Post by blackcrowheart on Oct 17, 2006 14:09:38 GMT -5
Raising Maple Leaf on Iwo Jima Oscar buzz grows for Adam Beach
Ran for chief of Manitoba reserve Oct. 14, 2006. 01:00 AM JOHN HIScock
www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/A\
rticle_Type1&c=Article&cid=1160689837178&call_pageid=968867495754&StarSo\
urce=RSS
<http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/\
Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1160689837178&call_pageid=968867495754&StarS\
ource=RSS> BURBANK, CALIF.�Tears well up in Adam Beach's eyes. He
reaches for a tissue as he talks about the tragic downfall of Ira Hayes,
the American Indian who was one of the six men who raised the flag on
the Japanese island of Iwo Jima.
Hayes, whom Beach portrays in the new Clint Eastwood film Flags Of Our
Fathers, opening Friday, was flown back to America and hailed as a hero
but, unable to deal with his newfound celebrity, battled alcoholism and
depression before his early death.
Yet Beach, who was brought up on the Dog Creek Indian Reserve in
Manitoba and is a member of the Salteaux tribe, sees Hayes as an
inspirational figure. He feels that portraying him has brought him
closer to his personal goal of becoming an influential leader of the
Indian nations.
"Ira Hayes is a hero to me," he says, dabbing his eyes. "He is like a
lot of other heroes of war who struggled to maintain their dignity
through those horrors. The American Indian in him kept him strong."
Dressed in a smart navy blue suit and blue shirt, Adam Beach is talking
in a room at Warner Bros. studios in Burbank as publicists and
assistants hover nearby. Although he is the star of Flags of Our
Fathers, it would be difficult to find anybody further removed from the
trappings of Hollywood stardom than 33-year-old Beach, a likeable and
deeply thoughtful man with a warm smile and an air of sweet
vulnerability.
Yet in a few days, this relatively unknown Ottawa-based actor will be
fully thrust into the Hollywood limelight. Already there are murmurs of
an Oscar nod; his acting has earned high praise from director Eastwood.
It is clear that while he goes along with the publicity and promotional
demands being heaped upon him, his heart is on the reserve and with his
people. Recently, he narrowly failed in his bid to be elected chief of
Lake Manitoba First Nation but he intends to run again in two years'
time, campaigning for improved education and a better economic program
for reservations.
"Through this film I found courage, strength and confidence and I also
found my responsibility to give a new direction for the Indian nations
and to establish a new economic development movement for reservations,"
he says. "I have to go back home and start from scratch. To be a real
influence on the political structure I have to become the leader of my
people.
"A lot of people question me because I'm an actor and tell me to stick
to making movies but they can't see that the influence I have now can
really stimulate the growth of my community. I want to be an example to
the nations of North America. I have a new vision and a new direction
because of this film."
Beach spurns the politically correct description of him as a Native
American and insists: "The word I like is Indian. That's what I've grown
to understand in history books and that's how I relate to myself and my
fellow Indians."
Although he has an enthusiastic attitude to life, he did not have an
easy childhood, losing both his parents in separate accidents when he
was 8 years old. His mother was hit by a drunken driver when she was
eight months' pregnant; his father drowned. To this day he is unsure of
the exact circumstances of his father's death.
He was adopted by his father's brother Chris Beach, whom he calls his
stepdad, and his wife. He believes it was due to the elder Beach that he
managed to stay out of trouble and make a career for himself.
"He had a messed-up childhood too, but he healed himself and then taught
me how to heal my wounds, too," he recalled. "He is a hero to me because
without him I wouldn't be here today; I'd be a statistic in Winnipeg, be
in a gang and be part of the judicial system. Instead, because of his
teachings, I am a new statistic of being a voice of American Indians."
Chris Beach was Adam's guest at the world premiere of Flags of Our
Fathers in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
Adam Beach gained an appreciation for acting while taking a drama course
at Gordon Bell High School in Winnipeg, and when he was 17 he landed a
small role in the television mini-series Lonesome Dove. He worked
steadily in small roles until 1998 when he was cast in a leading role in
Smoke Signals, the first feature film written, produced, directed by and
starring Indian artists.
Then in 2001 he had to learn to speak Navajo for a co-starring role in
John Woo's Windtalkers as Ben Yahzee, a Marine Navajo whose native
language became the foundation of an unbreakable code that helped win
the war against Japan.
When he heard about Flags of Our Fathers, he approached Clint Eastwood
about playing the complex and enigmatic Ira Hayes, but Eastwood, who was
looking for an actor aged 20 or 21, told him he was too old. Six months
later Eastwood contacted him and offered him an audition and then the
part.
Beach's emotional response to the role was powerful and immediate. "He
is a classic war hero in many respects," he says. "He was in three of
the bloodiest battles in the South Pacific and survived them all. All he
wants is to be back in the field, with his boys, fighting side-by-side.
He can't reconcile being safe while his friends, his brothers, are still
fighting the horrors of war. He doesn't know how to deal with that.
"I tried to understand what it would have been like for him to stand in
front of thousands of people all cheering for him when just the week
before he was watching his closest friends die. How could he do it? It
gives me goosebumps to think about the horrors of seeing death all
around."
Beach, who has two sons, aged 10 and 8, believes Hayes' story will help
him in educating Indian children and giving them a sense of their
history and traditions. To that end, he attends powwows, visits
classrooms and is lobbying Indian gaming tribes to persuade them to
finance educational films.
In particular, he wants the world to know about the horrors of the
residential school system, by which children were taken from their
reserves by the American and Canadian governments and sent to boarding
schools in an attempt to integrate them.
"They wanted to show them the word of Jesus; they cut their hair, they
beat them for speaking their languages � the stories about those
schools are really horrific and haven't been properly told yet," he
says. "If you think the story of Ira Hayes was bad, the stories of these
children are 10 times worse."
Like Hayes, Beach has been on the receiving end of racism and ignorance.
At home he is still viewed with suspicion by people who don't recognize
him, he said.
"If I go into a store or certain situations, people want to follow me in
case I take something, or I'll go to a restaurant and people kind of
look at me because I don't wear a suit all the time; I like to be
casual."
Beach still sometimes finds it difficult to believe that someone from
his background on the Dog Creek Indian Reserve has managed to reach the
verge of international stardom. He marvels that he has been able to
drive down Sunset Boulevard and see his face on a billboard.
"I never thought Indians could achieve that much success," he says. "The
biggest expectation I ever had was to do my first movie and just speak
on camera. Now here I am and I feel like I'm in a barren land that
hasn't been touched, and who do I have to guide me through this? I don't
know.
"I never imagined I'd be in this position."
Ran for chief of Manitoba reserve Oct. 14, 2006. 01:00 AM JOHN HIScock
www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/A\
rticle_Type1&c=Article&cid=1160689837178&call_pageid=968867495754&StarSo\
urce=RSS
<http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/\
Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1160689837178&call_pageid=968867495754&StarS\
ource=RSS> BURBANK, CALIF.�Tears well up in Adam Beach's eyes. He
reaches for a tissue as he talks about the tragic downfall of Ira Hayes,
the American Indian who was one of the six men who raised the flag on
the Japanese island of Iwo Jima.
Hayes, whom Beach portrays in the new Clint Eastwood film Flags Of Our
Fathers, opening Friday, was flown back to America and hailed as a hero
but, unable to deal with his newfound celebrity, battled alcoholism and
depression before his early death.
Yet Beach, who was brought up on the Dog Creek Indian Reserve in
Manitoba and is a member of the Salteaux tribe, sees Hayes as an
inspirational figure. He feels that portraying him has brought him
closer to his personal goal of becoming an influential leader of the
Indian nations.
"Ira Hayes is a hero to me," he says, dabbing his eyes. "He is like a
lot of other heroes of war who struggled to maintain their dignity
through those horrors. The American Indian in him kept him strong."
Dressed in a smart navy blue suit and blue shirt, Adam Beach is talking
in a room at Warner Bros. studios in Burbank as publicists and
assistants hover nearby. Although he is the star of Flags of Our
Fathers, it would be difficult to find anybody further removed from the
trappings of Hollywood stardom than 33-year-old Beach, a likeable and
deeply thoughtful man with a warm smile and an air of sweet
vulnerability.
Yet in a few days, this relatively unknown Ottawa-based actor will be
fully thrust into the Hollywood limelight. Already there are murmurs of
an Oscar nod; his acting has earned high praise from director Eastwood.
It is clear that while he goes along with the publicity and promotional
demands being heaped upon him, his heart is on the reserve and with his
people. Recently, he narrowly failed in his bid to be elected chief of
Lake Manitoba First Nation but he intends to run again in two years'
time, campaigning for improved education and a better economic program
for reservations.
"Through this film I found courage, strength and confidence and I also
found my responsibility to give a new direction for the Indian nations
and to establish a new economic development movement for reservations,"
he says. "I have to go back home and start from scratch. To be a real
influence on the political structure I have to become the leader of my
people.
"A lot of people question me because I'm an actor and tell me to stick
to making movies but they can't see that the influence I have now can
really stimulate the growth of my community. I want to be an example to
the nations of North America. I have a new vision and a new direction
because of this film."
Beach spurns the politically correct description of him as a Native
American and insists: "The word I like is Indian. That's what I've grown
to understand in history books and that's how I relate to myself and my
fellow Indians."
Although he has an enthusiastic attitude to life, he did not have an
easy childhood, losing both his parents in separate accidents when he
was 8 years old. His mother was hit by a drunken driver when she was
eight months' pregnant; his father drowned. To this day he is unsure of
the exact circumstances of his father's death.
He was adopted by his father's brother Chris Beach, whom he calls his
stepdad, and his wife. He believes it was due to the elder Beach that he
managed to stay out of trouble and make a career for himself.
"He had a messed-up childhood too, but he healed himself and then taught
me how to heal my wounds, too," he recalled. "He is a hero to me because
without him I wouldn't be here today; I'd be a statistic in Winnipeg, be
in a gang and be part of the judicial system. Instead, because of his
teachings, I am a new statistic of being a voice of American Indians."
Chris Beach was Adam's guest at the world premiere of Flags of Our
Fathers in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
Adam Beach gained an appreciation for acting while taking a drama course
at Gordon Bell High School in Winnipeg, and when he was 17 he landed a
small role in the television mini-series Lonesome Dove. He worked
steadily in small roles until 1998 when he was cast in a leading role in
Smoke Signals, the first feature film written, produced, directed by and
starring Indian artists.
Then in 2001 he had to learn to speak Navajo for a co-starring role in
John Woo's Windtalkers as Ben Yahzee, a Marine Navajo whose native
language became the foundation of an unbreakable code that helped win
the war against Japan.
When he heard about Flags of Our Fathers, he approached Clint Eastwood
about playing the complex and enigmatic Ira Hayes, but Eastwood, who was
looking for an actor aged 20 or 21, told him he was too old. Six months
later Eastwood contacted him and offered him an audition and then the
part.
Beach's emotional response to the role was powerful and immediate. "He
is a classic war hero in many respects," he says. "He was in three of
the bloodiest battles in the South Pacific and survived them all. All he
wants is to be back in the field, with his boys, fighting side-by-side.
He can't reconcile being safe while his friends, his brothers, are still
fighting the horrors of war. He doesn't know how to deal with that.
"I tried to understand what it would have been like for him to stand in
front of thousands of people all cheering for him when just the week
before he was watching his closest friends die. How could he do it? It
gives me goosebumps to think about the horrors of seeing death all
around."
Beach, who has two sons, aged 10 and 8, believes Hayes' story will help
him in educating Indian children and giving them a sense of their
history and traditions. To that end, he attends powwows, visits
classrooms and is lobbying Indian gaming tribes to persuade them to
finance educational films.
In particular, he wants the world to know about the horrors of the
residential school system, by which children were taken from their
reserves by the American and Canadian governments and sent to boarding
schools in an attempt to integrate them.
"They wanted to show them the word of Jesus; they cut their hair, they
beat them for speaking their languages � the stories about those
schools are really horrific and haven't been properly told yet," he
says. "If you think the story of Ira Hayes was bad, the stories of these
children are 10 times worse."
Like Hayes, Beach has been on the receiving end of racism and ignorance.
At home he is still viewed with suspicion by people who don't recognize
him, he said.
"If I go into a store or certain situations, people want to follow me in
case I take something, or I'll go to a restaurant and people kind of
look at me because I don't wear a suit all the time; I like to be
casual."
Beach still sometimes finds it difficult to believe that someone from
his background on the Dog Creek Indian Reserve has managed to reach the
verge of international stardom. He marvels that he has been able to
drive down Sunset Boulevard and see his face on a billboard.
"I never thought Indians could achieve that much success," he says. "The
biggest expectation I ever had was to do my first movie and just speak
on camera. Now here I am and I feel like I'm in a barren land that
hasn't been touched, and who do I have to guide me through this? I don't
know.
"I never imagined I'd be in this position."