Duluth’s Daniel Durant reunites with ‘CODA’ director for film on unsung heroes

Don’t feel guilty if you’ve never heard of Judith Heumann, the ground-breaking advocate for people with disabilities. Two Minnesota actors helping bring her story to the masses hadn’t heard of her, either. “I took a lot of history classes and we didn’t talk about the disability movement at all, which is crazy because we had so many pages about other movements,“ said Charlie Rush-Reese, a recent Robbinsdale High School grad appearing in the film ”Being Heumann,” now streaming on Apple TV. “I just hope with our movie, they can add disability movements to history books and treat it like essential learning, because it is.” The film, director-writer Siân Heder’s first project since the Oscar-winning “CODA,” focuses on Heumann (Ruth Madeley) as she leads a group of protesters who take over a San Francisco federal building in 1977, until bureaucrats agree to enforce anti-discrimination laws. The sit-in lasted nearly a month, the longest peaceful occupation of a federal building in U.S. history. Advertisement Heumann, who used a wheelchair after contracting polio as a toddler, died in 2023. The movie doesn’t feature the kind of big dramatic moments that fueled classics like “Norma Rae,” “Selma” and “Milk.” Its idea of high tension is cabinet member Joseph Califano, Jr. (Mark Ruffalo) dodging Heumann’s phone calls. Its greatest draw is watching the rebels unite despite facing their wide variety of disabilities, killing time with wheelchair races and make-out sessions. At one point, Rush-Reese’s character entertains the group with a rendition of “Joy to the World.” Duluth’s Daniel Durant , re-uniting with his “CODA” director, said the cast bonded by living in the same place in downtown Toronto and having a two-week rehearsal period.