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When Si芒n Heder first pitched 鈥淐ODA,鈥� a movie featuring several deaf characters, she struggled to be truly heard.聽

Her movie is about Ruby Rossi (Emilia Jones), a teenager who is the only hearing member in a deaf household. (CODA is an acronym for 鈥渃hild of deaf adult.鈥�) Ruby鈥檚 torn between her desire to pursue a singing career and her guilt about leaving her family,聽who make a living fishing聽in a Massachusetts coastal town. They鈥檝e come to depend on her as their translator.

Ms. Heder, the writer and director, felt a strong need to cast deaf actors to play the Rossis. But film financiers balked at the idea.

鈥溾�楥ODA鈥� started out as a studio movie, and it became very clear that the studio wasn鈥檛 going to make that movie,鈥� says Ms. Heder in a video call. 鈥淚 felt clear that if they didn鈥檛 want to make it in the way I knew it should be made, then the movie shouldn鈥檛 exist.鈥�

The backstory about the making of 鈥淐ODA鈥� is how Ms. Heder and her cast persisted through challenges 鈥� much like the characters in the story. The crowd-pleaser, now showing in cinemas and streaming on Apple TV+, was a breakout hit at the Sundance Film Festival and is generating Oscar buzz. 鈥淐ODA鈥� is representative of deaf people in more ways than just its casting, which includes actor Marlee Matlin. Rather than offer up 鈥渁 precious story about disability,鈥� Ms. Heder says she wanted to normalize the deaf characters in a story that鈥檚 about resilience. It鈥檚 portrayed by actors Hollywood often neglects.聽

鈥淚鈥檓 glad the director stood firm on having deaf actors,鈥� Rikki Poynter, a public speaker whose YouTube channel chronicles her experiences as a deaf person, writes in an email. 鈥淚 love Marlee Matlin, she was someone I looked up to growing up because she was the only famous deaf person I knew at the time when I was a kid. But knowing all the deaf people and actors I do now, I do hope we get more of a chance to see them too!鈥�

A re-imagined remake

鈥淐ODA鈥� is a remake of the 2014 French film 鈥淟a Famille B茅lier.鈥� Ms. Heder envisioned a fresh approach for her English-language adaptation. The Massachusetts-born writer and director took classes in American Sign Language.聽With the assistance of ASL masters, she translated approximately 40% of her script into聽sign language so that viewers聽can see her 鈥渨ords literally come to life.鈥澛�(The film includes subtitles during scenes with signing.)聽Then she recruited Ms. Matlin to play Ruby鈥檚 mother in a role that鈥檚 both comedic and acerbic. Jackie Rossi doesn鈥檛 understand her daughter鈥檚 desire to use her singing talent to win a scholarship to Berklee College of Music. Her indignant response: 鈥淚f I was blind, would you want to paint?鈥� Speaking in an interview through an interpreter, Ms. Matlin says the storyline reminded her of her own experience as a precocious teen.

鈥淲hen Henry Winkler came to visit us at the Center on Deafness, I said, 鈥楬i, I鈥檓 Marlee, I want to be an actor just like you in Hollywood,鈥欌�� recalls Ms. Matlin, who won the Oscar for best actress for her debut movie, 鈥淐hildren of a Lesser God.鈥� 鈥淢y mom, being a mom who wanted to protect me, said to Henry, 鈥楧on鈥檛 encourage her too much because the scenario of a deaf actor in Hollywood won鈥檛 happen. People will dismiss Marlee.鈥� And Henry looked at her, turned around, and said to me, 鈥楳arlee, you can be whatever you want to be as long as you believe in yourself and follow your heart.鈥欌��

Unlike the original French movie, which featured a hearing cast, Ms. Heder and Ms. Matlin took a stand for hiring deaf actors. Opportunities for such actors remain scarce in Hollywood. Consequently, they lost backing for the movie. But Ms. Heder had learned a thing or two about perseverance. Her first short film, 鈥淢other,鈥� was rejected from 11 film festivals before it was accepted into competition at Cannes. Her next movie, 鈥淭allulah,鈥� a 2016 feature starring Elliot Page and Allison Janney, took nine years to make.

鈥淭here were so many instances where I would run into people and they鈥檇 be like, 鈥極h, you鈥檙e still trying to get that [Tallulah] made?鈥� You know, with this sort of judgment,鈥� says Ms. Heder. 鈥淚 did listen to that voice inside myself that said, 鈥楰eep going and this will happen.鈥� And I think the same is true for 鈥楥ODA.鈥欌�澛�

Empowering the characters

The director found new backers who believed 鈥淐ODA鈥� would find an audience. Having grown up in Massachusetts, Ms. Heder set 鈥淐ODA鈥� in the coastal town of Gloucester rather than on a dairy farm like in the original movie. Each morning before school, Ruby and her family venture out on their trawler to haul up nets clotted with fish. The Rossis receive meager pay for their catch, and they feel like outsiders in the community. Yet Ms. Heder was careful to steer clear of the Hollywood tropes of depicting people with disabilities as saints, martyrs, or characters to feel sorry for.聽

鈥淭hat victim mentality is antiquated. It鈥檚 an old way of thinking. We don鈥檛 need pity or help or saving,鈥� says Troy Kotsur, who plays Ruby鈥檚 father, Frank, speaking through an interpreter. 鈥淭here are so many successful deaf attorneys, teachers, doctors, dentists, you name it. They鈥檙e out there. They鈥檙e just overlooked and we鈥檙e a minority. And now with the movie 鈥楥ODA,鈥� we鈥檙e heroes.鈥�

The Rossi family members affectionately tease each other with salty language and delight in embarrassing Ruby with frankness about sex. As the daughter of Hungarian and Welsh immigrants, Ms. Heder identified with that family dynamic. The protagonist鈥檚 struggle to be individuated outside of her clan reflects her own experience. She describes 鈥淐ODA鈥� as a coming-of-age story not just for Ruby, but also her mother, father, and brother.聽

鈥淭hose bonds and those ties continue and persevere, even under incredible strain and within circumstances that you think would pull them apart,鈥� says Ms. Heder. 鈥淭hat鈥檚, to me, what the film is about: the resilience of family.鈥�

鈥淐ODA鈥� is available in theaters and on Apple TV+. It is rated PG-13 for drug use, language, and strong sexual content.