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But most comedies arentReservation Dogs,Sterlin Harjosacclaimed series about reservation life in the 21st century.
Its talking about a collective historical trauma.
Many of them died in the schools.
Anyone whos Indigenous is very familiar with this history.
This is not new to any of us.
It made sense to put it in that sort of container.
Bears really off by himself in that episode, and so tonally, it lives in its own space.
There are supernatural elements to her.
That gives us a freedom that a story like this might not otherwise have.
Is there a style bible for the show?
Are there certain things you’re able to or cannot do?No.
Theres an established visual language, but Sterlin gives everyone an enormous amount of freedom.
When you look back in cinema history, weve been misrepresented onscreen for over 100 years.
It has complex characters.
But its not about victimhood.
I think the third episode will be a surprise to certain people.
There are some tough things.
In Indigenous cultures, hair has profound meaning for some.
You only cut your hair if youre in mourning.
That scene in particular was very difficult for the cast and crew.
We asked so many questions.
He and his family decided that he would be willing to do it for the show.
Normally the show is so funny when youre on set.
Youre killing yourself laughing, people are sharing memes.
But that day was really tough.
And when we shot that scene you could hear a pin drop in the room.
Everybody knew the gravity of what that was.
This is what the show does.
It was really drawing on horror-movie aesthetics.
And then, of course, we have the nun being found dead later.
One of the crew shared two images afterwards.
It was an old, historical painting, but you could see a similarity.
The moment where Deer Lady stabs the man at the table is intense.
We always knew we would be shooting this wide horror-jot down zoom.
I almost thought I would do it as a one-shot take, in the zoom.
It was disturbing, it was everything.
When we saw her do the close-ups, we just couldnt believe what was there in her performance.
And then comes that moment after, where she goes out onto the steps after its all done.
The change in her face, and what she was able to do I got the shivers on set.
At times we plant the camera on Eloras shoulder and just go with her, especially in key moments.
I wondered about that.
And I said Imagine that Elora is the sun and that everything rotates around her.
I felt like this house had this feeling of warmth in spite of Eloras difficulty.
Its like an Abbott and Costello routine![Laughs.]
Oh my God, I love that scene so much.
Hes been around as an actor for many decades, so hes seen it all.
He was around in the days where they were still casting non-Native people to play Native roles.
I cant imagine the stories of the sets that hes been on.
Like, he isnotthat uncle, you know?
We can barely get through the takes, were laughing so hard.
He often goes off-script and comes up with all kinds of crazy lines to say.
Dallas turned it into this funny, sometimes ridiculous character.
In some ways when we come into season three, its almost like hes the host of the show.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
