This Navajo writer says Robert Redford was instrumental in getting Indigenous actors in movies, TV

When Robert Redford died last month, tributes came in remembering the wide breadth of his work over his more than 50-year career.

One of those tributes came from George Joe, who wrote about Redford’s relationship with the Navajo Nation — both on-screen and off.

Joe is a member of the Navajo Nation and was a consultant on the second season of AMC’s “Dark Winds.” Redford was an executive producer on the series, which was based on books by Tony Hillerman and included a mainly Native American cast.

Joe wrote about Redford’s work with Native communities in the Navajo Times; he spoke with The Show more about it.

Full conversation

GEORGE  JOE: Yes, I was always curious about that myself when I started working on the set. And then it kind of reminded me when I was a kid growing up in my area, there were a little bit of rumors, scuttlebutt about some man important coming around. And I kind of faintly remember that. That’s like 40 years ago.

I had no clue until last week. It was reconnected when I interviewed somebody from the community that said that, yeah, Redford was at their house and he would come around every now and then. And they had a connection through Sundance Studio. And that house, that family is about 8 miles, 10 miles south of where I live.

MARK BRODIE: So when you were a kid, there were stories about some sort of sounds like mysterious guy coming around, and you didn’t know who it was, but it turns out that was Robert Redford?

JOE: Yes. No clue. I had no clue. And I’m just making the connection. It was. Must have been him. Just the little small things I remember.

BRODIE: What was it about that part of the world that you think kept drawing him in and had him so interested?

JOE: Well, I didn’t know. And that’s one of the reasons why I read his book. So when I was on set, I thought, hey, I want to know about this person some more. He seems very interested in Native American people, their plight, their issues. He wants to contribute in some way. So my question was, who is he?

So I found the book, and that is the book that I mentioned. It’s a biography of him written by a writer named Michael Feeney Allen. And what I realized was his interest began when he was a kid and it was just him and his mom. His father had passed away, and he and his mom, they would drive across the Southwest. And they didn’t give an exact age, but it must have been, sounds like he was in his early teens that they arrived in Gallup, New Mexico, and he was fascinated with Native American people.

And then over the years, he went, he became a student, apparently, at Colorado University. And he says in the book, that he kept driving through the reservation, and he took different routes going home from that area, back home to where his mom lived in Los Angeles.

So this was the route. And he, he drove through Kayenta, through the middle of the reservation, through the side, the southern, all over. And he said he was very fascinated. And in the book also, I came across a couple of mentions. I can actually read one to you. I pulled the book up again because I remember I underlined them when I first read it. Here, here it is:

The writer says, “he was attracted to Indian culture, he decided, because it was the root of all Americas. Redford calls this the moment of awareness that presaged his sense of stewardship about the canyon and also his commitment to explore the diversity of American culture, which would later be foundational in his creation of the Sundance Institute.”

BRODIE: Well, do you think that he played a role in sort of raising the consciousness of how Native Americans are portrayed in popular culture, how they’re portrayed on screen?

JOE: Yes, I think he did. I do remember someone that was involved in the ’90s when they made a movie on the reservation, an area, community called Tuba City, and that’s where they did a lot of their filming. Some of them were talking about how committed he was to getting local Navajo people, Native people, to play those roles.

I mean, there was a lot of dispute then because they brought in Lou Diamond Phillips. Because I remember at that time in the local media, the local newspapers, lots of people upset that they didn’t put a Navajo person in that position. But then there were a lot of other people saying, no, you need someone that has some star power. You need someone that knows how to do this stuff, not an unknown, that that makes the movie more marketable.

So there was a lot of discussion back then about that, only because of Lou Diamond Phillips. But Lou Diamond Phillips did a great job, actually. He did a really good job. And in terms of his speaking of Navajo, the way he was able to articulate the words, he did pretty good.

But yes, that was the only one, the only one that people really had an issue. Every, I think all the background, a lot of other people there, other than Fred Ward, were locals, Navajos.

BRODIE: So how much do you attribute Native Americans sort of being able to portray themselves and tell their stories on screen to Robert Redford and his doing so and his interest and his sort of promoting Native actors and sort of Native people to be able to do these jobs?

JOE: Well, as you know, in order for something big to happen, you need a big person behind it. And he was that guy. And prior to that, I mean, you had people always bringing up, talking about it in writings and opinion pieces, but nothing ever really happened until he made that big push to make it an issue.

You could call him the godfather of that. And even more so when he did the TV adaptation of “Dark Winds,” the cast, the crew, the producers were all very committed to bringing in Native American characters to play those parts.

That was like — what’s the word? That was the mandate. That was the requirement. So he really did that all the way to the end.