"Super Savages and Sovereign Traces"

I went down to the University of Manitoba and conducted an interview about a course looking at Indigenous people in graphic novels. The course is called "Super Savages and Sovereign Traces: Introduction to Indigenous Graphic Novels."Comment:  The course uses Scalped, Cowboys & Aliens, and Tribal Force among other comics and graphic novels.

The video doesn't mention Peace Party or Blue Corn Comics--except in the image used to introduce the class. Based on that, I imagine Peace Party gets a few mentions in the class itself.

Niigaanwewidam Sinclair is the professor. I've talked to him a couple of times, and I helped him build the Mazinbiige comic-book collection. That collection came about after the class started, perhaps because the staff realized the need to have more comics on hand.

For more on Sinclair and his work, see "From Super-Chief to Tonto."

Cowboys and Aliens copyright lawsuit

'Cowboys & Aliens' Sparks Copyright Infringement Lawsuit

By Tim KenneallyGiven the reception that the Jon Favreau film "Cowboys & Aliens" received, one would think that people would be reluctant to take credit for inspiring it. But that's exactly what's at the heart of lawsuit filed Thursday.

In the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Texas, comic-book artist Steven John Busti claims that the graphic novel "Cowboys & Aliens"--and, thus, the movie it was based on--stole its concept and more from a story he wrote and drew.

According to Busti, his story "Cowboys and Aliens," which was "centered around the idea of alien invaders set during the old west," was published in the comic book "Bizarre Fantasy #1" in 1995--and, perhaps more important, was previewed in an issue of "Comic Shop News," on the same page that featured coverage of Scott Mitchell Rosenberg.

Two years later, Rosenberg and Platinum Studios produced a graphic one-sheet for their own proposed graphic novel titled "Cowboys & Aliens." Universal Studios and DreamWorks II Distribution purchased the movie rights based on the one-sheet.Comment:  For more on Cowboys and Aliens, see Adam Beach Helps Flood Victims and Aliens = Metaphor for Indians?

2011's summer movie news

Indian Comics Irregular #207:  Cowboys, Indians, and Aliens

Adam Beach helps flood victims

Actor Adam Beach hosts displaced familiesManitoban actor Adam Beach and Kewatinook conservative candidate, Michael Birch, hosted a private screening Monday morning of the blockbuster hit Cowboys and Aliens for displaced families from the St. Martins reserve due to flooding.

The reserve was evacuated in spring, displacing hundreds of residents who have not yet been able to return to their homes.

"Families from the St. Martins reserve were hit hard from the spring flood and they've been through so much since then," said Beach in a prepared statement.

"They feel like they've been ignored by their government, they don't know if and when they'll be returning home and many of them are feeling incredible stress from daily uncertainties. This private screening will allow them to forget about their troubles, if only for one day," he said.Comment:  For more on Adam Beach, see Adam Beach on Hollywood Stereotyping and Adam Beach Plays "Young Einstein."

Below:  "Hollywood actor Adam Beach in Winnipeg to help raise money for flood evacuees. Beach hosted a benefit screening of his latest movie Cowboys and Aliens in Winnipeg on Monday where $35,000 was raised."

UFOs in the Old West

Movin' on with Nellie:  Ancient Aliens onboard Cowboys and Aliens with Indiana Jones and James Bond

By Nelda CurtissThe History Channel runs a series called “Ancient Aliens” and in an episode this season they looked at Ancient Aliens and the Old West. The director of that series included lots of clips from this movie as well. But, they showed newspaper stories from the 1800’s reporting on unusual or unknown strange lights and flying objects in the skies well before the Wright Brothers made their liftoff.

The History Channel cites experts from the Joseph Campbell Museum, or experts in religion from this university or that one; and they interview authors of books like Jim Marrs’ “Alien Agenda,” J. Allan Danelek’s “The Great Airship of 1897,” Phillip Coppens’ web site called phillipcoppens.com, David Childress’ “Technology of the Gods,” Thomas Johnson’s “House of Phacops,” Ross Hamilton’s “Mystery of the Serpent Mound,” Nancy Red Star’s “Star Ancestors,” Giorgio A. Tsoukalos’ “Legendary Times” Magazine, and interviews with Zuni Tribal Elder Clifford Mahooty.

In 1865, “The Missouri Democrat” reported that a trapper saw a light travel through the forest and crash. The next morning, according to the news, this trapper tracked it down; The light had crashed, and the artifact was of metallic construction, had chambers, and a mysterious liquid around it; there were hieroglyphic-like markings on it as well. The sighting was along the upper Missouri river, and the home of Blackfoot Indians. Their legends and stories included stories of star beings from long ago.

Chief Standing Elk of the Yankton Dakota Tribe said in his interview, “A lot of our relatives that come to us from the stars speak in a telepathic means. And I understood them very well. They came to me with a bar with symbols from the light ships. They represent Star people and these are universal laws.”Comment:  For more on the subject, see Aliens = Metaphor for Indians? and Sioux Indians Sees UFO.

Aliens = metaphor for Indians?

“Cowboys & Aliens” & Obnoxious White GuiltWhen the Native Americans first saw European ships, these vessels may as well have been spaceships. And so goes the long-realized metaphors about aliens and the white man. One day the UFOs are going to come and enslave us all, just as we did to the Africans. It doesn’t take Stephen Hawking to realize that. Or they’re going to herd us like sheep and cattle and slaughter us for food. Okay, that’s an analogy employing general carnivorous human beings*. But the process is still the same, of turning our guilt about conquering other races and other animals into science fiction fantasies where we get a taste of our own medicine. Only in a movie like “Cowboys & Aliens,” the idea isn’t that we’re getting payback for our past wrongdoings. It’s not even that we’re now walking in the others’ shoes. Instead we’re getting to play the victim, and the hero, and the survivor.

Mostly, though, it’s a kind of slap in the face to the Native Americans and anyone else conquered and exploited by the European invaders. Because by having white guys as the heroes, even with assistance from an Apache tribe, it’s as if to say, “this is how it’s done.” I guess rather than today’s usual white guilt, this is more an act of white innocence with a ton of white pride—like a declaration that we’re strong enough to avert invasion, and it’s not our fault that others weren’t. Notice that in the title “Cowboys & Aliens,” it’s the Indians who are substituted for new bad guys. Even if “Aliens & Cowboys” had a better ring to it, the phrasing would be incorrect. Cowboys remain first, best, top-billing.Comment:  Interesting viewpoint. Yes, aliens clearly were substituted for Indians in the title, at least. Does that mean Cowboys and Aliens is a metaphor for cowboys vs. Indians?

Could be. I can't say much more about this question without seeing the movie. But I'll reiterate that it's lame that the cowboys and Indians weren't equal partners against the aliens.

It's also lame that the protagonists were overwhelmingly white. In the Southwest where the Apache lived (and still live), the local population probably was a quarter to a third Latino, at least. How about having several minority characters in significant roles? And making a point of the humans having to overcome their prejudices to work together?

Killing monsters at the box office

I gather the aliens were mindlessly evil CGI effects. Although destroying monsters can be fun, the best villains--Darth Vader, Hannibal Lecter, the Joker--are more complex. They hold your interest more than creepy crawlers do.

Are overly simplistic heroes and villains what the audience wants? Apparently not. Proving Cowboys and Aliens was lacking something, it didn't crush the opposition at the box office:

Box Office:  Spielberg's Struggling 'Cowboys' Stumble on Surging 'Smurfs'In one of the biggest surprise box-office finishes of the summer, Sony's Belgium-based blue-troll movie "The Smurfs" over-performed and tied Universal's genre mix-up "Cowboys and Aliens" this weekend, with both films registering about $36.2 million in ticket sales, according to preliminary estimates.

Touting a high-profile roster of producers including Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard, and directed by Jon Favreau, "Cowboys and Aliens" had been projected to take in somewhere between $40 million to $45 million.Comment:  Obviously, Cowboys and Aliens shoud've pitted humans against Smurfs. Blue aliens (Avatar) have a proven track record of success. It could've been fun if the Na'vi went back through time and space to conquer the humans before the humans conquered them.

For more on Cowboys and Aliens, see Adam Beach on Jimmy Kimmel Live and Indians MIA in Cowboys and Aliens.

Adam Beach as Harrison Ford's son

Ford has Beach of a 'son' in summer blockbuster

By Randall KingFor a summer action movie, Cowboys & Aliens has a hefty amount of emotional back story, especially for Beach, whose Apache character was adopted as a youth by Ford's crusty Col. Dolarhyde.

Beach, 38, lost both his parents within an eight-week period when he was just eight-years-old, and he says he used that history to get into the headspace of Nate, who quietly reveres Dolarhyde.

"My father passed at a young age," Beach says. "I just adapted that by looking at (Ford) at all times, longing for that father.

"With our characters, I'm always looking for his approval but he's such an ass, I've got to take the brunt (of his temper). But who wouldn't want Harrison Ford as a father, you know what I mean?"For more on Cowboys and Aliens, see Adam Beach on Jimmy Kimmel Live and Adam Beach at Cowboys and Aliens Premiere.

Adam Beach on Jimmy Kimmel Live

Comment:  Beach was the best part of this show: a mostly unfunny salute to Cowboys and Aliens. His spontaneity and sense of humor demolished the stereotype of Indians as stoic and unfeeling. You gotta love the way he calls everyone "Dude"--even Olivia Wilde.

When was the last time an Indian appeared on a mainstream show on late-night TV? Other than the taped Wolf Pack segment on Leno, I can't remember any recent instances. Indians should constitute about 1% of the guests, but you can bet they don't.

For more on Cowboys and Aliens, see Indians MIA in Cowboys and Aliens and Adam Beach at Cowboys and Aliens Premiere.

Indians MIA in Cowboys and Aliens

As you may recall, the Cowboys & Aliens graphic novel was about cowboys and Indians setting aside their differences and teaming up against aliens. The whole Indian part of the story seems to have disappeared. Now, finally, we have an explanation of why.

Jon Favreau Shoots for Western Realism in Cowboys & Aliens

By Chris KohlerThe movie is inspired by Cowboys & Aliens, a 2006 graphic novel created by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg and written by Fred Van Lente and Andrew Foley, although the film’s plot is almost entirely different from the book.

“The title was the original thing that drew me to [the project],” Favreau said. “It was always a title (where) I thought, ‘The best version of this movie would be awesome.’”

Over the course of his career, the director says he has come to appreciate the value of a high concept.

“After Zathura, having a title that people couldn’t really pronounce and a movie that never bit in from a marketing standpoint, I’ve grown to appreciate something that’s memorable,” he said. “[We've] created a box in people’s minds called Cowboys & Aliens, and now we’re filling in that box.”

Comment:  So director Favreau jettisoned the idea of cowboys and Indians as equal partners against the aliens because that wasn't "awesome" enough. His version of "Western realism" is one that renders Indians almost invisible. Isn't that special?

Someone on Facebook named Lisa commented that her daughter was an extra in the movie and Favreau followed the script regarding the Apache characters, or something like that. My response:

Not sure what you mean, Lisa. My point is that the Cowboys & Aliens graphic novel was roughly half cowboys and half Indians. Favreau eliminated the major focus on Indians because that wasn't interesting enough to him.

Lisa didn't know why I was being so judgmental, and said her daughter was well paid. My response to that:

I didn't say Favreau mistreated anyone. Unless you consider the elimination of several major roles for Indians "mistreatment."

It's the middle of the night [on Facebook] and we occasionally like to discuss Hollywood's failure to feature and cast Indians. Is there some reason we shouldn't judge Hollywood when it fails?

Actor David Midthunder has a small role in Cowboys and Aliens, so I added:

I'm glad people like David Midthunder got big paychecks for small roles. I'm sorry they didn't get huge paychecks for big roles. That's what they would've gotten--an impressive amount of fame and fortune--if Favreau had filmed the original graphic novel.



The reviews are in

I gather the critics mostly like Cowboys and Aliens:

Cowboys & Aliens

Cowboys & Aliens:  Film Review

Review:  ‘Cowboys & Aliens’ Brings the Bad-Ass, But Falls Short on the Mash-Up

But they seem to confirm that the Indians play a minor role in the movie. Sounds to me like the cowboys ride out to face the aliens...some Indians surround them...and the cowboys convince them to join the battle. After that, I suspect the Indians ride, whoop, and fire ineffectually in the background while the white characters provide all the heroic drama.

Imagine if Favreau had filmed the original graphic novel. The credits would read Harrison Ford, Daniel Craig, Adam Beach, and xxxxx [another Indian]. The Native actors would've vaulted into superstar-dom. Just as a Native actor would've done if he'd been cast as Jacob Black in Twilight. Or as Tonto in The Lone Ranger.

With Spielberg, Favreau, Ford, and Craig, Cowboys and Aliens was always likely to be a commercial success. Featuring Indians in it wouldn't have changed that. Instead, Favreau and company basically wrote them out. They thought the "best," most "awesome" story they could tell was about whites.

That's Hollywood prejudice at work for you. White people catering to white people because white people rule.

For more on Cowboys and Aliens, see Cowboys and Aliens Is No Joke and Noah Ringer = American Indian?!

Adam Beach at Cowboys and Aliens premiere

Adam Beach PhotostreamActor Adam Beach attends the premiere of Universal Pictures' "Cowboys & Aliens" during Comic-Con 2011 at San Diego Civic Theatre on July 23, 2011, in San Diego, California.Plus a video of the Cowboys and Aliens premiere at Comic-Con. Adam Beach appears at the 51:55 mark for four minutes and gives a spare ticket to a fan:

"Cowboys & Aliens" Premiere

Comment:  For more on Adam Beach, see Adam Beach in Combat Hospital and Adam Beach in Arctic Air.

Cowboys and Aliens is no joke

Question for Big Film:  It’s Not a Comedy?

By Michael CieplyIn “Cowboys & Aliens”—which is directed by Jon Favreau, of “Iron Man” fame, and counts Steven Spielberg, Brian Grazer and Ron Howard among its producers—Universal and DreamWorks have one of next summer’s most highly anticipated movies.

But some people may be anticipating the wrong film.

Deceived by a title and a premise that many find inherently comic, potential viewers must now cope with a realization that Mr. Favreau wasn’t kidding when he told fans at the Comic-Con International convention last July that he planned to mix a “by-the-book, right-down-the-middle western” of the kind once made by Sergio Leone and John Ford, with really scary science fiction, like “Alien” or “Predator.”

“The concept of the movie sounds hilarious. Cowboys vs. Aliens,” a poster, Hitman21, wrote recently on Mmajunkie.com. But this viewer was one of many who went on to voice enthusiasm for the unexpectedly serious movie that appeared in the trailer.The movie's evolution:Thirteen years ago Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, a comic-book entrepreneur, came up with a dual pitch for both a movie and a comics series, set in 19th-century Arizona, about warring cowboys and Apaches who join forces to fight an invasion by space aliens.

It was billed at the time as a follow-up to “Men in Black,” the hugely successful action-comedy—with which Mr. Rosenberg was also involved—about a couple of secret agents, played by Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, who are tasked with keeping tabs on all the unruly aliens who find their way to Earth.

Originally, Steve Oedekerk, the filmmaker behind “Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls,” was to have been the writer and director of “Cowboys & Aliens”—a clear sign that it was conceived more in fun than as a homage to John Ford.

As it happened, a hard-edged “Cowboys & Aliens” graphic novel was published while the film project faded. That occurred partly because “Wild Wild West,” a frontier fantasy laced with improbable devices, including a giant mechanical spider, underperformed at the box office in 1999, reminding Hollywood of the risk in cross-genre adventures.

Revived much later under the supervision of the writer-producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, “Cowboys & Aliens” became a deadly serious film. Its hero, Jake Lonergan, played by Mr. Craig, is a loner who stumbles into the troubled town of Absolution, which is under the thumb of Harrison Ford’s Col. Woodrow Dolarhyde. That is, until invading aliens change the game for everyone.Comment:  The first graphic novel was stereotypical and lame, but it wasn't funny.

I think it would be difficult to make a lighthearted movie about white men and Apaches killing each other before they come together to fight aliens. F Troop and Shanghai Noon showed that comedies about 19th-century Indians aren't easy.

I'd expect this movie to be like Independence Day or War of the Worlds, not Alien or Predator. In other words, serious but fun, not serious and frightening.

Where are the Indians?

Alas, the Indians may have a minor role in this movie. They're mentioned only once in this article, and no one's talking about them. It doesn't seem as though they'll be equal partners with the cowboys.

My take is that a significant portion of the movie should be about the cowboys and Indians overcoming their differences and learning to work together. I'm talking about a third to a half of the movie. But I'm guessing that won't be the case. That the Indians will be relegated to Tonto status.

For more on the subject, see Noah Ringer = American Indian?! and Beach's Role in Cowboys and Aliens.

Noah Ringer = American Indan?!

You may recall the huge controversy surrounding the casting of The Last Airbender (TLA). White actors were chosen to play Asian and Inuit characters. Perhaps the worst offense was choosing the unknown Noah Ringer to play the lead character Aang.

Now Ringer is claiming to be "of American Indian heritage." Racebending.com, which led the protests against Airbender addressed the question of whether this matters. If a person of color played a character of color, does that negate Racebending's criticism?

Noah Ringer:  American IndianFor the entirety of the production and release of the film, Ringer was presented as a white person who Shyamalan "felt" was "mixed race with an Asian quality to him." This was never disputed or debated by the production. In the conversations Asian American organizations and Racebending.com had with Paramount, including with the President of Paramount Pictures, both parties operated on the premise that Ringer was white. But in lieu of ambiguous ethnicity, white should not be the default. While we don't presume to doubt Ringer, we wonder why his heritage was hidden and obscured by Paramount Pictures, while other actors' backgrounds were flaunted by Shyamalan in his TLA-defensive interviews. In short: why were we, the movie-going public, allowed to assume that Ringer was (the default) white?

What this says to me is that a) Ringer is racially 'ambiguous' enough to play Aang (or as Shyamalan says, has "an Asian quality"--whatever that means--which apparently should be good enough); and, b) therefore race in A:TLA is unimportant/irrelevant, and anyone can play anyone.

Our efforts were never just about hiring minorities. Our concern goes beyond just "presentness" of minorities. There are many films that have actors of colour who play the roles of sidekick or bad guy or Extraneous Person #253. Racebending.com still stands by our opinion that Aang was Asian. Minorities are not interchangeable, and further tokenism in film is not our goal. The argument that there was a minority in the film playing one of the any whitewashed minority role...so we should shut up and sit down--why should we when so many characters were still whitewashed? When the film perpetrated so many racial stereotypes--depicting black and Inuit communities as helpless victims, depicting Asians as villains, idiots, traitors and massage ladies? Some commenters on this posting made some excellent points:birdbrainblue
2010-11-12 01:20 am UTC

If Noah really does have Native American heritage, this just makes TLA even worse (if that's possible), because apparently, the world is divided into whites and "ethnics", with no other distinctions.

I also have a horrible, horrible feeling that some agent of his is pulling a Johnny Depp or something and pointing out Noah's "newly discovered" Native American ancestry in preparation to announce him as playing a fullblooded Native American. Think about it: even Paramount didn't know about his heritage, because it would have been an excellent counter for our arguments and they never used it. This does not bode well, in my opinion.

lightbird777
2010-11-12 01:32 am UTC

I wouldn't necessarily assume that Ringer is lying about his heritage. However, I'd like to point out that according to the IMDB page his new movie Cowboys and Aliens is about Apache Indians and Western settlers setting aside their differences to fight an alien invasion. So, maybe they are preparing just in case there is a reaction to casting in this movie.

birdbrainblue
2010-11-12 01:41 am UTC

...well, damn. That's...wow.

And I'm not assuming he's lying, I hope he isn't! But I think, especially with this information about his new movie, that his agent or someone might be messing with data in order to avoid another race controversy in the kid's second movie. I'm highly suspicious.

imnotasquirrel
2010-11-12 03:10 pm UTC

Yeah, I immediately thought of Taylor Lautner when I heard about Noah Ringer's Indian heritage. Prior to being cast in Twilight, Taylor identified as Caucasian. I know this because The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl may have kinda been a teeny tiny guilty pleasure of mine, so I read a few interviews/articles about the actors. It wasn't until Twilight came out and there was uproar over Taylor's casting, when he suddenly started saying, "LOLz you guys, don't worry, I did some research into my genealogical roots and I do have Native American ancestry! So it's all good..." and now he goes around in interviews identifying himself as being of Native American heritage.

lightbird777
2010-11-12 03:36 pm UTC

Yeah, that was pretty convenient.

In another post someone made an interesting point that people with Native American heritage that they strongly identify with don't merely say "I'm Native American" or "I have Native American ancestry." They identify as specifically Choctaw, Cherokee, etc.

It would be interesting to hear more details from Ringer in upcoming interviews if it's something he wants to talk about.

imnotasquirrel
2010-11-12 04:09 pm UTC

To be fair to Lautner, I think he has specified what tribe he's a part of, I just don't remember what it's supposed to be.

But even so, it makes me wonder...let's assume that Taylor isn't lying. After all, it is certainly well within the realm of possibility that he has Native American/First Nations heritage. But if that's the case, he clearly has never identified with the culture or tribe (prior to Twilight), and it was such a small part of him that he wasn't even aware of it until he did a genealogical search! So even if he is telling the truth, I don't know if that means he's qualified to play a NA/FN role. Yes, I realize that putting this sort of quantifiable 'quota' can be problematic and sticky...but, well, to use a counter-example--my Taiwanese friend has some distant Dutch ancestry in her blood, even though she completely identifies as Taiwanese. Were she an actress, would this qualify her to play white roles? Somehow, I doubt Hollywood would see it that way....

glockgal
2010-11-12 04:23 pm UTC

Yes, exactly. This is the whole 'convenience' of the whole heritage/ancestry justification. It's generally a hypocritical one-way street the allow white-identifying/presenting actors to play characters of colour, but it hardly ever (if ever??) applies the other way around. It ties in to the colourism issue, for sure.

p_a_sabrina
2010-11-12 06:40 pm UTC

Among all those white roles that have been cast with a PoC I think there's none where they were actually trying to justify the casting with "Well, s/he might not look like it but we just found out s/he has some White European ancestry--so it's all find and dandy!"

For example, I can't think of a single case were someone might have said that Halle Berry could play any white role--even though she has more "White blood" in her than many of those wannabe Native Americans.Comment:  If Hollywood isn't racist and merely picks the best actor or the actor with the most box-office potential, then great. Halle Berry can play Jackie Kennedy opposite Denzel Washington as JFK.

Racebending doesn't presume to doubt Ringer, but I do. Claiming to be of Native heritage is meaningless without details. Something like 20-25% of Americans can claim to have a drop of Indian blood, but that doesn't make them Native. "Heritage" is where you come from, not what you are.

If you're really Native, you can specify what tribe or tribes you come from. You can point to specific lineages on a family tree. And you have enough "blood" to be recognized as an Indian--either enrolled in a tribe or accepted by a Native community of peers.

Johnny Depp can trace his Cherokee ancestry to his great-grandmother Minnie. Even Taylor Lautner's claim of being part Potawatomi and Odawa is plausible. He grew up in Michigan where these tribes are located, and they have members named Lautner. Ringer has nothing comparable to that.

Is Ringer lying?

I don't think he's lying, exactly. One, I suspect his people are making the claim, not him. Two, I suspect someone found a couple of drops of Indian blood in his background--enough to make him 1/32 or 1/64 Indian. And his people started making the "of American Indian heritage" claim because of his role in Cowboys and Aliens.

Ringer's claim may be technically true, but it's probably false and misleading. Someone who's of 63/64 Anglo-Saxon heritage isn't also of American Indian heritage. "Heritage" means you've been guided or influenced by your ancestry, and a drop of blood does't do that.

For those concerned about casting issues, let's take note: Noah Ringer is billed fifth in Cowboys and Aliens as Emmett. He's ahead of Adam Beach, billed seventh as Nat Colorado. If the biggest Native role in the movie has gone to a white boy, it's time for another protest.

For more on The Last Airbender, see Asians Protest Last Airbender and Dismissing the Pro-Airbender Arguments. For more on the subject in general, see Audiences More Openminded than Hollywood and Minorities Aren't Quite American.

Beach's role in Cowboys and Aliens

Adam Beach Joins Cowboys And Aliens

He's playing a half-Apache enforcerBeach joins a cast that already includes Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell, Clancy Brown, Keith Carradine and Paul Dano.

The plot (for those still unaware) finds a mysterious, amnesiac stranger (Craig) stumbling into a tightly controlled Arizona desert town known as Absolution. It’s not the friendliest place for outsiders and the situation is made worse by the cruel grip of Colonel Woodrow Dollarhyde.And:Beach is playing Nat Colorado, a half-Apache who works for Dollarhyde, in a script co-written by Robert Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof.

Favreau has already begun making preparations for a summer shoot, and the movie should be invading our cinemas on August 5.Comment:  Another blog claims Wes Studi has joined the cast also.

For more on the subject, see Green Lantern Out, Cowboys and Aliens In and COWBOYS & ALIENS.

Green Lantern out, Cowboys and Aliens in

My pal Victor posted this Tweet today:Just had lunch with Adam Beach. No Green Lantern but he leaves tomorrow to New Mexico to start filming Cowboys & Aliens w/ Harrison Ford.

Comment:  That's Adam with director Lian Lunson. I don't know anything else about the lunch or the casting decision.

Despite the presence of Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) and Adam Beach (Comanche Moon), I fear Cowboys and Aliens will be stereotypical. I'd be amazed if the Apaches in the story don't come across as deadly savages.

For more on the subject, see Adam Beach to Play Tom Kalmaku? and COWBOYS & ALIENS.

Harrison Ford in Cowboys and Aliens

Harrison Ford Will be in ‘Cowboys and Aliens’

Jon Favreau confirms the news on Twitter.

By Aaron CouchIt looks like Indiana Jones and James Bond will be fighting aliens together next summer. Harrison Ford is joining already announced star Daniel Craig for Cowboys and Aliens, which will be directed by Jon Favreau.

The Latino Review got the scoop, and Favreau tweeted that it was indeed true: “Please stop asking if Harrison Ford is in Cowboys & Aliens. Okay? He is. Please don't tell anybody.”

The graphic novel adaptation takes place in the Wild West, but not the one we’re used to seeing on screen. When space aliens invade Arizona, it’s up to the cowboys and the Apache tribe to team up and save the planet from enslavement.

Robert Downey Jr. was originally cast in Craig’s role, but had to leave due to a a scheduling conflict. The film is set for a July 29, 2011 release date. That summer is already full of comic book adaptations, including Thor, Green Lantern, and The First Avenger: Captain America.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Update on Cowboys and Aliens and COWBOYS & ALIENS.

Update on Cowboys and Aliens movie

I asked correspondent Alana Joli, writer of the second volume of COWBOYS & ALIENS, the following:Are you involved in the "Cowboys & Aliens" movie at all? Are they using the first volume, the second volume, or both as source material?She replied:Hi Rob,

They're not involving the C&AII crew at all. ... I assume they're using the first volume as a basis--but actually, I suspect they're just buying the concept of it and are writing a script completely different from either.

--AlanaComment:  I suspect Alana is right.

Downey in Cowboys and Aliens?

Downey Saddles Up For "Cowboys & Aliens"...Actor Robert "Iron Man" Downey Jr. is in negotiations to star in DreamWorks/Universal’s "Cowboys & Aliens," based on a graphic novel by Fred Van Lente/Andrew Foley from a concept by Platinum Studios chairman/CEO Scott Mitchell Rosenberg.Comment:  I hope the screenwriters totally revise the portrayal of Indians in the movie version of COWBOYS & ALIENS. Otherwise it'll suck.