All The Light We Cannot See: Is Main Actress Actually Blind?
There's a new series on Netflix that has a potential to become the next big thing.
Summary:
- All The Light We Cannot See is a new Netflix show adapted from a Pulitzer-winning novel
- The cast features big names such as Mark Ruffalo and Hugh Laurie
- However, its two leads are in fact inexperienced blind actresses
All The Light We Cannot See has debuted at No.1 spot on the English-language Netflix charts, having premiered last week. For a World War II series about a blind girl, the show is surprisingly heartwarming: the four-episode novel adaptation is a survival story based on a novel by Anthony Doerr.
The limited series revolves around Marie-Laure Leblanc — a blind French girl who is forced to flee the Nazi-occupied Paris with her father, a veteran and a member of the French resistance who makes secret radio transmissions deemed illegal by Nazi Germany.
The most exciting thing about the show is Netflix's decision to cast actress Aria Mia Loberti for the role of Marie-Laure. Not only is the actress entirely new to the industry (before getting the role, she was studying a doctorate in ancient rhetoric), but she is also blind in real life.
It was the decision of Shawn Levy, the director of the show, to actually pick actresses who were blind or had a significant visual impairment in order for the entire thing to feel more authentic.
Aria Mia Loberti was just the right choice. The creative team discovered her thanks to an open call casting.
“She has an intelligence and a strong internal life that is true to the character on the page. She wasn’t yet great at acting, but she had all the right instincts. And I saw that she wanted to be great, and she was willing to work to be great. That’s why I gave her the part,” Levy told El Pais.
Besides, the aspiring actress also helped Levy greatly with keeping things realistic, as she managed to notice little things that were not quite consistent with the actual experience of a person with a visual impairment. Thus, Loberti's character could be even more credible.
When the actress recalled the day she learned she had secured the role, she said it was a huge emotional rollercoaster.
"I had this whole speech prepared that was thanking [Levy] for the time, hoping that he would still consider hiring a blind actress and maybe asking like, how can I get involved in local theater? And then I just remember shaking so badly. Ingrid [Loberti's service dog] was in my lap cause I was crying so hard. I don’t really remember much after that,” the first-time leading lady told Vanity Fair.
The youngest version of Marie-Laure was also played by a girl with no acting experience. The role went to Nell Sutton, a girl from Wales who had congenital glaucoma. She was just seven during the shooting of the series, but still managed to do an incredible job.
All The Light We Cannot See is available on Netflix for streaming.
Sources: El Pais, Vanity Fair