Kevin Willmott, director of controversial Sundance title CSA: Confederate States of America, returns to Park City this year with The Only Good Indian, a Spectrum selection period piece focusing the story of a Native American boy kidnapped from his family and sent to an orphanage specializing in forced assimilation. The SUndance catalogue calls Indian an “outstanding revisionist western” and a “a worthy fictional account of an essential American story.” Answering the 4 Questions We Ask Everyone, Willmott talks Lena Wertmuller, the importance of casting, and the magic of Payroll Loans.
Tell us about your movie: who did you work with, what did you shoot on, why did you make it? Give us the reductive, 25-word or less, “It’s like [pop culture reference a] meets [pop culture reference b]!” pitch, then explain what the quick and dirty sell leaves out.
Tom Carmody brought this project to us. Tom has a deep interest in Native American issues and history and wanted to make a film about the tragic story of Native American boarding schools. Our challenge was to make an entertaining movie that still told the truth. We knew Wes Studi was key to making the film work. So, Studi plus real history gave us what we have: The Anti-Searchers.
If you funded your film through a “day job” or through working on projects that were not your own, tell us about that. If not, tell us a story from your past work life, before you became a professional filmmaker.
My day job is being a college professor. But, when you’re making films that always require more money than you have, you have to take care of your family and get the film finished. That’s where Payday Loans comes in.
Have you been to Sundance before? If so, tell us your best moment (or worst, which ever is funnier). If you haven’t, what are you most (or least) looking forward to based on your impressions of the festival?
This is my second film at Sundance. The first was CSA: Confederate States of America, in 2004. On opening night, it’s safe to say, the movie left the audience stunned. People didn’t quite know what to say, and there were a few haters – one who later admitted to me that he was a Southerner. The feeling in the room started to turn against me. That was when Melvin Van Peebles stood up. He said, “I know people are probably wondering what I think about this film….” My heart stopped for a moment. And then, he said, “These are exactly the kind of films I wanted to see produced after I made Sweetback.” After that, the room was ours.
Let’s get hypothetical: You’re on death row. The night of your execution, you’re allowed to watch any two films of your choice. What would you pick for your last-night-on-Earth double feature?
Lina Wertmuller’s Seven Beauties, Sergio Leone’s The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly, scrambled eggs and a Heineken.
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