Temple Grandin, Ph.D., didn’t speak until the age of 3½; instead, she screamed, peeped, and hummed. She was diagnosed with autism in 1950, when doctors recommended that her parents institutionalize her.

Today, the prominent author, speaker, and leading scientist dedicated to humane livestock handling is the subject of an HBO biopic starring actors Claire Danes, Julia Ormond, David Strathairn, and Catherine O’Hara.

The Life of Temple Grandin
Claire Danes will play Dr. Temple Grandin (one of the most accomplished and well-known adults with autism in the world) from her high school years to her post-academic period. Dr. Temple Grandin was considered “weird” by her peers in her formative school years and was called “tape recorder” because she repeated things over and over. She also was hypersensitive to a variety of sensory stimulation.

But Dr. Temple Grandin found a mentor who was able to cultivate the interests and abilities that she eventually molded into her expertise in designing livestock handling equipment. In fact, she went on to design the facilities in which half the cattle in the U.S.are handled; she is also a consultant for companies including Burger King, McDonald’s, and Swift, to name a few.

Can Actor Do Justice to Autism?
New York Magazine intimated that Claire Danes is capable of doing justice to Dr. Temple Grandin’s extraordinary life, calling her “a capable actress” and noting that “…Grandin’s story—including her work designing more humane slaughterhouses—is legitimately interesting without the requisite saccharinity usually attending such fare.”

But the magazine also questioned the choice of an actress who has no experience with autism, asking, “Can a neurotypical actor ever play someone with a neurological disorder without seeming pompous and self-important at best, or horribly exploitative at worst?”

The question is yet to be answered, at least where HBO is concerned, but this isn’t the first time Dr. Temple Grandin’s story has hit the air waves. Bravo TV also dedicated a programming segment to her life, as did BBC Television when it aired the documentary: The Woman Who Thinks like a Cow. Dr. Grandin was also featured in the Errol Morris documentary: First Person: Stairway to Heaven.

The HBO version however, is said to have been tougher to get off the ground than any of its counterparts; it was in negotiations for nine years before finally moving forward.

Doing Temple Grandin Justice
“I made a commitment to Temple that I was going to make it and make it right,” said Emily Gerson Saines, one of the executive producers and the mother of a son with autism. “I never pushed to get it made until now, because now we got it right. When I first brought this to HBO, and I started talking to Richard Plepler about the increasing (number of people with autism), he turned to me and said, ‘Your numbers have got to be wrong; otherwise it would be an epidemic.’ And I told him it is,” she added.

The project is being adapted to the big screen by Merritt Johnson and Christopher Monger, with Mick Jackson directing. Shooting began in Texas in late October 2008.

See Related Articles
I AM PWD: Global Civil Rights Campaign Launches

Briana Walker: Her SCI Doesn't Prevent Her From Dancing, Surfing and Writing Book