“Barbie (with ASL)” streaming on Max.Photo:Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
This Barbie is making a more accessible movie-watching experience.
Along with the Dec. 15 Max streaming release ofGreta Gerwig’s hitBarbiecame a viewing option for deaf and hard of hearing communities. And the breakout star ofBarbie with ASL, sign language performerLeila Hanaumi, counts producer-starMargot Robbieamong her fans.
“People keep asking me how did I prepare for my role, but I only played one role. You just played a whole film,” Robbie, 33, said to Hanaumi in aBarbie with ASLpost-screening Q&A held Dec. 14, according toThe Hollywood Reporter.
“It’s just a brilliant piece of acting,” raved Robbie, producer and star of the film.
Hanaumi, a mother of two based in Austin, Texas, is a communications manager for a deaf-owned marketing firm. She’s gone viral for her ASL interpretations of pop songs, including anofficial collaborationwithTove Lo.
On her social media, Hanaumi describes herself as a “Deaf Creator, Performer, Writer, & Mompreneur.”
“Ninety percent of deaf children are born to hearing parents and the vast majority of them don’t ever have access to sign language,” said Hanaumi. “So that leads to language deprivation from that child, it’s a huge issue in the deaf community.”
That’s why she signed on to be the interpreter forBarbie with ASL, the first Warner Bros. movie to feature it as a language option, according toThe Hollywood Reporter.
“Even though I am able to understand movies with English captioning, there are still some things missing: tone, the meaning of certain complex lines. It’s never going to be fully accessible for me as a deaf person.”
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Of Cook, who performed as a sign language interpreter on an accessible version ofAnt-Manstreaming on Disney+, Hanaumiwroteon Instagram that she “whipped my performance into shape,” thanking the coach “for being the mentor I needed 🤟.”
“Barbieis iconic and the message was so powerful. It was critical to capture every bit of what was in the movie,” Hanaumi told KXAN.
“My hope is that theBarbiemovie will set an example and a standard of what accessibility and inclusive experience looks like not just for deaf children, but for adults as well for the community at large,” she continued.
Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie in “Barbie”.Warner Bros. Pictures
As for which scene inBarbiewas her favorite to interpret and perform, Hanaumi toldThe SkimmthatAmerica Ferrera’s “epicmonologue” about expectations for women resonated with her.
“It exposed what it’s like being a woman living under patriarchy in such a real way. I saw so much of myself in her monologue that it permanently altered my worldview.”
Barbie,now streamingon Max, has become 2023’sbiggest box office hit. Back in July when the movie first appeared in theaters, Robbieshowed off her sign language skillson a red carpet for a fan.
source: people.com
