Laura Linney considered "Onwards and Sideways" a turning point in her career. In an interview with AFP at the Toronto International Film Festival, the American actress said she left the film "as a different person," being deeply moved, but in a good way, and that the experience is still with her.
The feature film, directed by John Madden (known for "Shakespeare in Love"), follows two people diagnosed with Parkinson's on the same day. Emma, played by Linney, and Tony, played by Rhys Ifans, receive the news from a neurologist who gives them "five good years."
The film premiered on Sunday at the Toronto festival and does not intend to be a lesson about the disease, but rather to address what can happen to these two people when, suddenly, they are drawn into this connection between them, according to the British director.