Marisa sits down with the two women behind the powerful film Love, Danielle—actor, writer, and producer Devin Sidell and executive producer Amy Byer Shainman for an honest, thoughtful conversation about the emotional side of hereditary cancer, identity, healing, and what it really means to rebuild your life after a life-changing diagnosis.
When Danielle, a happily married thirty-something, tests positive for a BRCA1 gene mutation, she learns that this puts her at a very high risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer. Thanks a lot, DNA.
She struggles to carry on with daily life working at her bakery with her husband Pat and hanging out with her well-meaning but clueless friends—while watching her older sister Amy undergo chemotherapy for breast cancer. Danielle begins to face the weight of a life-altering decision: whether to preemptively remove her “ticking time bomb” breasts and reproductive organs before cancer has a chance to strike.
Her decision-making process is layered with flashbacks to a complicated childhood, anesthesia-induced dreams, and difficult confrontations with her recovering alcoholic mother and self-absorbed television-star father. Ultimately, Danielle must learn how to prioritize her health, her future, and herself.
You can stream Love, Danielle on Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, and YouTube, or purchase a DVD copy.
The film is also available for educational licensing through SWANK.com.
Love, Danielle is currently being utilized by conferences and educational settings and is often paired with live Q&A sessions with Devin Sidell and Amy Byer Shainman for patient and provider education and empathy training.
To license the film, visit SWANK.com and request a quote.
Devin Sidell is an actor, writer, and producer who received her B.A. from Princeton University before returning to Los Angeles to pursue a career in film, television, and theatre. She has appeared on Malcolm in the Middle, The O.C., NUMB3RS, Ray Donovan, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, NCIS, Mayans MC, and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and in Rob Zombie’s feature film 31 (Official Selection, Sundance Film Festival). Devin is also a recurring sketch performer on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
A BRCA1 mutation carrier with a family history of breast and ovarian cancers, Devin chose to undergo both a preventative double mastectomy and preventative hysterectomy/oophorectomy in 2017 — earning her the label of “previvor.”
Amy Byer Shainman is a BRCA1 carrier, previvor, advocate, author, and film producer dedicated to educating and empowering individuals and families affected by hereditary cancer syndromes. Known as BRCA Responder, she is the executive producer of the award-winning films Love, Danielle and Pink and Blue: Colors of Hereditary Cancer, and the author of the award-winning medical memoir Resurrection Lily: The BRCA Gene, Hereditary Cancer & Lifesaving Whispers from the Grandmother I Never Knew. Amy brings clarity, compassion, and visibility to the hereditary cancer community through storytelling and lived experience.
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