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    Back to The Business

    The Business

    Making 'The Sessions'

    When Ben Lewin discovered Mark O'Brien's article, " On Seeing a Sex Surrogate ," he was at an all time low in his film career. Judi Levine, his wife and producer, had taken a job outside of the business to pay the bills. In fact, they were thinking about leaving LA and moving back to Australia.

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    By Kim Masters • May 12, 2014 • 1 min read

    When Ben Lewin discovered Mark O'Brien's article, "On Seeing a Sex Surrogate," he was at an all time low in his film career. Judi Levine, his wife and producer, had taken a job outside of the business to pay the bills. In fact, they were thinking about leaving LA and moving back to Australia. But this article struck a nerve -- not only because Lewin had been contracted polio as a child, like O'Brien -- but because this story moved them. They talk with us about how they acquired the rights to O'Brien's article (he died in 1999), and the life rights to the actual sex surrogate -- Cheryl Cohen Green. Lewin and Levine's story of ‘begging' for money to get the film financed turns triumphant when they get The Sessions into Sundance and sell it to Fox Searchlight.

    The full episode

    2 of 2
    Sex, Catholicism and Disability: Making 'The Sessions'
    1. 0:00The Hollywood News Banter
    2. 6:45Making 'The Sessions'You’re reading this
    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Kim Masters

      partner/writer at Puck News, host of KCRW's “The Business.”

    • KCRW placeholder

      Darby Maloney

      Producer

    • KCRW placeholder

      Ben Lewin

      Writer and director of 'The Sessions'

    • KCRW placeholder

      Judi Levine

      Producer of 'The Sessions'

      CultureEntertainmentArts

    The full episode

    2 of 2
    Sex, Catholicism and Disability: Making 'The Sessions'
    1. 0:00The Hollywood News Banter
    2. 6:45Making 'The Sessions'You’re reading this
    Back to The Business