Seeking Natives for New Moon

"New Moon" Casting Director Announces Search for Native AmericansWe're very excited to announce that the wonderful and supremely qualified René Haynes is helming the Native American casting on "New Moon"...AND she wants to hear from everyone who fits the qualifications of the roles.New Moon--Plot and Casting DetailsHere are the first set of Casting Calls that have gone out for the Twilight Sequel--New Moon.For those who don't know Rene Haynes, here's more on her work:

'The New World' offered casting challenges"'Dances With Wolves' was my big project that called for me to cast Native extras. That really started the ball rolling for me."

Since then, she has cast several notable films that have featured Native actors. Haynes called it "finding the perfect person for the role" and among those experiences she noted Adam Beach for his role in "Squanto," his first major role.

She also highlighted "Dance Me Outside," for which she consulted with the director and producer and suggested Beach, Ryan Black and Michael Greyeyes. "I was very proud of Michael as the title role in the TNT movie 'Crazy Horse,'" she noted. She also consulted on the casting of the voice of Pocahontas--which resulted in Irene Bedard--for the animated Disney film of the same name (Greyeyes and Bedard were both later cast in "The New World": Greyeyes as Rupwew and Bedard as Pocahontas' mother in a dream sequence).

Leading up to "The New World," Haynes' other noteworthy experiences included casting Graham Greene in "Skins," which earned him an Independent Spirit Award nomination.Comment:  I'm glad to say I've seen all the movies in this article. I'd say they're all above average. Is it just a coincidence that Haynes did the casting and they all have actual Indians playing Indian roles? Maybe, but maybe not.

So Haynes is the real deal. Congratulations to Twilight's people for finally taking the idea of casting Natives seriously. It only took one movie and heaps of criticism and scorn before they got it right.

In related news, I hear they finally closed the barn door after the cart was gone. Yay.

For more on the subject, see Quileute Werewolves in Twilight.

Below:  "More Native actors like me...awesome!"