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HBO:
How did you get involved with this project?
Dick Wolf:
Well, that's a long history. I had read the book about thirty-five years ago when it came out,
and it is one of the landmarks of American history and certainly the definitive work on the
American Indian experience. So, the opportunity to become involved was not only
gratifying but sort of an honor in and of itself. It's been an enormously long process to bring
it to the screen. Many other people have tried before, even thirty years before we got
involved. So, we're sort of amazed that we're actually here shooting it.
HBO:
Can you briefly set up the story Dan Giat has adapted?
Dick Wolf:
It is a vast, historical epic of non-fiction. The biggest job that Dan did is synthesize a book
that is about 500 pages long into a coherent movie that traces the history of the Sioux from
Little Bighorn - which was Custer's last stand - through the Massacre of Wounded Knee,
which is probably one of the low points of American history. But, I think what the movie
will show is that for better or worse, the Indian experience is really one of near genocide,
and it is not a proud moment in the history of the United States. But, it is a very revealing
look, and there is an enormous mirror into the current world because it is really the story of
the United States trying to impose their will on what was essentially a foreign country with a
population living a life that was totally different than what this country was becoming.
HBO:
How hard did Dan have to work to keep the writing accurate?
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Dick Wolf (Michael Tran/FilmMagic.com )
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Dick Wolf:
Dan has certainly had advisors. In a search for historical accuracy, I think we've gone more
than the extra mile. The aim here from the very beginning was to do a movie that reflected
accurately the Indian experience. It has been vetted, read, advised upon, annotated - almost
any word that you can use to show many cooks getting involved with something to make
sure that it's as accurate as possible. Then it came down to Dan Giat to do it in a
dramatically impactful way. Because when you're dealing with history, you have the
responsibility to present it accurately, but it can't be a history lesson.
HBO:
How closely did the script stick to the book?
Dick Wolf:
Well, as I said, this is a two-hour movie. If you look at the book itself, we probably left out
75 percent of it, which there was no way of telling. The interesting thing about doing
anything for HBO is that nobody's in any rush. It's, "Do it when you get it right." And,
there have been God knows how many variations of the script because it started out as a six-
hour miniseries. Then it went to four hours. Then it went to a two-hour movie, and now it's
been decided to do it as an entire night of programming. So, it's been close to three hours,
but that represents scripts ranging in length from 250 down to the current 110- page version.
HBO:
What has Yves Simoneau brought to the table with his directing?
Dick Wolf:
Well, it's a major challenge to get a director who is capable not only of telling the story but
telling it visually and impactfully. And, I think he's doing an incredible job because to do
this in 38 days is almost impossible. He has really figured out how to shoot this in a way
that is efficient but with the scope that the story demands. You either get directors who can
do it fast and cheap and not very well, or people can do it really well and say, "Give me
twice as much money, and it'll be really good." Yves has really been dedicated to getting
the most bang possible onto the screen in the shortest amount of time.
HBO:
It seems a few Law & Order regulars have turned up in the film ...
Dick Wolf:
Fred Thompson, who plays Ulysses S. Grant, plays the D.A. on Law & Order. And J.K.
Simmons, who plays McLoughlin [PH] - who is really Sitting Bull's chief antagonist - has
been the intermittent psychiatrist on Law & Order for the last seven or eight years. So, I
think that I have been extraordinarily lucky to get both of them into this film in a way that
really shows what they're best at. I mean, you can't do much better than Fred as the
president of the United States.
HBO:
Was there a target you kept coming back to as the film evolved?
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Dick Wolf (Christian Alminana/FilmMagic.com )
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Dick Wolf:
"Let's not do what people have seen 50 times before." I mean, people have been making
cowboy and Indian movies since the 1900s, so there is a body of work that is vast and deep.
But the challenge here is, "How do you show people things that they haven't seen before?
And, how do you give them an insight into the experience that they don't have?" I think
that's our mandate, both from HBO and inside ourselves to do this right because it's the last
story that hasn't been told about the American Indian. And, I think it is the most emotionally
searing. It's really an incredible responsibility for all of us, and we really do want to do it
right.
HBO:
Do you have a favorite scene?
Dick Wolf:
Oh, I absolutely have a favorite scene, which is a confrontation between Miles, who is the
colonel who came to bring the Sioux under control after Little Bighorn, and Sitting Bull.
They have a powwow in the middle of the plains, and Sitting Bull takes his position, which
is, "Why are you doing this to us? You know we're out here living our lives." And, Miles is
the one who turns to him and says, "Wait a minute. You're the most warlike tribe on the
North American continent. You came out of Minnesota and killed the Crow. Why are you
any better?" And, that is the moment in the film that you can see the historical perspective is
one thing, but there is always a rationale for the aggressor to do what he's doing. So, it's a
wonderful scene both psychologically and historically because it puts the entire film into
perspective. It's the one scene that has not changed in the last three years of writing and
rewriting, so it's pretty powerful.
HBO:
Has anything really leapt out at you while shooting?
Dick Wolf:
Coming over a ridge in the vehicles when they had just started building the camp. This is
amazing country out here that is virtually untouched. It's the only place that I really see that
still looks like the nineteenth century. There are no roads; there's nothing out here. And
when we came over that ridge and saw this encampment, it was as close as you can get to
time travel.
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