‘Reservation Dogs’ set like a ‘cookout,’ actor says

Felix Clary
ICT + Tulsa World

OKLAHOMA CITY – IndigiPopX, a Native-themed pop culture exposition, returned to Oklahoma City April 12-14 with panel discussions from the cast of the popular FX television show “Reservation Dogs” who talked about how the show’s set was different from other sets they’ve been on.

“I think I’m going to be spoiled now,” said Lane Factor, who plays Cheese on the show, which ended its third and final season in September 2023. “I still think about the food they served on set.”

Sten Joddi, who played rapper Punkin Lusty, the father of one of the show’s primary characters, Bear, told the story of his favorite moment on set.

“My favorite moment was the day that we filmed the music video for ‘Greasy FryBread.’ … The aunties were all there, and everybody was talking about directions for the stage, and the aunties just randomly started singing a Muscogee hymn together. And in that moment, the whole room just fell silent, and we were all just in that moment together.”

Jon Proudstar who played Leon, another primary character Willie Jack’s dad, said the set always felt like a “cookout,” like it was just aunties and uncles who got together to have a good time.

Nathalie Standingcloud, who played one of the aunties, Natalie, in the show, said the set was always “loud, with laughing and talking in the background, but when the camera was rolling and a scene was filmed it was dead silent, until the scene was over, and it would just go back to chit chat again.”

Kaniehtiio Horn, who played Deer Lady, talked about her commitment to the role. She said that in Canada, they call their version of deer lady, hoof lady, and that she was honored to play such a meaningful role.

She told the story of how she handled the scene where she had to eat the pies at the dinner when she met Bear, and how she had to take such huge bites over and over, and even if she got to spit the bite out in a bucket next to her, they were so sweet it made her sick.

Horn agreed that the set was like hanging out with family, but she said that her role brought some more serious, somber moments as well.

There is a scene where she kills a former boarding school guard who abused her friends at the boarding school she went to as a child, and she said that after that scene, she turned around and saw the men behind the camera teary eyed.

Factor said he initially didn't want to audition for the show, but his mom made him, promising him McDonald’s afterward, and even though he never got the McDonald’s, he’s glad he auditioned.

ProudStar was initially cast as Officer Big, and he said the part was actually written with him in mind, but he got COVID, and the part was given to Zahn McClarnon. He said playing the role of Leon was fitting for him though because he is a father and was happy to play Willie Jack’s dad.

Jodi is also a father and husband, and he got permission to have his family come down to Oklahoma with him. His close relationship with his wife and children contrasts to Punkin’s role as Bear’s absent father, but he said that he is glad there is some representation of absent fathers in the show, because that makes it more real.

A tribute to Nex

The First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City hosted hundreds of guests for the second year that IndigiPopX was held in Oklahoma, following years in Denver, Albuquerque and Australia.

Other discussions at IndigiPopX included building Indigenous worlds in games with Rising Sons Media, surviving the zombie apocalypse with Indigenous knowledge with Johnnie Jae, a showing of “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope” in the Navajo language, Indigenous tabletop gaming with Absurdist Productions’ Will Thompson, behind the scenes of Osiyo TV with Cherokee Film, Marvel’s Echo Q&A with screenwriter Peshawn Bread, and Indigenous women storytellers with Weyodi Oldbear and Grace Benally.

Nathalie StandingCloud also had her own booth, advertising her tattoo and digital art. She was selling prints of Indigenous Powerpuff Girls designed to resemble the three sisters, corn, squash and beans, the trio of vegetables sacred to many Indigenous people. StandingCloud does tattoos at Royal Ink in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the Woodland Hills mall.

Sten Joddi also had his own booth, advertising his tattoos and selling merch.

Lil Mike and Funny Bone , cast members from “Reservation Dogs” and Indigenous rappers, had their own booth, selling merch and taking photos with fans.

The Five Moons theater, the Xchange theater, and the upstairs conference rooms rotated thought-provoking conversations with various guests each day.

On the afternoon of April 15 in the Five Moons Theater, the Cherokee Youth Choir dedicated a singing performance in the Cherokee language to Nex Benedict, the Choctaw teen who died Feb. 8 after being attacked in a bathroom at Owasso High School. Relatives have said Nex had been bullied for being gender queer, and Owasso police have said Nex died of suicide, though some in the LGBTQ+ have questioned that ruling.

The audience fell to somber silence as Two-Spirit Miss Indian Oklahoma and former Chickasaw Princess Faithlynn Taloa Seawright took the stage.

“We are going to this grand celebration in honor of Nex Benedict. We come here because this is a safe place for us to just be who we are, nerdy, weirdos. I know I’m describing myself at this moment, but I’m sure some of you can agree,” Seawright said as the audience laughed.

“Indigenous lifestyle is not limited to our ancestors. We take it on and give it new life in our iconography, in the costumes that we cosplay, in comic books and movies, so don’t let anything stop you,” she said.

This story is co-published by the Tulsa World and ICT , a news partnership that covers Indigenous communities in the Oklahoma area.

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