00:00So, the movie is fantastic. How familiar were both of you with Sitting Bull and Catherine Weldon prior to taking on these roles?
00:09I wasn't familiar. I had never heard of Catherine Weldon.
00:11And then when I got sent the script, I did a deep dive of research, and I was shocked that there wasn't more space in the history books dedicated to her.
00:24I mean, she really was an ignored voice, and I find that sometimes history books tend to ignore incredible women.
00:34So, it definitely was a story I wanted to tell. I mean, I'm sure you knew about Sitting Bull.
00:39I did. I did. I did. I think he might be arguably the most famous Native American in the world.
00:48But, what attracted me to the script was its three-dimensionality.
00:55His first line is hilarious. His first line with Catherine.
01:00Throughout the film, that rich humor, it formed a vein, you know, that was deeply familiar to me as an Indigenous person.
01:09It reflected how we look at the world. And so, almost from the first page, the first time he appeared, you know, in the script,
01:17I realized we were looking at a different kind of representation, a different kind of portrayal.
01:22One of the things I loved about the film was that you showed a different side of Sitting Bull than the ones that we usually read about in the history books.
01:29Was that what drew you to the role?
01:32Absolutely. I've said it in other places. It's the role of a lifetime.
01:37For me, you know, the body of work and the experiences I've had working in Hollywood have always been one of trying,
01:46often against the writing or against the project, to expand how we look at Native people.
01:54But on this film, it was different immediately from the script.
01:59It was different from the way Jessica and I talked about how we wanted to work the scenes.
02:03It was different the way Susanna insisted day after day, scene after scene,
02:09that we always look at this character as, you know, more sophisticated, more nuanced, more articulate,
02:17which is a battle I fought for, you know, some nearly 30 years in the business.
02:22And it was refreshing for me to be inside a project with artists that cared as passionately about that kind of representation as I did.
02:33And the Western landscape is absolutely stunning in this film. It's a character in and of itself.
02:39What was it like to sort of embrace and explore while filming the movie?
02:44It was tough sometimes. I mean, I chose to shoot the movie in New Mexico
02:50and because I wanted those big skies and that open landscape.
02:55But, yeah, we'd get dust storms, wind storms.
02:59Jessica was formidable in putting up with it all.
03:02Sometimes we'd try and put up some big silks to screen her from the sun.
03:06But you did embrace it. You said, like, this is what Catherine had to deal with and I'm going to take it on.
03:12Yeah.
03:13So, yeah, it had its challenges, but I think it's a true reflection of what she would have gone through.
03:20And it's immersive. It was immersive for all of us.
03:23I remember one day, do you remember, one set location was so remote we had to cross this little bridge.
03:30Yeah, I remember.
03:32And it's like a little rope bridge.
03:34It was like swinging.
03:35It was like swinging.
03:36There we go.
03:37And once you get on the set, you do no other work.
03:41I mean, you're in the middle of it. You're in the middle of a...
03:44You don't have, like, cell phone service.
03:46Nothing.
03:47Nothing.
03:48That was super important to me.
03:49I grew up loving westerns, loving the films of John Ford and Sergio Leone,
03:54who wanted the land to be a character. And that's really the story of the film.
03:58It's like whether anyone can really own land. Sitting Bull said once,
04:01what you want to buy the land, you want to buy the sky as well.
04:04And so for the land to be a character in the movie was a big part of our story.
04:09And what stood out about Michael and Jessica that made them perfect for these two legendary figures?
04:16Okay.
04:17Well...
04:18Yeah.
04:19So...
04:20Jessica was a no-brainer. Not only is she a completely wonderful actress,
04:28but to me she has a lot of the feisty characteristics of Catherine.
04:33She's not afraid to speak her mind and stand up for things she truly believes in.
04:38So that was a complete joy to get Jessica to play that role.
04:44And for Michael it was really interesting because when I spoke to the Lakota people,
04:48the first thing anybody said about Sitting Bull was what a great spiritual leader he was.
04:54And Michael not only is a wonderful actor, but has this quality of a beautiful gentleness about him.
05:02Sitting Bull once said, the greatest strength is in gentleness.
05:06And Michael has that beautiful gentleness, huge intelligence, sophistication,
05:13and the ability to play all the layers and the humor that Stephen Knight had written in the screenplay,
05:19which I can tell you is not an easy thing to achieve.
05:22And I was very blessed to get both these wonderful people to be in the movie.
05:26The film is wonderful. Thank you guys so much.
05:29It's truly an honor.
05:31Thank you so much.
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