At nineteen years old few people could be called prolific, let alone professionally poised on film. Thankfully, Emilia Jones is not like everybody else.
Having made her small screen debut in The House of Anubis at nine, she went on to work with Dennis Kelly for Utopia and Ben Wheatley in High-Rise. From there films with David Tennant and Guy Pearce followed, before Netflix came calling with Locke and Key. With a second season being released in October and number three already before cameras, it would be safe to say that CODA represents a departure.
This carefully considered character piece from writer director Sian Heder, centres on Ruby, who is the only member of her family able to hear. As a child of deaf adults, Ruby represents the bridge between two communities in this touching coming of age tale. Emilia recently sat down with Martin Carr to discuss the role and why this film means so much to her personally. Watch the interview here…
SEE ALSO: Read our review of CODA here
Seventeen-year-old Ruby (Emilia Jones) is the sole hearing member of a deaf family – a CODA, child of deaf adults. Her life revolves around acting as interpreter for her parents (Marlee Matlin, Troy Kotsur) and working on the family’s struggling fishing boat every day before school with her father and older brother (Daniel Durant). But when Ruby joins her high school’s choir club, she discovers a gift for singing and soon finds herself drawn to her duet partner Miles (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo). Encouraged by her enthusiastic, tough-love choirmaster (Eugenio Derbez) to apply to a prestigious music school, Ruby finds herself torn between the obligations she feels to her family and the pursuit of her own dreams.
CODA is in cinemas and available through AppleTV+ from August 13th.
Originally published August 9, 2021. Updated August 11, 2021.
