Temple Grandin (film)


Temple Grandin is a 2010 American biographical drama film directed by Mick Jackson and starring Claire Danes as Temple Grandin, an autistic woman whose innovations revolutionized practices for the humane handling of livestock on cattle ranches and slaughterhouses.
The film won several awards including five Primetime Emmy Awards, and Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild prizes for Danes.

Plot

Temple Grandin is an uncommunicative child who is prone to tantrums and is diagnosed with autism. The medical consensus at that time was that autism was a form of schizophrenia resulting from insufficient maternal affection. Despite recommendations to place her in an institution, Grandin's mother hires therapists and works to help her daughter adapt to social interaction.
As a teenager, Temple travels to her aunt and uncle's ranch to work. She observes cows being placed into a squeeze chute to calm them, and, during an anxiety attack, she uses the chute to calm herself. Inspired by her teacher, Dr. Carlock to pursue science, she is admitted to Franklin Pierce College where she develops an early version of the squeeze machine to calm herself during stressful times. Her college misinterprets the use of the machine as a sexual act and forces her to remove it. In response, she develops a scientific protocol to test subjects' reactions to the machine, proving it to be a purely therapeutic device. Grandin graduates with a degree in psychology and pursues a master's degree in animal science.
Temple faces sexism while attempting to integrate into the world of cattle ranching but ultimately designs a new dip structure designed to allow cattle to voluntarily move through rather than being forced. Initially, the device works as intended, and garners favorable coverage in local press, but ranch hands, not understanding her design, dismissively alter it, resulting in the drowning of several cows. Angered, Grandin visits Carlock, and leaves the meeting encouraged to continue her efforts to improve the industry.
The conclusion of the film depicts the 1981 National Autistic Convention that Temple and her mother attend. Given the rudimentary state of autism research, the speaker cannot answer many questions from the audience, but Temple speaks out from the crowd explaining how she has adapted. Temple also describes her mother's contributions to her success. Excited by the opportunity to hear from someone with real experience, the audience calls her to the podium, marking Temple's transition into autism advocacy.

Cast

Development

The idea for a biopic of Grandin originated with its executive producer Emily Gerson Saines, a successful talent agent and a co-founder of the nonprofit Autism Coalition for Research and Education. In the mid-1990s, Gerson Saines was a vice-president at the William Morris Agency when her 2-year-old son was diagnosed with autism. She learned about Grandin soon afterward, when her mother told her about seeing Grandin's book Thinking in Pictures in a bookstore and, around the same time, her grandmother independently sent her an article about Grandin by Oliver Sacks.
Reading about Grandin renewed Gerson Saines' "energy, motivation and spirit" in coping with her son's condition. "Temple's story brought me hope and 's story gave me direction and purpose," Gerson Saines said in a later interview. "Parents of a child with autism everywhere need to hear it, functionally and spiritually. I knew this story had to be told and given my access as a talent representative in the entertainment industry, I felt it was my responsibility to make that happen." Through Grandin's agent, Gerson Saines asked to meet Grandin for lunch. "She came in wearing her cowgirl shirt—in her very Temple way, in her very Temple walk. I realized that there were people staring at her, and in a different lifetime I might have been one of them, but all I could think of was, 'I can't believe how lucky I am to be here. This woman's my hero.'"
Grandin was familiar with Gerson Saines' work with the Autism Coalition and granted her permission to make the film, but the endeavor—first launched in the late 1990s—would take more than ten years to come to fruition. Variety reported in 2002 that David O. Russell was attached to direct the film from a screenplay by Merritt Johnson. Russell later dropped out and was replaced by Moisés Kaufman, who also left the project. By 2008, director Mick Jackson had taken the helm and Claire Danes was in negotiations to star as Grandin. Johnson's script had been replaced by one from Christopher Monger.
One element Gerson Saines was sure about from the beginning was that she wanted to work with HBO, in part because of her longstanding relationship with the network through her work as an agent. "But I also knew that by going that route, more people will see it," she said. "When you're trying to make a movie like this, it's very rare that it reaches a wide audience." HBO was equally intrigued by the story, and Gerson Saines credits past and present HBO executives with keeping the project alive until it could be properly realized. "I made a commitment to Temple that I was going to make it and make it right...I never pushed to get it made until now, because now we got it right."
Jackson knew early on that Danes was his first choice to portray Grandin, believing that Danes' seriousness and dedication would help her to capture Grandin's mercurial mental and emotional shifts without veering the film into disease-of-the-week melodrama. Danes herself was coming off a string of more lightweight roles and eager to take on a more demanding part. Although she was only vaguely aware of Grandin at the time, Danes dove into research, including watching documentaries about Grandin and studying Grandin's books and recordings. "It was really daunting, because she's alive and has a great eye for detail," Danes said. The two women spent about six hours together in Danes' apartment, ending with a hug from Grandin, which Danes was glad to take as validation that Grandin approved of her for the role.

Filming

Temple Grandin began shooting in October 2008 at Austin Studios in Austin, Texas. The film was noted for filming in Texas at a time when TV and film production had grown scarce in the state, and legislators were seeking to expand financial incentives to draw more film crews. Grandin producer Scott Ferguson said that Arizona, New Mexico and Canada had all been considered before producers had chosen Texas, in part because different areas of the state could be used to represent the rural West and New England. Ferguson also credited the abundance of trained film crews in the Austin and Dallas regions as a significant benefit to shooting in the area.
Gerson Saines brought Grandin to observe the last day of shooting, which was a scene involving a cattle dip tank that Grandin had designed. Although Grandin said that she tried to stay away from Danes to avoid impinging on her performance, she was quite concerned about the proper construction of the tank and about the breed of cattle being used in the scene. "I thought, we can't have a silly thing like that City Slickers movie, where they had Holstein cattle out there," Grandin said. "If you know anything about cattle, you'd know that was stupid." She said watching Danes on the monitors was "like going back in a weird time machine to the '60s."

Release

Promotion

The film was previewed on January 27 at the Gene Siskel Film Center, in a screening attended by Grandin. A trailer was previewed for critics during their winter press tour on January 14; critics responded positively to "the film's bright palette and inventive direction."
HBO and bookstore chain Barnes & Noble partnered to promote both the film and Grandin's books, displaying information about autism and the film in all Barnes & Noble stores and creating a free downloadable coloring book about Grandin, using illustrations by autistic artists. Grandin appeared for a special book signing, discussion and preview of the film at a Manhattan Barnes & Noble on January 25.

Reception

Upon its February 6, 2010 debut, Temple Grandin received a Metacritic score of 84/100 based on reviews from 19 critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 100% approval rating based on six reviews.
Entertainment Weeklys Jennifer Armstrong wrote:
Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times called it:
Robert Bianco of USA Today wrote that unlike many other HBO productions, "Temple is an incredibly joyous and often humorous film." While praising the direction and the strong supporting cast of Catherine O'Hara, David Strathairn, and Julia Ormond, Bianco declared that "as good as everything is around them, Temple Grandin belongs to two women: the real Temple, who appears to be a spectacular human being, and Danes, who is clearly a spectacular actor."
The A.V. Clubs Noel Murray, himself the father of an autistic son, wrote: Murray gives the film a grade A−, in part for Danes' success in portraying Grandin as a full-fledged personality instead of "a checklist of symptoms gleaned from a medical journal."
NPR's David Bianculli unambiguously named the film:

Accolades

OrganizationCategoryNomineeResultReference
Primetime Emmy Awards----
Primetime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Made for Television MovieEmily Gerson Saines
Gil Bellows
Anthony Edwards
Dante Di Loreto
Paul Lister
Alison Owen
Scott Ferguson
Primetime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic SpecialMick Jackson
Primetime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a MovieClaire Danes
Primetime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a MovieDavid Strathairn
Primetime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a MovieCatherine O'Hara
Primetime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a MovieJulia Ormond
Primetime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic SpecialChristopher Monger, William Merritt Johnson
Creative Arts Emmy Awards---
Creative Arts Emmy AwardsOutstanding Single Camera Picture Editing for a Miniseries or a MovieLeo Trombetta
Creative Arts Emmy AwardsOutstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie or a SpecialAlex Wurman
Creative Arts Emmy AwardsOutstanding Art Direction for a Miniseries, Movie or a SpecialRichard Hoover, Meghan C. Rogers,
Gabriella Villarreal, SDSA
Creative Arts Emmy AwardsOutstanding Casting for a Miniseries, Movie or a SpecialDavid Rubin, Richard Hicks, Beth Sepko
Creative Arts Emmy AwardsOutstanding Hairstyling for a Miniseries or a MovieGeorgie Sheffer, Charles Yusko
Creative Arts Emmy AwardsOutstanding Main Title DesignMichael Riley, Zee Nederlander, Dru Nget,
Bob Swensen
Creative Arts Emmy AwardsOutstanding Makeup for a Miniseries or a Movie Tarra Day, Meredith Johns
Creative Arts Emmy AwardsOutstanding Sound Editing for a Miniseries, Movie or a SpecialBryan Bowen, Vanessa LaPato, Paul Curtis,
Petra Bach, Bruce Tannis, Ellen Segal,
David Lee, Hilda Hodges
Golden Globe Awards---
Golden Globe AwardsBest Miniseries or Television Film
Golden Globe AwardsBest Actress – Miniseries or Television FilmClaire Danes
Golden Globe AwardsBest Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television FilmDavid Strathairn
Screen Actors Guild Awards---
Screen Actors Guild AwardsScreen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television MovieClaire Danes
Screen Actors Guild AwardsScreen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television MovieCatherine O'Hara
Screen Actors Guild AwardsScreen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television MovieJulia Ormond
Satellite Awards----
Satellite AwardsSatellite Award for Best Television Film
Satellite AwardsSatellite Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television FilmClaire Danes
Satellite AwardsSatellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television FilmDavid Strathairn
Satellite AwardsSatellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television FilmCatherine O'Hara

Temple Grandin also won a Peabody Award in 2010 "for turning a superbly acted, inspirational film biography into an experiential event as well."