Photo: LILIANE LATHAN/GETTY IMAGES
The Oscar-winning actress will also executive-produce the project, which centers on a kid with deaf parents
By Nick Romano
July 03, 2019 at 03:37 PM EDT
Entertainment Weekly
Another television series is in the works for Disney+, this one with Oscar-winning actress Marlee Matlin.
Matlin will star in and executive-produce Life and Deaf, a new half-hour comedy for the Mouse House’s upcoming streaming service that hails from Switched at Birth creator Lizzy Weiss, EW has learned. Deals are currently being finalized to put the project in development.
The series, based on the life of Matlin’s longtime interpreter, Jack Jason, tells of a kid living in the 1970s with his deaf parents and the high jinks that ensue when he acts as both the ears and mouthpiece for his mom and dad. Weiss, who worked with Matlin on Switched at Birth, wrote Life and Deaf as a collaboration between CBS TV Studios and Four Boys Entertainment.
Matlin, who is deaf, won an Oscar for 1987’s Children of a Lesser God and has appeared on Syfy’s The Magicians and ABC’s Quantico in recent years. The Facebook Watch series Limetown and the Alan Cumming indie film Run are next on the docket for her.
Patricia Heaton, David Hunt, and Rebecca Stay of Four Boys Entertainment will executive-produce Life and Deaf with Weiss, Matlin, and Jason.
A representative for Disney+ declined to comment.
Deadline Hollywood first reported the news.
Source: ew.com/tv/2019/07/03/marlee-matlin-life-and-deaf-disney-plus-series/
