# How ‘CODA’ Director Siân Heder Used Oscar Win to Get ‘Being Heumann’ Made — And Why She Insisted on a Sex Scene

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/how-coda-director-sian-heder-used-oscar-win-to-get-being-heumann-made-and-why-she-insisted-on-a-sex-scene/
- Published: 2026-11-13T14:00:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-13T14:25:37+00:00
- Original publisher: New York Post (publisher lean: Right)
- Original article: https://decider.com/2026/11/13/apple-being-heumann-movie-director-sian-heder-interview-being-heumann-sex-scene/
- Topics: Entertainment, Film, World

## Key points

- Heder used her post-*CODA* influence to make *Being Heumann*.
- Ruth Madeley portrays disability rights activist Judy Heumann.
- The film centres on a 1977 sit-in for US accessibility rules.

## Summary

After *CODA* won Best Picture in 2022, director Siân Heder used the influence she had gained to make *Being Heumann*, a film about disability rights activist Judy Heumann. Heder said she chose it because she believed the project might not be made without her, and because Heumann had personally selected her to adapt her memoir.

The film follows activists’ 1977 sit-in, which helped secure US accessibility rules. Heder says the production faced resistance because it was a period drama with a large cast of disabled actors who were not widely known, and it required an accessible set and support such as interpreters. Ruth Madeley, an actress with spina bifida, plays Heumann; Heumann died in 2023, aged 75.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.