All the Light We Cannot See boss shares how blind lead star’s “lived experience” made the show better
All the Light We Cannot See director Shawn Levy has revealed that the project's blind lead actress made the show better with her "lived experience".
The WWII-miniseries follows Aria Mia Loberti as blind teenager Marie in Nazi-occupied Paris, whose life becomes intertwined with German soldier Werner, played by Louis Hofmann. It is adapted from Anthony Doerr's 2014 novel of the same name.
Speaking exclusively to Digital Spy, Levy discussed how Loberti's own personal experience as a blind person informed the historical drama, in which she stars alongside Mark Ruffalo.
Related: Is Mark Ruffalo's new Netflix show All The Light We Cannot See worth watching?
"I think there was almost no days of shooting that I didn’t learn from Aria, and adjust something in a scene as a result of Aria, or Nell, who was seven years old when I filmed with her, but is, herself, also a blind, irresistible, young girl, as you saw," Levy said, revealing that the process of filming was continually changed in order to be closer to the lived experience of a visually impaired person.
"They would constantly point out: 'This is how I would do that. This bit of behaviour, I would do it this way. I would feel with my foot so that I knew where the end of the rug was. And I would know that my desk was four steps from there,'" he continued.
"Little details like that, that I would never know; that Steven would never know; that Anthony Doerr, the novelist, would never know."
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Levy continued by concluding that "their lived experience gave an authenticity, and informed the behaviour in the show that you saw," adding, "I think that’s for the better of the show."
Digital Spy awarded the show three stars, writing that it was a "strong debut from Loberti, who craftily weaves tenacity, bravery and fear with an absorbing tenderness, one that also compliments that of Hofmann's reluctant German soldier with the chaotic yet sad soul."
All The Light We Cannot See is available to stream on Netflix.
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