Today, we are joined by young disabled actor Cale Ferrin, who met with Cr*pple Magazine to discuss his breakout role in the movie, “More Beautiful for Having Been Broken,” which was released internationally last Friday, May 8th. It also co-stars Australian actress, Zoë Ventoura (Home and Away, Packed to the Rafters) and Kayla Radomski of “So You Think You Can Dance” fame. Supporting cast includes Bruce Davison (Star Trek / X-Men), French Stewart (3rd Rock from the Sun), Brooke Elliott (Drop Dead Diva), Harley Jane Kozak (Parenthood), Gaby Christian (South of Nowhere), Kay Lenz (Rich Man Poor Man, Reasonable Doubts, NCIS), Wally Kurth (General Hospital and Days of our Lives) and Gabrielle Baba-Conn (director Nicole Conn’s real-life daughter) who is also making her feature debut.

Ferrin took some time to talk about the movie, the importance of representation, his love for music and dance, and how he’s spending his time in quarantine. Check it out!

CM: Hi Cale! Nice to meet you, my name is Brianna, and I’m a writer for Cr*pple Magazine, and I’ll be interviewing you today about your upcoming movie, “More Beautiful for Having Been Broken,” which was released last Friday.

Now, we received an awesome video of you dancing, you like dancing? What is your favorite kind of music to dance to?

CF: My favorite kind of music to dance to is pump up music, like you hear on the radio.

CM: Any specific songs?

CF: “Shut Up and Dance” is one of my favorites… “Honey, I’m Good” is another great one too!

CM: I’m actually a dancer too, so I personally love seeing you – or seeing anyone – get up and move and dance. Does dance mean anything special to you?

CF: Well, dance makes me feel happy and it lets me be myself. I really enjoy it – I love all types of dance. I also take dance classes – my favorite styles are contemporary, lyrical, and hip hop. I also love musicals, I hope to be in a musical and dance someday too.

CM: What’s been your favorite activity since we’ve all been in quarantine?

CF: I love playing outside with my sister and brother, going on bike rides… and making YouTube videos!

Check out Cale’s YouTube channel here!

CM: What is this movie about? In your words – what is the message or the theme of the movie?

“A young boy who sees the world as a beautiful place even though everything around him has been broken.” – Cale Ferrin, MetroTV (Jan 24, 2019)

CF: The movie is about three women and Freddy, who is a special needs boy, and he’s like a superhero in the movie. He feels love everywhere he goes, and feels deep emotions.

Summary from the Hollywood Times: A broken FBI agent, suspended from her job and struggling with the loss of her mother, travels to the small mountain town she used to visit as a child. She is befriended by a special needs boy who possesses the extraordinary gift of healing others through his unbroken spirit and unique outlook on life. Though she is hurting, she begins to see through his eyes as the puzzle pieces fall into place.

CM: What was it like acting in this movie, which has been called your “breakout” role?

CF: I had a LOT of fun – I love to heal hearts and to show people my love because that’s what I’m all about; I love being a caring kid. It was undeniably such a great experience, I had so much fun.

Nicole Conn was a wonderful director, she taught me so much – she worked with me a lot and taught me how to do lines. We had a lot of fun on set – sometimes we would just dance and laugh! We had dance parties on set all the time. My one scene where I’m talking to Mackenzie and she’s reading the newspaper – I totally ad-libbed that scene!

Some scenes were challenging for me – the bullying scene specifically was hard, it hit really close to home. I had a lot of raw emotions, I felt it so deep, and it melts my heart.

Cale also won Best Actor for the film, awarded by the LA Film Festival, among other awards for the movie including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Zoë Ventoura), and Best Editing. 

CM: Did you get to do anything new or special while filming this movie?

CF: Yes – it was filmed at Pine Mountain, and it was my first time visiting it – it was amazing, very beautiful; I couldn’t have been anywhere more beautiful. I really enjoyed being outside.

CM: So you’re an actor, you’re a person with Fanconi Anemia. Would you be comfortable telling me a little bit about your disability?

CF: So, it’s a rare genetic disorder that messes with the DNA prepare system, it really messes with all of your systems. It [FA] sometimes leads to bone marrow failures and other types of cancers.

CM: Mackenzie tells Freddy: “You’re something else.” “I know, but I didn’t ask to be.” Can you talk about how or why this scene is an important part of the film?

CF: I just want people to know that staring and awkward looks isn’t nice, I feel very different all the time – I want to have it out there that I can see you looking, it’s not like you’re trying to hide it. We’re just normal people doing normal things.

CM: What do you think your work means for the disability community?

CF: My work means a lot, I think. Representation matters and I want to be a role model for anyone who wants to get into acting. Less than 2% of leading roles played by disability actors, and I’m trying to make a stand against that. 2% of leading roles is just not okay and blows my mind how you can cast an able-bodied person for a disabled role.

I also can make disabled people feel good when they see someone like them on TV. In fact, Freddy [his character] HAS FA – he wasn’t originally like that! She [Nicole Conn] changed it after she cast me in the movie!

Representation matters! I hope that people take from this movie that love is love, just have love and kindness, and make people feel good, be the reason someone smiles today.

CM: What’s next for you? Any projects in the works now that you’re becoming more recognizable in film and TV?

CF: Well, right now, Hulu has the TV show “Endlings,” Season 1 is on Hulu, and Season 2 will be coming in the fall. I have one of the lead roles, his name is Finn.

I was also just in a John Legend music video called “Bigger Love” which was published yesterday (Wednesday, May 13th). That was really fun – it was quarantine style, and it was super exciting to see the end product, and seeing me make it. I entered a contest and I didn’t know if I would make it, but we were partying like crazy. It was a call for open videos.

Check out “Bigger Love” here! Ferrin appears at 2:09.

CM: Related to the message of your movie – we’ve all been going through a really hard time across the world with Coronavirus. Do you have any good words for the people reading Cr*pple Magazine, maybe related to the themes from your movie?

CF: Be happy, don’t let anyone get you down, love and kindness matters, be yourself, knock people’s socks off, hope isn’t canceled, always have hope, and we’ll all get through this together!

There you have it, folks! Hope isn’t canceled! Congratulations to Cale for his amazing success with this movie. You can check out the trailer for the movie here, and follow Cale on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

“More Beautiful for Having Been Broken” is available for streaming on iTunes and Amazon Instant Video.