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CNN Live Sunday

New Minseries Highlights Native American Legends

Aired December 28, 2003 - 18:43   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you like that spirits? You see how powerful I am. Now, give me a vision!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: And it's a vision rarely seen on American TV. The 2 part miniseries, "Dreamkeeper" explores Native American legends. It kicks off in about 3 hours on ABC. And to learn more about "Dreamkeeper" we're joined by one of the actors, August Shellenberg in Dallas and one of the producers, executive producer Robert Halmi in Miami. Good afternoon to both of you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good after noon.

LIN: Robert, let me begin with you. I'm not sure the that our lead in really did it justice, because this miniseries really has a magical and very spiritual quality about it. And there were some even working on it who weren't quite sure from the very beginning whether television, film, would be able to capture the depths of these folklore tales.

ROBERT HALMI, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, "DEAMKEEPER": Yes, the Native American mythology is so rich, so few people know about it. And it is matching all the mythologies of Central Europe, or Asian/Greek. And to bring it to bring the screen was a great challenge, not only the special effects that's available now to us now, helped obviously -- we have 450 special effects shots -- but the people, the 95 speaking parts, all played by native Americans. And they really discovered, through the movie, what incredible heritage they had. And how important it is to tell these stories. Nobody did so far, for many, many reasons.

But, I think, everybody, Native American or not, will enjoy these, because of the richness. And that's all the mythology we Americans have.

LIN: August, tell us about your role.

AUGUST SHELLENBERG, ACTOR: I play the role of an aging 90 year- old grandfather who is, I guess, his mission was to take his son -- grandson rather -- to the All of Nations pow wow in Albuquerque. And on the way he tells these 9 legends. But his main reason was to bring his son and his grandson together, because they were estranged.

That was the reason for his journey. It was a very rarely that an actor gets a role like this. If you're lucky enough as an actor to get a role -- it's like putting on a comfortable old shoe. It's the only way I can describe it.

Steven Baron (ph) did a wonderful job in directing it. After the first day of shooting, I went to my wife and I said, this man is not making television, he's making a movie. And he shot a movie, which will be seen tonight.

LIN: Well, August, your last name in Shellenberg, but you're actually part Mohawk.

SHELLENBERG: Yes I am. My father was a Swiss. He came from Switzerland. He was a ski instructor.

LIN: And you mother?

SHELLENBERG: Mohawk Indian from Montreal. I grew up in Montreal, Canada.

LIN: So what did your -- I mean, from a personal standpoint. You spoke from an artistic standpoint. From a personal standpoint, what did this mean to you?

SHELLENBERG: It was a wonderful role. When I auditioned for it, I put my audition on tape back in November and I finally did the final audition in April. I was told in April that I had the role.

As I said, it's very rarely that an actor gets a chance to portray somebody like this. He's wise, he's funny, he's got all the human qualities, all the good qualities of a human being. He's also a war hero.

LIN: And certainly adds a dimension to the American audiences perception of American Indians.

SHELLENBERG: Hopefully it will be educational for people, also, besides being from the entertainment side of it.

LIN: How important, Robert, is it, to educate as well as entertain?

HALMI: Well, education is a bad word if you really want to have people to tune in, so you have to entertain. You have to mesmerize. And through all this entertainment and magic that television can provide, then you can educate and then you can have a message.

And this is what television is really made for. I mean, unfortunately, television is hitting a low point is drama, the reality shows are taking over. But television was made for great dramas. And this is the best way to reach the most people to tell something important while you entertain them.

Everybody will have fun looking at it, but they will take something extremely important what people should know. And that the glorious background that the Native Americans had and are the unfortunate present they live in. LIN: Robert, I'm not sure, do you have a screen in your studio where you can see some of the clips that we're running right now?

HALMI: Yes.

LIN: What is it that we're looking at here? This wall of water?

HALMI: This is one of the tribes with which -- they lost all of the fish, they were a fishing tribe. And all of a sudden, the river dried up and the fish went away. And through medicine and through incredible prayer, the fish all of a sudden came back, through this major -- by waterfall and everybody was happy, but the girl had to sacrifice her life to have the rest of the tribe become wealthy again.

It's one of those many, many morality tales. Every one of these things is a morality tale. And it's not about war, it's not about killing, it's all about love and survival and buffaloes and ponies. It's wonderful.

LIN: August, what did you learn from this experience?

SHELLENBERG: I learned that the Lakota people I portrayed, the grandfather is a Lakota, and I learned through Sonny Richards (ph) who was the technical consultant, the Lakota technical consultant, that their language goes back thousands of years. There's one song that he'd given me, which is sung at the opening of the film, "Mi Yi Ello" (ph) is song a thousand years ago, and I sing the same song a thousand years later.

And the serpent "Um Checkula" (ph) goes back to the dinosaur days. That's how long these people have been here.

LIN: Magical indeed. August Shellenberg, thank you very much.

SHELLENBERG: Thank you.

LIN: Robert Halmi, pleasure to speak to both of you.

HALMI: Thank you.

LIN: Good luck with the series.

HALMI: Thank you very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired December 28, 2003 - 18:43   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you like that spirits? You see how powerful I am. Now, give me a vision!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: And it's a vision rarely seen on American TV. The 2 part miniseries, "Dreamkeeper" explores Native American legends. It kicks off in about 3 hours on ABC. And to learn more about "Dreamkeeper" we're joined by one of the actors, August Shellenberg in Dallas and one of the producers, executive producer Robert Halmi in Miami. Good afternoon to both of you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good after noon.

LIN: Robert, let me begin with you. I'm not sure the that our lead in really did it justice, because this miniseries really has a magical and very spiritual quality about it. And there were some even working on it who weren't quite sure from the very beginning whether television, film, would be able to capture the depths of these folklore tales.

ROBERT HALMI, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, "DEAMKEEPER": Yes, the Native American mythology is so rich, so few people know about it. And it is matching all the mythologies of Central Europe, or Asian/Greek. And to bring it to bring the screen was a great challenge, not only the special effects that's available now to us now, helped obviously -- we have 450 special effects shots -- but the people, the 95 speaking parts, all played by native Americans. And they really discovered, through the movie, what incredible heritage they had. And how important it is to tell these stories. Nobody did so far, for many, many reasons.

But, I think, everybody, Native American or not, will enjoy these, because of the richness. And that's all the mythology we Americans have.

LIN: August, tell us about your role.

AUGUST SHELLENBERG, ACTOR: I play the role of an aging 90 year- old grandfather who is, I guess, his mission was to take his son -- grandson rather -- to the All of Nations pow wow in Albuquerque. And on the way he tells these 9 legends. But his main reason was to bring his son and his grandson together, because they were estranged.

That was the reason for his journey. It was a very rarely that an actor gets a role like this. If you're lucky enough as an actor to get a role -- it's like putting on a comfortable old shoe. It's the only way I can describe it.

Steven Baron (ph) did a wonderful job in directing it. After the first day of shooting, I went to my wife and I said, this man is not making television, he's making a movie. And he shot a movie, which will be seen tonight.

LIN: Well, August, your last name in Shellenberg, but you're actually part Mohawk.

SHELLENBERG: Yes I am. My father was a Swiss. He came from Switzerland. He was a ski instructor.

LIN: And you mother?

SHELLENBERG: Mohawk Indian from Montreal. I grew up in Montreal, Canada.

LIN: So what did your -- I mean, from a personal standpoint. You spoke from an artistic standpoint. From a personal standpoint, what did this mean to you?

SHELLENBERG: It was a wonderful role. When I auditioned for it, I put my audition on tape back in November and I finally did the final audition in April. I was told in April that I had the role.

As I said, it's very rarely that an actor gets a chance to portray somebody like this. He's wise, he's funny, he's got all the human qualities, all the good qualities of a human being. He's also a war hero.

LIN: And certainly adds a dimension to the American audiences perception of American Indians.

SHELLENBERG: Hopefully it will be educational for people, also, besides being from the entertainment side of it.

LIN: How important, Robert, is it, to educate as well as entertain?

HALMI: Well, education is a bad word if you really want to have people to tune in, so you have to entertain. You have to mesmerize. And through all this entertainment and magic that television can provide, then you can educate and then you can have a message.

And this is what television is really made for. I mean, unfortunately, television is hitting a low point is drama, the reality shows are taking over. But television was made for great dramas. And this is the best way to reach the most people to tell something important while you entertain them.

Everybody will have fun looking at it, but they will take something extremely important what people should know. And that the glorious background that the Native Americans had and are the unfortunate present they live in. LIN: Robert, I'm not sure, do you have a screen in your studio where you can see some of the clips that we're running right now?

HALMI: Yes.

LIN: What is it that we're looking at here? This wall of water?

HALMI: This is one of the tribes with which -- they lost all of the fish, they were a fishing tribe. And all of a sudden, the river dried up and the fish went away. And through medicine and through incredible prayer, the fish all of a sudden came back, through this major -- by waterfall and everybody was happy, but the girl had to sacrifice her life to have the rest of the tribe become wealthy again.

It's one of those many, many morality tales. Every one of these things is a morality tale. And it's not about war, it's not about killing, it's all about love and survival and buffaloes and ponies. It's wonderful.

LIN: August, what did you learn from this experience?

SHELLENBERG: I learned that the Lakota people I portrayed, the grandfather is a Lakota, and I learned through Sonny Richards (ph) who was the technical consultant, the Lakota technical consultant, that their language goes back thousands of years. There's one song that he'd given me, which is sung at the opening of the film, "Mi Yi Ello" (ph) is song a thousand years ago, and I sing the same song a thousand years later.

And the serpent "Um Checkula" (ph) goes back to the dinosaur days. That's how long these people have been here.

LIN: Magical indeed. August Shellenberg, thank you very much.

SHELLENBERG: Thank you.

LIN: Robert Halmi, pleasure to speak to both of you.

HALMI: Thank you.

LIN: Good luck with the series.

HALMI: Thank you very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com