Ricky (Stand Clear of the Closing Doors)

Ricky is the main character in the drama movie Stand Clear of the Closing Doors.

Character creation
The idea for the movie first came about after director Sam Schneider read an article about a child who had run away in New York for 10 days. He tracked down the child and his family but they were not interested in a retelling of the events or a documentary-style film. He has also always had an interest in autistic people, and specifically wanted to cast an autistic person for the role. The casting directors searched both for professional actors and regular people, though the search proved difficult since there was just a small pool of people who'd fit the demographic requirements for the role.

Synopsis
Ricky lives in Rockaway Beach, Queens with his mother Mariana, an undocumented Mexican immigrant, and with his older sister Carla. One day Carla doesn't pick up Ricky from school and he gets drawn into the intriguing world of the New York subway.

Autism
Ricky is described as "a 13-year-old boy with autism" on the official website. In the movie itself, someone says "What he needs is a place where the staff have training...specific to autism spectrum disorders."