RON LIVINGSTON LISTENS TO THE MUSIC WITHIN

Ron Livingston stars as the man who lobbied for the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Ron Livingston who is most known to us as Carrie’s boyfriend Berger from Sex and The City takes on the life story of Richard Pimentel, the man who single-handedly changed the way America looks at people with disabilities in Music Within.

Richard, a Vietnam Vet who lost his hearing lobbied for the Americans with Disabilities Act. At first Ron stuffed his ears to assimilate what it would be like to not hear but quickly discovered that Richard’s story was about much more than being deaf.

“There’s just no way, you just wouldn’t know that he’s deaf. You couldn’t tell. He reads lips impeccably. His speech is better than mine. So there’s no way to tell. I kind of had this interesting problem of how am I gonna play the story of this deaf guy where there’s no way you can tell if he’s deaf. And that was the key of the movie because it made me realize you know what I’m not playing a deaf guy. I’m playing a guy Richard Pimentel and ultimately how he hears is not the most interesting thing about him.”

Ron hopes the film will change people’s perceptions about the disabled.

“You know we all have a tendency when you first see people you make a snap decision. You make a judgment, it’s natural. You’re supposed to do that. Your brain’s hardwired for that. The question is whether you then stop looking at the person or continue looking at them and continue making further judgments from there. But he really kind of changed the views of 200 million other people in America about how we look at people with disabilities and really how we look at people with abilities.”

Music Within currently playing in theaters features The Queen star Michael Sheen seamlessly playing Pimentel’s friend with cerebral palsy who also inspired him.