Biography

[on her real-life younger brother, Sean, the inspiration for Charlie, the older brother with autism in The Black Balloon (2008)] When people talk about autism they often reference Rain Man (1988), which is one aspect of autism. Sean is very different, and we had the added frustration of him being an elective mute. He was so naughty and so full of life, and we always thought he would be a great character for a film.

I got the inspiration for The Black Balloon (2008) because I have three younger brothers, two of which have autism, so growing up was very eventful, crazy, funny and sometimes very sad. I always thought it would be a powerful story to tell. Many elements in the film really did happen to us.