I think about an anecdote that Clint Eastwood once told regarding Chief Dan George. Clint campaigned for an Oscar nomination for George’s excellent performance in “The Outlaw Josey Wales.” A common reply from voters was, “Well, he wasn’t acting. He was just being himself.”
In late October 2019, Sterlin Harjo first mentioned “Reservation Dogs” to me. Sterlin told me that he and Taika Waititi were developing a TV show for FX — and if a miracle happened (God willin’ and the creek don’t rise) and the show got made, he wanted me to be a part of it. Well, that miracle — or more accurately, a series of miracles — happened. With the help of Angelique Midthunder, Sterlin and Taika cast four young Native actors to play the Rez Dogs, four more to play their rivals (The Bad Guy Gang) and dozens more Native actors to populate their fictional community. Sterlin and Taika wrote, and Sterlin directed, a pilot. FX said “yes.” Just a hair under a year after I first heard of “Reservation Dogs,” I found myself in a Zoom room across from several other Native writers, ready to tackle Season 1.
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