Before filming a single frame of “Reservation Dogs,” the funny and heartwarming FX series about four indigenous teenagers in rural Oklahoma, Paulina Alexis, who plays fan favorite Willie Jack, was sure it would be a hit. . “That was just the vibe.” [the pilot script] broadcast,” says Alexis, who grew up on the Alexis Nakota Sioux First Nation reserve in Alberta, Canada.. “It was just kids doing normal rez kid stuff. She knew she was going to explode.”
Recently, Alexis joined her castmate Devery Jacobs, who grew up in Kahnawake Mohawk territory and played rez dog Elora Danan, to excavate some “Reservation Dogs” memories, including the fluctuating extremes of Oklahoma weather. “We filmed during tornado season,” says Jacobs, who also wrote and directed the show. “It was very cold and the same day it was stiflingly hot. Is very intense. But Sterling [Harjo, the series’ showrunner] I wanted to set this story in its place of origin, and it shows. “I don’t think we could fake it if it was anywhere else.”
Although the hit series was the first created, produced, written by and starring indigenous people (and has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 99%), Harjo decided the right time to end it was after three seasons.
Much of “Reservation Dogs” was filmed in tiny Okmulgee, Oklahoma. What do you miss about her?
Paulina Alexis: Oklahoma is so beautiful. They have the best sunsets. Just being in that atmosphere, especially while working? It feels really good. It was like a family. The people are the best. It is not too big nor too small. There are many fields. It feels very open. I found myself missing Oklahoma.
Devery Jacobs: The people in Oklahoma, specifically in Tulsa, where we were also able to film, were amazing. They are so captivating. The black, brown and native people there are very resilient and have been through a lot.
Which cast member knew everyone in town?
Jacobs: That's D'Pharoah [Woon-A-Tai, who plays Bear Smallhill]. She was always on some kind of adventure. Every time she saw him, she would say, “Oh, I went to this museum.” “I did this hike.” “Oh, the police stopped us but they saw 'Rez Dogs' so they let us go.”
The main teenagers of “Reservation Dogs” played by Lane Factor, left, Paulina Alexis, D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai and Devery Jacobs.
(Shane Brown/FX)
Paulina, you were the only actor who was allowed to go off script. Explain.
alexis: I don't know exactly how to explain it. But Willie Jack? Everything she said, I would say. Even at auditions, I changed the way I read him because he just wouldn't roll off my tongue. And I think that's what got me the role. All my brothers are very talented and very fun. Growing up with them taught me how to improvise. The best advice I was given was, “If you're going to say things, just say them.” When you act, it's too performative. It takes away its naturalness.
Jacobs: Willie Jack's lines were always written just as a suggestion. Then Paulina would make riffs. Her improvisation skills are unmatched.
Devery, talk about joining the writers.' room in the second season.
In comedies, you often see these characters who don't grow, and the same thing happens to them in every episode. It works for procedures, which we love. One of the beautiful things about “Rez Dogs” is that we see evolutions of these characters and also of this community. People going through pain, people moving forward, people healing, growing, people leaving, coming home, and everything in between.
Paulina, you always said that Willie Jack should be that girl in every rez, the one with the baseball cap and the braids..
Alexis: The show means a lot not only to me but to native people all over the United States and Canada. Growing up, you don't see the natives on TV. [Pauses] Well, I've seen native people on TV, but they're not exactly like us. So I wanted to bring that to life. It really hit me when people started coming up to me to tell me that they had never seen anyone on TV who looked like them until they saw me. That meant a lot because that used to be me.
What's a trope about indigenous people that you hope you never see on TV again?
Jacobs: Anything that even remotely resembles a Pocahontas stereotype. I remember telling my agent, “If I'm ever going to have a sex scene, my conclusion is that it can't be in buckskin or on a bed of fur.” I do not want to see it. I don't think it's necessary to see it. I want to be portrayed as the modern people that we are.
What was especially difficult about the end of “Reservation Dogs”?
Jacobs: I could burst into tears at any moment talking about this show, because we miss it so much. I don't know if we had the closing of the farewell, where we were completely sure that season 3 was going to be the true ending. There was still a crack in the door open so the show could continue. And then the writers' strike occurred. Then the actors' strike. And we didn't get to see each other. It felt like this [ended] without us really knowing it and they robbed us of the opportunity for all of us to let this story pass at the same time.
