When it came to starring in his first role, as a child with autism in the film Esra next to Bobby Cannavale, William A. Fitzgerald kept his cool.
“It didn’t feel that hard,” says Fitzgerald, 15, who, like his character, is on the autism spectrum.
That’s because he and Cannavale had a plan.
“Since I have scenes with Bobby 90% of the time, we had a little script system called ‘Be With Bobby,’ and that kept me going,” Fitzgerald told Yahoo Entertainment. “It was like a ‘Be With Your Scene Partner’ system.”
“You can’t go wrong, as long as you are with the person,” Cannavale told Yahoo Entertainment. “Sometimes actors make it more difficult than it actually is. When you do your homework, you should be able to just be with the person and live together and be in the space. And that is sometimes harder than it seems, but this man is like a professional.
Directed by Tony Goldwyn and in theaters from May 31 Esra tells the story of how stand-up comedian Max (Cannavale) faces his own problems while raising a child with autism (Fitzgerald) with his ex-wife (Rose Byrne) and father (Robert De Niro).
For Goldwyn, who also plays a role in the film, the story hits close to home. The script was written by his friend Tony Spiridakis, who is the father of a son with autism – who also happens to be Goldwyn’s godson.
And that meant that the casting had to reflect reality.
“There was no point at which we considered casting a neurotypical actor to play Ezra,” Goldwyn told Yahoo Entertainment.
“Tony [Spiridakis] wrote the script. It was inspired by his relationship with his own autistic son, and so we knew we had to do that,” he said.
After a nationwide search involving more than 100 children ages 9 to 14, the team landed on Fitzgerald.
“You just know it when you see it sometimes,” Goldwyn said.
The director, who also plays Byrne’s friend in the film, explained that for the role they needed a guy who could feel comfortable being himself in front of a camera and who could also handle the intensity of a film shoot, “because it is a very mature environment. .”
While noting that productions can be tough for all children, Goldwyn acknowledged that shoots can be uniquely challenging for neurodivergent actors.
“Every person on the autism spectrum has certain sensitivities and certain things they’re comfortable with and uncomfortable with, like everyone else, but even more so if you’re autistic,” Goldwyn said. “And we knew we would take that into account.”
The team hired autism casting consultant Elaine Hall, who helped find Fitzgerald.
“She said, ‘We need to find a kid where acting is his happy place,’” Goldwyn added. “I thought, ‘That’s so right.’ And we certainly did that with William.”
In addition to casting Fitzgerald, the production went even further when it came to neurodivergent representation.
“We wanted to include the autism community in telling this story,” Goldwyn said. “One of our producers is autistic himself and he was on set every day to help us. We had consultants, we had people on our crew who were neurodivergent and other actors in the cast who you didn’t necessarily know were neurodivergent, but they were.
As for the actors who played Fitzgerald’s parents, both Byrne and Cannavale (who are partners and parents in real life) said their own approaches to acting didn’t change when working with a neurodivergent child actor.
“William, he’s such a warm kid, so we were really lucky,” Byrne told Yahoo Entertainment. “And Bobby Cannavale is so warm, my man. He wears his heart on his sleeve, so I felt like we started from there.
“[William’s] honest, and he’s charismatic, and he’s vulnerable,” Cannavale added. “He is everything you want a good acting partner to be.”
Byrne explained that films have come a long way in changing casting practices.
“It’s great that it’s being talked about more now and that there’s also more talk about a language and a spectrum because for so long there was such a stigma attached to it and there was no understanding of it,” Byrne said. “You probably couldn’t have made a movie like this with a neurodivergent actor many years ago.”
Although he was surrounded by award-winning actors, including two-time Oscar winner Robert De Niro, it was no problem for Fitzgerald.
“The only actor I really wanted to work with was Rainn Wilson, because I had seen a few episodes of him The office,he said of the former sitcom star who plays Max’s friend in the film.
“See? Honestly,” Cannavale joked.
Cannavale said preparing for his role in advance and making the effort to connect with his co-star in his projects makes all the difference.
“I’m a big believer in: ‘You do your work all the time before you actually start shooting. Then when you start shooting, all you have to do is maintain your focus and concentration, and the work – if you’ve done the work – will be there. That will become apparent,” he said.
He added, “If you have a really good listening partner, like I did [William]it’s easy.”
Esra will be in cinemas from May 31.
