10 Years in the Making

Executive Producer Emily Gerson Saines on filming Temple Grandin

by Cris Italia

Emily Gerson Saines with Temple Grandin.

We’ve heard about this project for several years. How did it come together?
    A friend of mine was running HBO, and he had approached me about producing a movie. A lightbulb went off in my head, I said I know what the story is. Let me go see if I could get the rights. I contacted Temple, and she had heard of me because I had co-founded the Autism Coalition. I asked her if I could get together for lunch, so we made arrangements.
    It was a wonderful moment, because I had her meet me in Trattoria Dell’arte in Manhattan and everyone’s there in their business suits and Temple walks in, so tall, clothed in the way that she dresses. It was funny, because I looked at her as she walked through the restaurant as if Mother Theresa had walked into the restaurant. I go to this restaurant all the time and everyone looks the same, but when she walked in I felt like I was with the most important person in the room.  For me she is one of the most important people in the world. She told me that a lot of people had approached her about doing it—a lot of famous and big directors—and she felt in her heart that they were going to add a love story. But she knew I had an autistic son, she knew I was serious about autism and she said okay.
    It was very important to me that Temple be a true human being. Not this autistic person. The story I wanted to tell was about this person who had overcome obstacles and went on to become the foremost person in her field, as a woman in a particular time when women were not invited into that industry. The obstacle she faced was autism. Yes, there was an autism movie to be told, but it was also an important women’s movie, a movie of triumph for the human spirit.

Was there any time throughout this process, with all the director changes, that maybe this wouldn’t happen?
Not for a minute, not for a minute. HBO was so committed to making this movie. It would have been easy (to shut it down) because there were moments that nothing was happening with it. They had the ability to not re-option it, but they kept re-optioning it. What I would do along the way was call people at HBO and share with them the increased incidence of autism—things in the news about autism, the increased media attention—so I made sure that they understood that this was an important topic. And this is was the most important story that could be told about autism and one that can go beyond autism. My goal with the film was to share Temple as a human being.

Do you think the movie was better off coming out now rather than eight years ago?
I think there would be different benefits if it had come out eight years ago versus now. I think if it came out eight years ago perhaps it could have created more awareness at that time and hopefully influence more research dollars and we could have been in a different position today. The fact that it comes out now is better because more people are affected by autism and more people need that hope, which was really my intention in the first place.

Was your ending specifically created for a mainstream audience?
I think our ending is nuanced and subtle. What her mother says is, “everyone settle down and be quiet.” She didn’t want Temple to be overwhelmed. But what it says is that she’s still autistic and we felt that we needed to say that.

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