“Dogs”: impressive young actors from random places

This is clearly not the way Hollywood works.
“Reservation Dogs” (shown here) was filmed in small-town Oklahoma, using lots of locals. It starred four young indigenous actors, two making their professional debuts. Its style was casual and natural and …
And then it all worked. The show has its series finale Wednesday on Hulu, where people can watch all three seasons. It has won a Peabody Award, two American Film Institute Awards and nominations from the Golden Globes, the Television Critics Association and more.
Much of the credit goes to its creators (Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi) and its other writers and directors. But some goes to that surprising cast.
Paulina Alexis(left) had been going to Disney try-outs, without getting a callback. Now she was auditioning for the role of Elora, the only female among the four teens at the show’s core.
“I loved her instantly,” recalled casting director Angelique Midthunder. “We had seen hundreds and hundreds of people then. I went to Sterlin and said, ‘We have Elora.’
“He said, ‘Yes, I love her. But she’s not Elora.’”
The solution was to change one of the three guys into a girl named Willie Jack, with Alexis’ style of clothes. “She came in (to auditions) with basketball shorts and a hoodie,” Midthunder said. “I was going to have her take the hood off for one shot, but Taika said, ‘No, that’s her.’”
The Elora role went to Devery Jacobs (right) — “very talented, very smart, a consummate professional,” Midthunder said. She’s the one young actor with extensive experience; by comparison, Lane Factor (second from right), cast as Cheese, hadn’t acted.
“Sterlin and I road-tripped around Oklahoma,” Midthunder said. “This was in 2019, before the pandemic. Lane just showed up one day; I think he was 14 then.”
Then there was the male lead. Bear sees himself as the group’s leader; viewers see a warm and vulnerable kid – a natural role for D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai (second from left). “He’s just like your favorite old blanket – comfortable and calming,” Midthunder said. “When he walks into the room, you just feel better.”
The top three roles – Elora, Bear and Willie Jack – all went to Canadians. “They have a lot more opportunities there,” Midthunder said. For the past three decades, there has even been a government-funded channel (now called the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network) based in Manitoba.
Despite the shortage of roles here, some American Indian actors have carved out careers. “Reservation Dogs” has supporting roles for some of the classic actors — Zahn McClarnon, Graham Greene and Wes Studi, “He’s so funny,” Midthunder said of Studi. “We don’t get to see that side enough.”
Younger native actors have often talked about the dry, droll wit of their elders. Now “Reservation Dogs” – led by two indigenous men (Harjo from Oklahoma, Waititi from New Zealand) with comedy backgrounds – has utilized that humor.
Midthunder has seen the native world from an outside-inside perspective. She’s from Thailand; in her first movie role (the 1995 “East Meets West,” filmed in Japan), she met native American actor David Midthunder. They married and have lived in Sante Fe for 18 years.
That’s where she did much of her casting … sometimes with their daughter, Amber, helping. “After school, she would run the camera” during auditions.
And then the daughter was on the other side of the camera. At 26, Amber Midthunder has co-starred in two sci-fi series – as a mutant in “Legion” and a no-longer-dead sister in “Roswell, New Mexico” – and was the star of “Prey.” She proves that some young, native actors can succeed without being Canadian.