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HOLLYWOOD - At a critical point in Dance Me Outside, Toronto filmmaker Bruce McDonald's new movie, two native lads fresh from the reservation have been arrested by the local constabulary.
The cop interrogating Silas Crow and his best friend Frank Fencepost curtly demands their addresses as he books them as suspects and/or witnesses to a murder.
"I live where the land meets the sky, where the eagle and the raven fly free," Frank says with a glint in his eye. "I live under the sun and the moon."
The exasperated officer turns to Silas to continue his bookkeeping: "Where do you live?"
"I'm his neighbor," Silas snaps with a grin.
The exchange, a deft juxtaposition of smartass jive, native tradition and youthful exuberance, is typical of the entire film, which opens here tomorrow after making its mark in Toronto's filmfest last September.
You don't have to look past charismatic young actor Adam Beach, who plays Frank Fencepost, to see where the free spirit resides. Beach, a 22-year-old Winnipegger who lived on the Dog Creek Indian Reserve in Manitoba until he was eight years old, is a natural charmer.
Beach teams with his Winnipeg pal Ryan Black, who plays Silas, as the leads of the ensemble cast. McDonald calls them "the kings of the town" for their talent and their appeal.
But Beach figures he's just plain lucky. Especially because he gave McDonald such a lousy impression in his first audition for the role. It was Black, says Beach, who argued his case as a good prospect.
"He was the one who really pushed for me to get this role," remembers Beach, "because I didn't have a very good audition. I was tired. I was working on a film (he played the title role in a Disney family flick, Squanto: A Warrior's Tale). I did my best in the audition, but I lacked the energy that Frank has. But Ryan knew that, being me, I would jump into this character." McDonald listened and cast Beach alongside Black. "It worked out fine," says Beach proudly.
"And, if I didn't do this movie, it would have stunted my acting. It really opened up a lot of stuff. Frank is kind of inside of himself. Playing him enabled me to see who I am, be who I am, and not let anybody make that decision for me. And the humor that Frank has can really uplift you. I left there really confident."
Dance Me Outside, filmed under the watchful eye of executive producer Norman Jewison, McDonald's longtime mentor, was adapted from the Indian stories of W.P. Kinsella (whose Shoeless Joe Jackson story inspired the hit baseball movie Field Of Dreams).
Beach reasons that Dance Me Outside will not run into the same native cultural opposition as Kinsella's stories did, even though McDonald is, in the director's own words, "a white guy from the suburbs."
"We probably got the best guy for it," Beach says of McDonald, "because he's so open for any ideas. He treated everybody with respect. As for the W.P. Kinsella thing, sure, it's a funny book, yeah. But I think a lot of the people who read it and are Indian feel a little bit stupid because of how it was written.
"The movie is different. There's no problem here at all, unless it's with a very, very, strict traditionalist. If this film was harsh in any way, I would have done something about it!"