The Fund was asked to serve as a cultural consultant for the filmmaker Eddie Murphy’s comedy, “Nowhereland,” which was filmed in Denver this week. As part of our duties, Fund staffers reviewed the script to ensure that the humor was not offensive to Natives, and made sure cultural references were accurate. In addition, three Fund staffers served as extras in the movie. They are Patti Archambault, Ruben Hernandez, and Ashley Sarracino. We also armed several Native extras with t-shirts emblazoned with tribal college logos to wear on the set.
I traveled down to the set on Tuesday and met with the producer, Lorenzo Di Bonaventura of Di Bonaventura Pictures. I was able to watch the filming take place, and was shepherded behind the cameras to see what the picture looked like on the monitors. I was then taken into the lobby of the Brown Palace Hotel, the site of much of the shooting, where I was interviewed on camera for the DVD. I discussed my heritage, the mission of the Fund, and our role with the film, as well as whether Hollywood is doing a better job portraying Natives in film.
Watch for the film to be released next year!
