‘Woman Walks Ahead’ director Susanna White and Oscar winner Sam Rockwell grace the red carpet to discuss their the tale of two disenfranchised people, developing a wicked character, and staying true to the Lakota people.
Cultural fidelity is an important part to any story. It’s more often than not one of the most critical markers of quality. In many ways, it ultimately shapes the narrative and subsequent characterizations that surround it. But when it is related to the story of the Native Americans, that fidelity has an profundity attached to it like few other stories. From the genocidal legislation of the US government to the racist, barbaric imagery perpetuated by sociocultural paradigms of European Americans, Native Americans have often been subjected to a brand of cruelty that is unimaginable. Woman Walks Ahead director Susanna White and star Sam Rockwell realized that that backdrop would need to be touchingly and humanistically showcased, a quality that they deems to be of the utmost importance. The Knockturnal had the opportunity to chat with White and Rockwell about their time working on the film as they walked the red carpet. Check out what they had to say below.
Susanna White Interview
So you’re British.
Susanna White: Yes, I am indeed British.
How did you approach this disgraceful period in our history from your point of view?
Susanna White: Well I think we as Brits have some responsibility for the atrocities too. I mean we gave the Native Americans blankets infected with smallpox which is obviously a very deliberate act of genocide.
Do you think as a Brit you have a unique perspective of this instead of an American filmmaker?
Susanna White: I’m always interested in movies made by outsiders, whether that’s Paris, Texas or Lost in Translation. I think there’s something to be said about coming into a situation as an outsider. The idea really came about because of our writer, Steven Knight, who came up with the idea nearly fourteen years ago. He found this footnote in the history books about Catherine Weldon and he’s given her a voice. It boils down to a story about two disenfranchised people—Catherine Weldon who is our eyes and ears, seeing the issues of Native American land rights and Sitting Bull and the Lakota community. I’m very glad I’ve had the chance to work on this film.
How did you maintain the authenticity of the Native American Lakota culture?
Susanna White: We had to go back to first principles. We had them speak their own language which is essentially a dead language at this point. We worked with a remarkable man named Ben Black Bear who is really trying to keep the language alive. So large sections of the film are in Lakota. One of the things that the white settlers did was to make it illegal for the Lakota people to wear traditional dress or carry out acts of worship in a traditional way. We went back to documentary photographs when you see that lots of Native Americans were wearing Western dress. Well, that’s not what you traditionally see in the Westerns. So through the film I worked with a costume designer, Stephanie Collie. The first time that Catherine meets Sitting Bull, he’s dressed in Western clothes but then gradually as they take up more and more in the campaign for their land, we see the Native clothes coming back. And they’re very, very beautiful. I was so struck in the research, at the arts and the craftsmanship. It was a really terrible thing that they were forced to destroy those artifacts.
So the research was important for you to maintain the fidelity of the time?
Susanna White: Yes, it was very important to me. There’s been some conflation of historical facts to make it work as a film narrative but basically, it was based on an essential truth about what happened to these people—that their culture was wiped out and more and more of their land was taken away. They were forced out their traditional ways of life. There’s an environmental message to the film as well. One of the remarkable things about the people was that they lived in harmony with nature. They followed the buffalo herds, they co-existed with them. But then as the settlers came in, then the buffalo were wiped out and they were forced to live on land where you could not grow things. It was not fertile land. It’s another way of controlling the population—they were forced to rely on handouts from the army with rations. Then they threatened to remove the rations if the Native people did not vote the way the government wanted them to vote. So it’s a complex story, but I think there’s an important environmental lesson to be learned from it. The planet’s in a perilous state at the moment and I think it’s about time we learn some lessons from history.
How did the story come to you?
Susanna White: I was given it by my agent nearly three years ago. I fell in love with it. I grew up with Westerns but I think this Western told from a female gaze was a very particular take on it. Shining a torch on this kind of history through her gaze is important.
How did Jessica [Chastain] become involved?
Jessica was absolutely wonderful to work with. When we were looking to cast this film, she was without a doubt at the top of my list. I think she’s so close to who Catherine Weldon was. She’s very outspoken politically and she’s a consummate actress who is so skilled. She is someone who is absolutely at the top of her game. It was really a combination of her, Michael Greyeyes, Sam Rockwell that made this a blessed production.
Most of the work you do is set contemporarily. Did you find it challenging to switch to a period piece?
Not really. I’m a great believer in trying new things. I had done some of those projects like Jane Eyre. But I’m a great believer that it’s an accident when our particular DNA arrives on the planet. I could have been born in medieval times, I could have been born in Victorian times, and I could have been born in the 1960s. I think it’s kind of an accident when you arrive. All my work is about just trying to tell the story of the individual and make their characters really true to them. My first principle is to always to make the scenes real for the actors to tell the story.
Sam Rockwell Interview
I really like your suit. It’s wonderful stitching.
Thanks, man! I’m just trying to spruce up this beard [laughs].
How did you get involved with Susanna White on this project?
I just got a call not a month before. I had to learn some of the Lakota language. It was scary but it was good.
What was it like learning the language?
It was really hard. It was like learning Chinese [laughs]. It was really hard?
Did you try to maintain that authenticity during the film?
I don’t know if I saw my girlfriend the whole time so maybe yes.
Could you talk a little about your character? You’re obviously not a nice guy.
I think he’s a really interesting, rouge-ish character. I think he’s not a real person. I think he’s a little made-up but guys like him existed.
What appealed to you about the role?
I liked the fact that he used to fight Native Americans but now he was trying to make peace with them. There was an interesting dichotomy.
Woman Walks Ahead premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival April 25. The film is set to premiere exclusively on DirecTV Cinema on May 31 and in theaters on June 29, 2018.
The Tribeca Film Festival After-Party for Woman Walks Ahead was hosted by AT&T + DirecTV at American Cut Steakhouse Tribeca.