Danny Murphy launched in 2016 a Facebook page and a YouTube channel where he uploads monthly videos in British Sign Language of parodies, jokes, and news. He is hugely popular on the web and this year will make the leap to the big screen in a film with a spectacular artistic team.
The Parts You Lose Movie
The Parts You Lose started pre-production in 2015 and have recently released their trailer (English captioning optional):The synopsis is as follows:
A deaf 10-year-old boy, Wesley, lives on a small farm in North Dakota and commutes to a school for the deaf. He is bullied at the school; at home, he has a good relationship with his mother, though not his father. One day he comes across an injured man who he helps recover, and they become friends. The man teaches the boy how to stand up to the school bully and his father. The police come looking for the man, and Wesley struggles with being loyal to his new friend (Wikpedia)For the role of the child, the producers of the film made an international casting with the support of the theatre company Deaf West Theatre, being chosen Danny. Since Danny uses British Sign Language, he learned American Sign Language for his role in the film.
Danny comes to the cinema with an important artistic cast, being the main character Aaron Paul, well known for his participation in the famous series Breaking Bad. The actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead has an extensive filmography among which stand out her roles 10 Cloverfield Lane or Live Free or Die Hard, as well as one of the best series of all times, Fargo, in which she has also coincided with the Deaf actor Russell Harvard. Finally, the film is directed by Christopher Cantwell, known for having created and written the acclaimed television series Halt and Catch Fire.
It is expected to premiere in the United States on October 4.
Although the media believe that the film will not bring great innovations to the genre of thriller, they emphasize the small twist that is to introduce a deaf child as the protagonist. Sign Language has made it possible to introduce greater originality into a large number of cinematographic productions and TV series (in this article you have a list of all the films and series that can now be seen in streaming).
Talent for performance
Danny was born Deaf in a small town of 43,000 people in the north of England, Wallsend, into a family in which his mother and father are Deaf, so he is fifth-generation Deaf from his father and his native language, as he himself says on his Facebook page, is British Sign Language.From a very young age, Danny was fascinated by cameras, as he started producing his own videos when he was only eight years old. From the first videos he launched through his Facebook and YouTube page in 2016, the quality of his productions has not ceased to improve and he introduces increasingly spectacular visual effects until he produces his own feature film in 2019 with the help of crowdfunding and his friends. This is the trailer:
Danny nació en una pequeña localidad de 43.000 habitantes al norte de Inglaterra, Wallsend, en una familia en la que su madre y su padre son sordos, por lo que es sordo de quinta generación por parte de su padre y su lengua materna, como él mismo afirma en su página en Facebook, es la lengua de signos británica.
Danny seems to have a natural talent in camera, with the ability to characterize himself and put himself in all kinds of situations. His artistic career has just taken off with this film. For those who want to follow the same way, Danny has a little tip:
It doesn’t matter who you are, just achieve your dreams! It doesn’t matter if it’s tough. Remember always be yourselfOn Facebook he has more than 40,000 followers, but you can follow his adventures on any of his social media:
Danny's next video on Facebook has reached more than 300k views:
Awarded the prestigious Diana Award
In 2017 he won the Diana Award, established in memory of Princess Diana of Wales, which is the most prestigious accolade a young person aged 9-25 years can receive for their social action or humanitarian work in the UK.And in 2018 he has become a Diana Award Ambassador. On that occasion, the Diana Award produced the following video presentation of Danny as Ambassador:
His presentation as Ambassador in the video description on YouTube reads as follows:
Most deaf people face a lot of barriers and lack the confidence to be able to do what they want to do. But Danny wants to show other deaf people, like him, that there are many ways to reach their goals. Danny is a passionate campaigner for the rights of other young people who are deaf. He produces creative videos that challenge the services currently provided for deaf young people. Which is why, for all his work campaigning and standing up for others, Danny won the Diana Award. Since landing his award Danny has joined forces with our Anti-Bullying Ambassador training team to support other young deaf people to become Anti-Bullying Ambassadors and to make our programmes more accessible for all. This is his journey.
Sources:
- Billington, A. (2019, August 6). Trailer for North Dakota Criminal-in-Hiding Film 'The Parts You Lose'. In First Showing. Retrieved from https://www.firstshowing.net/2019/official-trailer-for-north-dakota-crime-drama-film-the-parts-you-lose/
- ITV Report (2019, May 9). Role model Danny Murphy signs his way onto the big screen. Retrieved from https://www.itv.com/news/tyne-tees/2019-05-09/role-model-danny-murphy-signs-his-way-onto-the-big-screen/
- McNary, D. (2017, November 28). Christopher Cantwell to Direct Aaron Paul’s ‘The Parts You Lose’. In Variety. Retrieved from https://variety.com/2017/film/news/christopher-cantwell-directing-aaron-paul-the-parts-you-lose-1202624857/
- Robson, I. (2017, September 4). This 13-year-old hopes for media career despite being the fifth generation of his family to be deaf. In Chronicle Live. Retrieved from https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/13-year-old-hopes-media-13568193
- Russian, A. (2019, August 6). Aaron Paul Is a Fugitive on the Run in Thrilling Trailer for The Parts You Lose. In People. Retrieved from https://people.com/movies/aaron-paul-the-parts-you-lose-trailer/
