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Great Performance: John Hawkes

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John Hawkes
Performance: Mark O’Brien in The Sessions

“Mark O’Brien used to say that disabled people are invisible to able-bodied people,” says Hawkes, who plays the writer and polio survivor in The Sessions. “In between takes, I’d stay on a gurney, and crew members would set sandwiches and wardrobe people would lay coats on me. I got some idea of what it’s like to be thought of as furniture.”

The Performers Speak:


Amy Adams

Sally Field

John Hawkes

Quvenzhané Wallis

Anne Hathaway & Hugh Jackman

Christoph Waltz

John Goodman

Naomi Watts

Jessica Chastain

See a Compilation of Highlights from the 2013 Great Performers

More Portraits of the 2013 Great Performers by Paola Kudacki

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