“I’m so sick of famous people.”
TAIKA WAITITI:We met at Sundance in 2004 and hit it off.
HARJO:And it would involve mythological creature and s—.
Paulina Alexis as Willie Jack, Devery Jacobs as Elora Danan Postoak, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai as Bear, Lane Factor as Cheese on ‘Reservation Dogs.'.Shane Brown/FX
WAITITI:Yeah, and how they’re very similar.
Or it’s like how oppressed we’ve been and just that.
The only way we are even able to deal with trauma is in a funny way.
Taika Waititi and Sterlin Harjo.Duffy-Marie Arnoult/WireImage
And that’s really what made us want to do the show.
But also like a celebration of our communities, the quirkiness, the weirdness.
I was like, “Well, the elders took their cell phones out and took photos.”
But what people expect from our stories and our communities and what they want… And they were like, “Have you read Taika’s new script?”
I was like, “He sent it to me but I haven’t read it yet.”
Mine was seeking advice from an elder, Taika’s was becoming like a Batman in his village.
We really came up with the show that night.
It was really easy.
WAITITI:Very easy.
It was like, “It could be this.”
“And it could be this.”
I was like, “Oh, s—.”
What was the casting process like on this one?
HARJO:We had Angelique Midthunder who knows the Native community in the States.
WAITITI:That’s one of the cool things about this is.
It’s the same people again and again.
We were never in danger of that.
And so this was the perfect antidote.
HARJO:These kids were amazing.
They’re just like, “Never acted before, don’t care.
WatchedThor, loved it.”
They’re just so natural and really talented.
You get really drawn in.
What is it about these four main characters that will connect with audiences in that way?
WAITITI:I think they’re like every kid.
I think everyone in the world can relate to that.
What does that unique setting add to the story?
HARJO:It adds everything to it.
No one’s seen it.
It looks great."
WAITITI:It’s sort of similar to how I grew up.
So everyone knows every single person, and there’s that feel with this.
How come haven’t gotten like aBlack Panther?
Like a Brown Panther!"
And then they’re like, “We’ve got to do it ourselves.”
They’re fans of pop culture and they kind of recreate it where they’re at.
Fitting that you would bring up pop culture references and Quentin Tarantino, sinceReservoir Dogsclearly had some impact here!
HARJO:Taika’s the one that said it.
We were riffing through this thing, and “Rez Dogs” is a cultural thing.
If you know a native community, you know what a Rez Dog is.
I remember when we were thinking of names and Taika was like, “Reservation Dogs.”
It just was like, “Yeah, that’s it.”
He’s referencing things all the time, so that’s what we do.
And it was a funny title!
HARJO:You don’t know what’s coming.
WAITITI:There’s a great idea of mixing the supernatural world with our reality.
There’s a heightened version of what people think it’s like in these communities.
There is a version where people are shape-shifters and this is what is discussed.
It’s so real and matter of fact, and that’s something that we wanted to capture.
It’s not that.
This is fun and it’s funny.
It’s always of another version of what it could be.
