just pick one and then go for it. I love to barbecue, and I love to bake desserts. I have a sweet tooth. I set up a candy bar — like a bar for candy — in my house. It's dangerous to have a candy bar. Wait until my granddaughter grows old enough to realize what the candy bar is actually about. But if I don't feel like cooking, we might go to Casa Bianca. It's a pizza shop in Eagle Rock. The pizzas, the mozarella sticks and the salads are fantastic. The chicken piccata is great, and the people who own it are just wonderful people and so welcoming. 8 p.m.: Backgammon before bed I'll spend time with my husband after dinner, and we'll clean up. Then I'd check my phone to see what's coming up for the week. Depending on what's going on, I'll get in touch with the kids and play backgammon on my phone — just spend time winding the day down. And I'll take an evening walk. Before I close shop, I have to take the dog out once more. I go to bed early. I'm usually in bed by 9:30 p.m.
Los Angeles Times
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
‘Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore' chronicles the actor's personal battle for dignity
Marlee Matlin has a word tattooed on each of her wrists. On the left is 'perseverance,' on the right is 'warrior.' 'After 37 years, I'm still hustling,' she says by way of explanation in 'Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore.' Referring to the ink on her left wrist, she adds, 'I look at this all the time. Every day.' 'Not Alone Anymore' is hardly the first celebrity documentary to salute its subject's tenacity. But if the contours of this story are familiar — the rise, the fall, then the rise again of an Oscar winner — director Shoshannah Stern's affectionate portrait is all the richer for the layers it reveals about both Matlin and the larger struggles of the Deaf community she embodies. The 59-year-old actor's legacy may indeed be one of perseverance, but 'Not Alone Anymore' touchingly details just how much more challenging her battles with addiction and sexual abuse have been than those of other famous people. The film's inventiveness starts with its opening frames, in which closed captioning describes the sounds that accompany the production companies' logos: '[low humming],' '[dramatic, echoey flutters].' These descriptions occur throughout the documentary, as do subtitles for every talking head, including the Deaf participants. Obviously, these creative decisions allow Deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers to more easily experience 'Not Alone Anymore.' But it's also a subtle acknowledgement of Matlin's trailblazing work in the late 1980s, when she used her newfound fame to convince lawmakers to require televisions to include closed captioning — a groundbreaking development for a community who had been deprived of a fuller engagement with the media they were watching. This wasn't the only way in which Matlin has left her mark. In 'Not Alone Anymore,' she breezily recounts how, at 19, she was plucked from relative obscurity to star in her first film, the 1986 adaptation of 'Children of a Lesser God,' based on Mark Medoff's acclaimed play, about a love affair between Sarah, a Deaf janitor, and James, a hearing teacher. Matlin won the Oscar, becoming the first Deaf actor to do so. (Nearly 40 years later, she remains the youngest lead actress recipient.) At the time, her victory was hailed not just as a coronation of a promising talent but also a triumph for the Deaf, who too often feel marginalized and underestimated. But, as the documentary reveals, real progress would prove trickier to achieve. Matlin and Stern, who is also a Deaf actor, have been friends for decades, and their interviews are mostly conducted sitting together on a couch, the conversations exuding the cozy intimacy of old chums chatting. Making her directorial debut, Stern deftly draws out her subject. Audiences will learn about Matlin's past history of drug abuse and her fraught romantic relationship with her 'Lesser God' costar William Hurt, whom she has accused of sexual and physical abuse. (Hurt died in 2022.) But 'Not Alone Anymore' gently probes the unique difficulties Matlin's deafness created as she navigated those traumas. When she went to rehab, the facility was ill-equipped to treat a Deaf patient. And during a poignant discussion about Matlin's sexual abuse, she explains growing up with no understanding of the phrase 'domestic violence.' 'Deaf people only have their eyes to rely on for information,' she tells Stern. It's an illuminating illustration of the dangers of what the Deaf community refers to as language deprivation. Despite her Oscar win, Matlin would repeatedly have to advocate for herself in an industry seemingly uninterested in Deaf characters. Stern uses 2021's best-picture-winning 'CODA,' which costarred Matlin, as a happy ending of sorts for her film, without denying the ongoing movement for greater Deaf visibility. But if 'Not Alone Anymore' can sometimes lean too heavily on uplifting sentiment, Matlin's story possesses a bittersweet aftertaste. As evidenced by Matlin's years of striking, engaging performances, she is a winning presence in the documentary — funny, charming and open — even while we sense the lingering wounds from a difficult upbringing exacerbated by sexual abuse she endured in childhood. Beyond being a spokesperson for the Deaf, Matlin has also emerged as a voice for survivors, even when the world wasn't receptive to what she had to say. 'Not Alone Anymore' notes, with pointed irony, that Matlin published her candid memoir 'I'll Scream Later' in 2009, years before #MeToo, so her accusations against Hurt didn't carry the same weight in the media as the ones that would later stop powerful predators such as Harvey Weinstein. It was hardly the first time Matlin waited for society to catch up with her. When she first arrived in Hollywood, she couldn't have possibly imagined how much of a warrior spirit she would need. 'Not Alone Anymore' honors a woman who learned how to fight.
Axios
28-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Axios
Cleveland International Film Festival begins rolling on 49th year
The Cleveland International Film Festival rolled out the red carpet Thursday night to kick off its 49th annual event. Why it matters: The fest is one of Northeast Ohio's marquee cultural events, drawing over 70,000 attendees between Playhouse Square screenings and online streams. CIFF is so highly regarded that it was the reason local tourism leaders opted not to bid on hosting the Sundance Film Festival. State of play: The festival's opening night film, "For Worse," screened at Connor Palace. In-person screenings of more than 100 feature films and nearly 200 shorts will take place through April 5. See the full list The big picture: This year's "Centerpiece" film is "Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore," a documentary about the Oscar-winning actress who starred in 1986's "Children of a Lesser God." The film screens at 7:30pm Tuesday at KeyBank State Theatre. Zoom in: A few of this year's movies have Northeast Ohio ties, including "The Beldham," starring Bay Village native Patricia Heaton of "Everybody Loves Raymond" fame. There's also "The Debutantes," a doc that follows three young Black women participating in a debutante ball revival in Canton. If you go: Tickets for individual screenings start at $18 ($16 for CIFF members). What's next: A curated selection of films will be viewable online through the CIFF Streams program from April 6-13. Streaming tickets start at $14 ($12 for members). Here's a look at five more films worth checking out: "Following Harry" When: 2:25pm, March 30 at Mimi Ohio Theatre. The documentary follows 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Harry Belafonte during the final decade of his life as he reflects on his work in film, music and civil rights. "The Stamp Thief" When: 12:05pm March 28 and 7:30pm March 30 at Mimi Ohio Theatre. Under the guise of filming a movie, "Seinfeld" producer Gary Gilbert brings a film crew to Poland to recover valuable stamps stolen by a Nazi officer during the Holocaust. "Taste the Revolution" When: 2:35pm April 2 and 7:30pm April 3 at Mimi Ohio Theatre. Oscar winner Mahershala Ali stars in a mockumentary about an activist planning a world summit in the early 2000s that goes wrong. "Slice of Life: The American Dream. In Former Pizza Huts." The documentary visits businesses that have found success in buildings that once housed Pizza Hut restaurants. "Didn't Die"
