50 Fun Facts About CODA Movie

Who wrote and directed CODA?

Sian Heder learned American Sign Language to write the script, then worked with two deaf 'ASL masters' who turned her dialogue into signs.

What does the acronym CODA stand for?

Child of deaf adults: Ruby is the only hearing member of her family, so she interprets for them. Coda is also a musical term, which suits a story about a singer.

Who plays Ruby Rossi?

Emilia Jones had never had a singing lesson when she was cast. The British actress then trained her voice and learned ASL for the better part of a year.

CODA is a remake of which 2014 film?

La Famille Bélier, a French hit, cast hearing stars as its deaf parents. The remake reversed that and gave every deaf role to a deaf actor.

In which Massachusetts town is CODA set?

Gloucester: the director grew up in nearby Cambridge and spent her childhood summers there, so she moved the French story to a harbor town she already knew.

What is the Rossi family business?

Fishing: the director learned the trade from North Shore fishermen, and the cast rehearsed on real working boats for two weeks before the shoot.

Why does Ruby join the school choir?

Her crush Miles signs up for it, so Ruby puts her own name down. Mr. V then pairs the two for a duet, which means rehearsing alone with him.

Who plays the choir director Mr. V?

Eugenio Derbez, a Mexican star known for comedy, plays him. Bernardo Villalobos rolls the R in his first name and tells students who can't manage it to call him Mr. V.

Where does Mr. V push Ruby to audition?

Berklee in Boston is Mr. V's own college, so he offers Ruby private lessons for the audition, then almost drops her when family work keeps making her late.

Who plays Frank Rossi, Ruby's father?

Troy Kotsur spent decades competing for the few deaf roles on offer. The part won him the first acting Oscar for a deaf man.

What diagnosis does Ruby have to interpret for her parents at the doctor's office?

Jock itch: Ruby must then relay the doctor's order of two weeks without sex, and both parents sign back that it is impossible.

Who plays Leo, Ruby's brother?

Daniel Durant won the part through auditions. The director said he brought a simmering anger to everything the character does.

What does Frank announce at the board meeting?

He'll start his own company and sell fish directly, he tells the room, and he invites the other boats to join. The new business then leans on Ruby to do its talking.

Why does the Coast Guard stop Frank and Leo?

They fail to respond to horns and radio calls because the federal observer aboard never realised the crew was deaf. It happens the one day Ruby skips work to go swimming.

What condition lets Frank and Leo fish again?

A hearing person must be aboard at all times, the Coast Guard hearing rules. The family can't afford to hire one, so Ruby says she'll skip college and work the boat.

During Ruby's concert duet, how does CODA put the audience in her parents' place?

The sound cuts to silence, so viewers can only do what Frank and Jackie do: read the joy on the faces around them.

How does Frank experience Ruby's singing after the recital?

He feels her vocal cords as she sings to him that night, his hands on her throat. The next morning the whole family drives her to her college audition.

Which song does Ruby sing at her college audition?

'Both Sides, Now' by Joni Mitchell: Ruby signs the words as she sings so her family in the balcony can follow. It was chosen as a song about seeing life from two perspectives, as she does.

How does Mr. V rescue Ruby's shaky audition?

He deliberately makes a mistake on the piano and apologises, which lets Ruby start again. On the second try she spots her family in the balcony and sings to them.

What one word does Frank say aloud to Ruby as she leaves for college?

Go: Frank, who signs everything else, uses his voice for that one word. As the car pulls away, Ruby answers with an 'I love you' sign.

Which music does Frank blast in his truck to feel the bass?

Gangsta rap: Frank plays it at top volume so he can feel the beat through the seats, and Ruby cringes when her parents collect her from school with it thumping.

Music is banned at the Rossi dinner table, but which app does Jackie call a family activity?

Tinder: the parents help Leo swipe through matches over dinner. When Ruby asks why that is fine and her headphones are rude, her mother signs that it is something they can all do as a family.

Where did CODA's director first see the actor who plays Frank?

A Deaf West Theatre production: she thought he was incredible on stage. The Los Angeles company performs for deaf and hearing audiences at once, and she saw him in two of its shows.

Ruby and Miles's duet was first a hit for Marvin Gaye and which singer?

Tammi Terrell: she and Gaye had the original hit with 'You're All I Need to Get By'. After the concert Ruby's father asks what the song was about, then has her sing it again just for him.

Hearing that Ruby loves to sing, Jackie asks if she would want to do what 'if I was blind'?

Paint: her mother treats the choir as teenage rebellion against a deaf family. Ruby snaps back, asking why everything always has to be about her.

Frank brags at dinner that Jackie once beat 'all those hearing girls' to win what?

A beauty pageant: Frank says she won it the first year he met her. Ruby has heard the boast so often that she speaks the ending aloud along with his signing.

CODA's composer was music director of which Baz Luhrmann film?

Moulin Rouge!: Marius de Vries made his film name getting actors to sing on camera there, and later on La La Land. On CODA he did the same for a teenage choir recorded live.

Which original song plays over CODA's end credits, sung by its lead actress?

Beyond the Shore was written late, in post-production, with the director among its writers, to show how far the lead's singing had come. It made the Oscar shortlist for original song.

Which David Bowie song does Mr. V's choir perform at the fall concert?

Starman: the choir also sings Kiki Dee's 'I've Got the Music in Me'. Ruby's own taste runs older still: she and Miles bond over a record by the cult band the Shaggs.

CODA's festival sale broke a record held by which Andy Samberg comedy?

Palm Springs, a time-loop comedy, had set the festival's sales record in 2020. CODA topped it at just over $25 million after a bidding war at a largely virtual festival.

On which service was CODA released in August 2021?

Apple TV+ was under three years old when CODA made it the first streaming service to win Best Picture, beating Netflix's heavily nominated contender to the prize.

What did the actress who plays Jackie in CODA threaten to do unless deaf actors got the other deaf roles?

Quit the film: she was the first actor cast, and when the financiers balked at hiring deaf actors for the other deaf roles, her ultimatum made them give way.

Besides Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor, which third Oscar did CODA win?

Best Adapted Screenplay: the script reworks an earlier film, which made it an adaptation. CODA went three for three, winning every Oscar it was nominated for.

CODA was the first Best Picture winner to have premiered where?

The Sundance Film Festival: its 2021 edition ran largely online because of the pandemic, and CODA won four prizes there, including both the grand jury and audience awards.

Before the actor who plays Frank, who was the only deaf performer to win an acting Oscar?

Marlee Matlin won Best Actress for her first film and plays his wife in CODA, so the only two deaf performers with acting Oscars are an on-screen married couple.

Who hosted the 2022 Oscars where CODA won?

Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes ended a run of three Oscar nights with no host at all. The last person to do the job had been Jimmy Kimmel in 2018.

Which incident overshadowed the 2022 Oscars ceremony where CODA won Best Picture?

Will Smith slapping Chris Rock, over a joke about his wife's shaved head, came shortly before Smith won Best Actor. The Academy later banned him from its events for ten years.

Which film led the 2022 Oscar nominations with twelve but won only Best Director?

The Power of the Dog went one for twelve: Jane Campion became only the third woman to win Best Director, while CODA took Best Picture from just three nominations.

Which film won the most Oscars at the 2022 ceremony, with six?

Dune: Part One won six, all in craft categories such as score, editing and cinematography, without a single acting nomination or one for its director.

Which criticism did deaf viewers commonly raise about CODA?

Ruby interprets in settings where the ADA requires professionals, such as court and the doctor's office. One deaf writer said that would only make sense in a film set 40 years ago.

Ruby opens CODA belting out 'Something's Got a Hold on Me', a hit for which soul singer?

Etta James: Ruby sings it at full voice while sorting the catch, and the family working right beside her never hears a note.

What is the name of Ruby's best friend, who drives her to college at the end?

Gertie, played by Amy Forsyth, is told flatly by Ruby not to date her brother, and wastes very little time doing exactly that.

Before CODA, the actor who plays Frank had a guest role in which Disney+ series?

The Mandalorian: he played a Tusken Raider and also devised the sign language the desert tribe uses on screen.

CODA's writer-director came up as a writer on which Netflix series?

Orange Is the New Black: she wrote for the prison series for several seasons while struggling to get her first feature made, and Netflix ended up buying that film, Tallulah, too.

Which awards show gave CODA's cast its top prize a month before the Oscars?

The SAG Awards: Hollywood's actors picked CODA's mostly deaf cast over the ensembles of Belfast, King Richard and Don't Look Up, and Best Picture followed a month later.

The actress who plays Ruby is the daughter of which Welsh singer and television presenter?

Aled Jones: despite the musical family, she had never had a singing lesson before CODA, and trained her voice for the role alongside nine months of sign language.

The three deaf actors playing the Rossis had all performed in the same staging of which musical?

Spring Awakening: the revival was performed in sign language and spoken English at once, with hearing actors voicing the deaf performers' roles, and it transferred from Los Angeles to Broadway.

The actor who plays Frank grew up in Mesa, Arizona, where his father held what job?

Police chief: he grew up playing sports in Mesa and took drama at the city's Westwood High, the start of a stage career that ran for decades before CODA.

In CODA, how do Leo and Ruby's best friend flirt at the bar despite the language barrier?

By texting each other: she takes his phone and types in her number, and the two are soon trading jokes on their screens across the bar.

Where do Ruby and Miles sneak off to swim and leap from the cliffs?

A flooded quarry: the scenes were shot at Rockport's Steel Derrick quarry, a former granite pit where the leaps Ruby and Miles make are off limits to the public.