Ifans, Linney Detail Parkinson’s Film Ahead of 6 November UK Release

3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Nov 2

Rhys Ifans and Laura Linney said BBC drama “Onwards and Sideways” pushed them into unusually raw territory as they prepared to portray a couple living with Parkinson’s disease.
Dance classes in London, Brooklyn and Bangor helped shape that work, while physiotherapists dubbed the Neuro Heroes guided the actors through the condition’s highly variable physical effects.
Writer Paul Mayhew-Archer, 73, drew the story from his own diagnosis at 58 and said the film aims to be funny as well as devastating, reflecting how he chose humor after learning he had Parkinson’s.
The actors said the biggest pressure was representing patients accurately, especially with 166,000 people living with Parkinson’s in the UK and one new diagnosis reported every 20 minutes.
“Onwards and Sideways” opens in UK cinemas on 6 November and will later air on BBC One and iPlayer.