March 16, 2009

Casting in Jonah Hex movie

From a MySpace bulletin:

Acting opportunity 4 native actorsDear Mark,

We are casting a Warner Bros. feature called "Jonah Hex" here in New Orleans. It has several principal roles that are Native American. We would love if you could help us get the word out to the Native American actors here in Louisiana so we could give them first shot at the roles. I'm attaching the breakdown of what we are looking for below. If anyone is interested in auditioning in New Orleans for the roles, they could send their picture and resume to jonahhexcasting@gmail.com. We would then contact them to schedule an appointment if they seem appropriate for the role.

INDIAN WOMAN--Finds an injured Jonah and tries to take care of him. Beautiful, soulful.

OLD INDIAN--Wizened, elder or chieftain type. Finds an injured Jonah and tries to help.

APACHE--Indian, 30s to mid-40s, very fit, warrior type. Acts as a helper but tries to kill Jonah.

Thank you!
Tiffany Little Canfield
Comment:  So the Jonah Hex movie will include three of the basic Native stereotypes: the beautiful princess, the wise elder or chief, and the savage warrior. All that's missing is the mystical shaman. Nice.

FYI, Mark is Mark Ford, Executive Director, Governor's Office of Indian Affairs in Louisiana. He adds, "I am grateful that they are willing to use real American Indian people to play American Indians in the movie.

"If you know anyone who would be interested please pass on this information."

I'm grateful for that too. But I'm guessing the movie will be at least somewhat stereotypical.

For more on Jonah Hex, see Review of JONAH HEX #23. For more on the subject in general, see The Best Indian Movies.

2 comments:

kalisetsi said...

Is it just me or is Jonah Hex looking oddly like a beefed-up Ward Churchill?? (assuming that is Jonah Hex in the pic....)

Rob said...

It is Jonah Hex, and you're right. Except for the half-melted face, he does look somewhat like Churchill.