Film based on award-winning Native novel showing in OKC
“Neither Wolf Nor Dog,” based on the award-winning novel by Kent Nerburn, plays this weekend at Oklahoma City’s B&B Windsor 10, 4623 NW 23rd St.; it also opens this week in El Reno, Miami, and Sapulpa.
In the film, a white researcher is pulled into the reality of Native American life by a 95-year-old Lakota elder and his friend.
Oklahoma City resident Richard Ray Whitman is among the stars of the film. The late Dave Bald Eagle was 95 at the time of filming, and his performance has received accolades.
Bald Eagle passed away July 22, 2016, at the age of 97. According to press materials, he was part of the 82nd Airborne’s infamous drop on D-Day Shot multiple times before he hit the ground, he was left for dead by the first medic who found him. A second medic stumbled upon him and saved him.
Working as a stuntman and adviser on films, he met and worked with stars including Errol Flynn, John Wayne and Marilyn Monroe; Monroe he took dancing while working on the Western “River of No Return.” He consulted with Kevin Costner on “Dances With Wolves” and had a small role in the film, NPR wrote in his obituary.
Director Steven Lewis Simpson described Bald Eagle as “beyond my wildest dreams, as he was beyond perfect.”
Simpson, from Scotland, helms this Native-focused tale, filmed largely on location at Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Simpson answered some questions for The
Oklahoman about the making of “Neither Wolf Nor Dog.”
Q: How did you first come upon the story?
A: The author Kent Nerburn had approached me with a copy of the book at a showing of another movie I’d filmed on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation called “Rez Bomb.” He told me of how, for almost 20 years, Hollywood producers had been giving him grand empty promises about making a movie of the novel and he was getting very frustrated. In me, he saw someone who actually got films made, and more importantly, it was from the reservation out and not from Hollywood in, perspective-wise. I read it and then gave him my word that I would get it made by any means necessary. That was seven and a half years ago.
Q: Can you tell me about finding the cast?
A: Finding the perfect elder to play Dan was like the search for Scarlet with “Gone with the Wind.” Without the perfect person, there was no point in making it. I searched in the U.S. and Canada and, in the end, I found Dave Bald Eagle, who was beyond my wildest dreams, as he was beyond perfect. He was 93 when we met, and there were two tense years while I scrambled to pull things together as if anything happened to him between then and the shoot, then I was going to walk away from the project. Without him, there was no point. The rest of the cast came together very well. Christopher Sweeney, who plays the author, was someone I stumbled on in a play that a Native theater company was doing. It’s ironic that I found our white lead in a Native play. Many of the other cast were great actors I’d already known.
Q: What particularly drew you to Richard Ray Whitman?
A: When I started setting up the film I didn’t know of Richard Ray Whitman, but as we got closer to the shoot I started seeing films he had been in. “Barking Water,” of course, made the deepest impression. Sterlin Harjo is a wonderful filmmaker and together they created a deeply rich character that was both subtle and yet also a starring role, he had a great screen charisma. So by the time I reached out to him, I was a fan. As it turns out, he is also a glorious human being and a joy to work with.
Q: Tell me about Dave Bald Eagle. A: Dave Bald Eagle was quite simply as unforgettable a person as you could meet. He had a glow about him like no other. He was a lot of fun and there was a lot of laughter on set working with him. But I also hadn’t realized that he had been unwell leading up to filming, and that he wasn’t walking much without aide. And yet during the shoot, he drew a strength from somewhere and was walking through long sequences and in particular, when we filmed at Wounded Knee, the strength became even greater. The last scene we filmed with him was the climax at Wounded Knee. I threw away the novel and script at that point as it seemed contrived, compared to where we had gotten to in the shoot. So I let Dave improvise the whole sequence. Dave’s only family had a closer link to the massacre of 1890 than even the character he was playing. At the end of the scene, he turned to Christopher Sweeney who was playing opposite and said “I’ve been holding that in for 95 years.” That is the power of what he put on screen. I will never film anything more powerful and I think he makes that scene historic.
Q: What would you say to Oklahoma City residents who may be curious about the film?
A: The film’s audience score on Rottentomatoes is higher than any blockbuster out at the moment, (4.7⁄5 or 96 percent) because the audience is falling madly in love with Dave’s character and they are so deeply
moved by the film. It is a film that will make you laugh and cry and people leave feeling like they have gone through a great journey. I think Hollywood used to be great at making movies that moved people but now they’re more interested in noisy franchise films and I think the reason that in some theaters our film has beaten all the blockbusters it has played against has been because it fulfills them. It is a film about creating a greater compassion and understanding for each other.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like to tell me about?
A: The success of the film is also a celebration of the power of the audience. This is the biggest release of a film distributed by the filmmaker in a long time and it is because the audience is supporting it and spreading the word. It plays next to films sometimes spending $50 million and more on marketing, whereas we are just reaching out to the audience and media directly. It is so refreshing to know that it is possible to get a film out into the world because many kindhearted people helped spread the word.