Why ‘Rez Dogs' creator Sterlin Harjo made a love letter to Tulsa and its contradictions
Now, Harjo, 45, is tackling another type of genre: crime. His forthcoming series 'The Lowdown,' premiering Sept. 23 with two episodes on FX, follows self-proclaimed 'truthstorian' Lee Raybon (Ethan Hawke) on a mission to unearth buried truths about Tulsa's problematic history while exposing present-day corruption. He's a disheveled figure who drives around town in a tattered van and lives above the rare bookstore that he also happens to own. But when his latest exposé for a local publication calls into question a prominent Tulsa family, his investigation takes him on a dangerous road from the city's seedy underbelly to its highest corridors of power.
''Rez Dogs' was my love letter to rural Oklahoma and where I grew up. 'The Lowdown' is my love letter to Tulsa, where I currently live,' says Harjo, who produces, writes and directs on the new series. 'You see the beauty and the darkness. You see everything.'
The eight-episode drama, best described as Tulsa noir, also stars Oklahoma expats Tim Blake Nelson, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Tracy Letts as well as Keith David. Appearances by 'Rez Dog' alumni include Kaniehtiio Horn (a.k.a. the Deer Lady).
Harjo, who is a citizen of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and is of Muscogee descent, spoke with The Times about his love for Oklahoma, the challenges of following a celebrated show like 'Reservation Dogs' and how 'The Lowdown' is loosely based on his own experience working with a guerrilla journalist.
'Rez Dogs' was such an exceptional series that garnered critical acclaim across all four seasons. With 'The Lowdown,' was it hard to not compete with that previous success?
I didn't think about it. My experience in this industry has been people telling me that whatever the thing is that I want to make can't be made, and me thinking, I'm going to make it anyway, then forging ahead. Then it finds an audience, and people enjoy it. I had pitched 'Rez Dogs' a few different times, and it was always soft pitches because I was nervous of being laughed out of the room. No one was interested. But having the confidence of my friend ['Rez Dogs' co-creator and writer] Taika Waititi and FX … they were open to the way that we told the story. I think they were kind of blown away. So they made it. They never said no. But I've had many 'no's and many eye rolls.
Hawke plays Lee Raybon in 'The Lowdown,' a figure who is obsessed with getting to the bottom of things, to the point where he neglects many other aspects of his life. What inspired the creation of that character?
The story is fictional, but the character was inspired by someone I worked with named Lee Roy Chapman at This Land Press magazine. He was very much a soldier for truth and I would ride shotgun and make these videos about the underground, unknown histories of Tulsa. The series was called 'Tulsa Public Secrets.' We were this startup, full of piss and vinegar, trying to tell the truth and write about our community and make documentaries about our community. It was about a pent-up need for truth in this city. That push to tell the truth and find truth and tell our story and create a narrative around us. It gave us and the city an identity, something to hold on to.
'The Lowdown' unfolds at a really brisk pace, yet it also has the kick-back vibe of 'Rez Dogs.'
There's the art of the hang, where the genre is people hanging out. Look at 'Rez Dogs' or 'Dazed and Confused.' There's an art to hanging and being with characters, and it feels OK to just sit there with them. I think 'The Lowdown' has a good balance of that, where you could just hang with [Raybon] on his block. But there's also this unfolding story so things never get boring.
Did the making of 'The Lowdown' and 'Rez Dogs' overlap?
No, but it was toward the end of 'Rez Dogs' that I dusted a script off that was like 10 years old. It was a feature [film], but I thought I would love to do a crime show, so I just made it into an hourlong pilot, and it became 'The Lowdown.'
Ethan Hawke starred in the last season of 'Rez Dogs.' Is that how you two connected?
I had a mutual friend who introduced us because Ethan had written a graphic novel about the Apache Wars and Geronimo. It was originally a script that he couldn't get made in Hollywood because it was told from the Native side of things. Out of frustration, he made it into a graphic novel. I read it and was interested in adapting it for a show. I met up with Ethan, and I pitched my idea of the adaptation and he loved it. We spoke the same language. So we started writing together and our friendship came out of that. And then 'Rez Dogs' came out, and he wrote me to say that he really loved it. He said, 'If you ever have anything for me …' Of course I'll write something [for him]! So he became Elora's dad.
'The Lowdown' was shot on location in Tulsa and you used much of the same crew from 'Rez Dogs.' But I also hear your own family was involved, as well as some 'Rez Dogs' alums.
The crew and I know how to work together at this point. It's like a big family. And my [actual] family was there. My brother was doing locations. My kids came on set. We're shooting on some of my land. My dad was hired to brush-hog it. My mom's an extra. There's a couple of 'Rez Dogs' cameos. You'll see Willie Jack [Paulina Alexis] in the opening. Graham Greene's in it. But I don't know how much I'm supposed to say yet. I better not say …
You started out as an indie filmmaker. Can you talk a little about that journey to series TV?
I've always felt like an outsider. I'm a small-town Native kid from rural Oklahoma. I never felt like I had a foot in this industry. I was an independent filmmaker forever. I sometimes felt like everything was against me, like there's no money, and I was in Tulsa, Oklahoma, so it felt like the industry at large didn't care about the work I was doing.
Before 'Rez Dogs,' I never worked in TV and I never worked for anyone else doing films. I only had the education I got with the Sundance Directors Lab, which is the most freedom any filmmaker is ever going to have. Then I was lucky enough to make films that were so low-budget. It meant the stakes weren't high because no one saw them. So if they hated them, I wasn't destroyed.
Your films and previous series were rooted in Indigenous viewpoints and experiences. Those cultures have been so misrepresented across all aspects of American entertainment. What gave you the confidence to keep pitching those stories?
I attribute that to not having anything to lose. 'Rez Dogs' came at this time when I thought I was going to have to move on. I was at the end of my career road, where I was about to start a nonprofit or find the next chapter of what to do. I had been the freelance filmmaker for a long time and it just got hard to pay bills. With 'Rez Dogs,' it was like, I could try to play it safe right now or I could swing for the fences. I had seen opportunities come and go, but I have this shot and this one at-bat. I need to just go for it. Luckily, FX is a place that allowed me to do that. And I did it. Luckily, I'd been making independent films for years and figured out my voice, so it wasn't hard to ground 'Rez Dogs' in my voice.
Were there outside influences that also helped you get there?
'Atlanta' and 'Louie.' Those cracked my mind open to what TV could be and allowed me in. Because to tell an Indigenous story about a community, I had to go to different places. If I was just focused on the kids [in 'Rez Dogs'], it would be one thing and that's it. I needed to expand. And so [it was] taking some of what 'Atlanta' did but having this relay, like passing the baton off to different segments of the [Indigenous] community. I was also inspired by 'The Wire.'
And 'Rez Dogs' was a story that I always wanted to tell. Taika [who is of Maori descent] and I would end up talking about how similar they were from both of our homes, and if you could just kind of capture what it felt like to hear your aunts and uncles telling stories and lying and exaggerating and talking about mythology and superstitions. If you could capture all that, as Indigenous people, that's what we wanted and craved.
The key to that was making it about this community, but it was a bit of a Trojan horse. It's about these teenagers that are dealing with life and that's a subject that everyone knows. So you start with that, and then expand out once you have people on your side.
The motto you mentioned — 'Nothing to lose' — can you still use it now that you've had some success, and if so, why does it still work for you?
I think it has to do with people close to me dying when I was young. It's a big community, a big family, and I was always at a funeral. I've been a pallbearer like 15 times or something. It gave me the sense that you can't be afraid to put stuff out there. I've always had a way of diving off a cliff. It's like, if everything fails after this, I'm OK with it. If everything dries up, that's cool. At least I gave it a shot. This is going to sound hippie-dippie, but I think the energy that it takes to dive off a cliff and just go for it is an act in itself that creates energy. Something good will come out of it. So as long as you're moving forward, something comes out of it.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Los Angeles Times
2 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Lil Nas X hospitalized for possible overdose, arrested on suspicion of charging at police
Grammy winner Lil Nas X's stroll through Studio City early Thursday morning ended in his hospitalization and his arrest on suspicion of charging at a police officer. The 26-year-old musician, known for hits including 'Old Town Road' and 'Industry Baby,' was transported to a local hospital for a possible overdose, an LAPD spokesperson confirmed to The Times on Thursday. Police did not confirm the singer's identity but told The Times that at around 5:50 a.m., officers responded to the 11000 block of Ventura Boulevard to reports of a 'nude man walking in the street.' TMZ, which first reported on the singer's hospitalization, shared video of the singer (real name Montero Lamar Hill) strutting in the street down a mostly empty Ventura Boulevard wearing only white underpants and cowboy boots. Police alleged that the 'suspect charged at officers' upon their arrival, and he was taken into custody. The Los Angeles Fire Department also reported to the 3700 block of North Cahuenga Boulevard where they picked up the musician, a spokesperson confirmed to The Times. The spokesperson did not share additional information about the singer's condition. Police booked the singer at the LAPD's Valley Jail section in Van Nuys later Thursday morning on suspicion of misdemeanor battery on a police officer. A representative for Lil Nas X did not immediately respond to The Times' request for comment. In the clips shared with TMZ, the 'Call Me By Your Name' artist speaks to a driver behind the camera about a party and repeatedly tells him to put away his phone. Lil Nas X also posed with an orange traffic cone over his head, as seen in photos published by TMZ. Lil Nas X, who broke out in 2019 with the viral 'Old Town Road' featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, was hospitalized earlier this year after he said in a since-expired Instagram story that he had 'lost control' of the right side of his face. He reassured fans, 'It's getting better y'all, I promise.' On Tuesday, the singer also seemingly wiped his Instagram page of old posts and shared 26 photos and videos. Several new posts seem to point to a new chapter in his music, including a brief snippet of his song 'KIMBO' featuring Lil Jon. His recent photos take a more cryptic approach, with several featuring random items scattered in different parts of a room. Lil Nas X also posted a selfie on Tuesday of himself wearing a fur coat, bright red lipstick, and both a cowboy hat and crown. 'OH NO sHES GONE MAD! CRAZY I TELL U!,' he captioned the post. In another photo, Lil Nas X poses in front of a backlit mirror as he wears a gold gown, white cowboy boots and a tiara. He wrote in the caption: 'And just like that she's back. We've all waited so long. When dreamworld needed her the most.' Times staff writers Christopher Buchanan and Richard Winton contributed to this report.
Time Magazine
7 hours ago
- Time Magazine
What's the Deal With Ice Age and Peter Pan in Alien: Earth?
Viewers of the new series Alien: Earth were probably expecting to see gnarly chest-bursting aliens and creepy robots. They were not expecting to see Sid, a lisping ground sloth from the second-rate CGI kids film series Ice Age. And yet, there he is, prominently featured in Alien: Earth's opening episodes. The absurd contrast between series creator Noah Hawley's high-minded sci-fi horror and this silly cartoon animal went viral, though for as fun as it is to wonder what the hidden metaphorical meaning of Ice Age might be, the real contrast is between it and another children's movie that's woven into the narrative. Peter Pan is a big part of Alien: Earth, and the differing context of the two pieces of kids entertainment is a sly bit of commentary on childhood, arrested development, and storytelling tropes. No facehugger latches on to Sid's schnoz; he's not actually a character in Alien: Earth. Instead, Sid appears via a scene from Ice Age: Continental Drift, the fourth film in the Ice Age franchise. Two of the main characters in Alien: Earth fondly remember watching the 2012 movie when they were kids despite the series taking place well over a century later. Wendy (Sydney Chandler) watched the movie with her older brother Joe Hermit (Alex Lawther) back when they were kids—back when she was still named Marcy, before her consciousness was transferred from her terminally ill 11-year-old body into a synthetic frame and given a new name. When Alien: Earth starts, Wendy and her brother are separated, and Joe thinks his sister is dead. They only have fond memories to reflect on—like watching Ice Age: Continental Drift and making Sid's quote of "taste my fury" into an inside joke. Of all the possible movies that the siblings could've bonded over, Ice Age: Continental Drift is a bizarre choice. Even if you suspend your disbelief that the pair are watching a 100-year-old animated movie rather than any bit of future kids entertainment that would be contemporary for them in the 22nd century, why Ice Age? Why the fourth movie in the franchise instead of the first one? Continental Drift made nearly $900 million when it came out, though the reviews were middling at best, and none of the Ice Age movies are exactly hailed as classic cinema. There are some explanations for Ice Age's inclusion, though. Disney, which owns FX and Hulu, the networks on which Alien: Earth airs, owns Ice Age, having acquired the franchise when it bought Fox. Disney acquired the Alien IP in the same merger. (Continental Drift came out the same year as Prometheus, Ridley Scott's first Alien prequel that is not part of this TV show's canon, so maybe featuring it in the show is a meta nod to the other 2012 movie not existing in this world.) But even beyond the practicalities of ownership, there are thematic explanations, too. The Ice Age franchise is fundamentally about characters grappling with the end of an era that will eventually render their species extinct—and there are dangerous predators out there. If you squint, there's a similarity to how Alien: Earth is about mankind trying to render itself obsolete with cyborgs and synthetic bodies, not to mention the Xenomorphs hunting them. Continental Drift features some pirate-like characters, including Captain Glutt, the gigantopithecus featured in the scene Joe and Wendy are watching. It shares pirates in common with Peter Pan, the other kids flick featured in Alien: Earth. However, Ice Age as a contrast to Peter Pan is what's really key to it showing up in this series. While a little girl and a little boy love Ice Age in Alien: Earth, a different sort of boy is obsessed with Peter Pan. Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin), the world's youngest trillionaire and CEO of the Prodigy corporation responsible for giving Wendy her synthetic body, may be immature, but he's very much an adult. Given that he is attempting to invent a technology that makes people immortal, and that the first step toward accomplishing that is putting children's consciousness into unaging bodies, it tracks that he'd find something relatable in Peter Pan. He shows a clip of the 1953 Disney movie to Wendy and the other kids during the transfer process; he's often seen reading the book to them; and he calls his hybrid creations his Lost Boys. Their new names—Wendy, Slightly, Curly, Nibs, Tootles, and Smee—are all from Peter Pan. Thematically, Boy Kavalier's interest in Peter Pan is a little on-the-nose. It is also very uncomfortable because he is a grown man fixated on a work of children's fiction. He is going to great lengths to showcase the depths of his Peter Pan fandom, and you can feel that effort. It's almost a sort of twisted virtue signalling, except instead of signalling some enlightened view of life, what he's really conveying is: "I am a big creep." (The Disney Peter Pan movie, it should be noted, is staggeringly racist, making Kavalier's adoration even more offputting.) It's not like real-life tech CEOs are known for their maturity, and Peter Pan is exactly what one who calls himself a boy genius would make into their whole thing. The content of the story is secondary to the metaphor and what Kavalier thinks the references are projecting about himself. Compare that to Wendy and Joe watching and enjoying an Ice Age sequel when they were actually kids—and Wendy, despite her grown-up synthetic body, is still a kid. Any parent who ever had high-minded aspirations that their children will be cultured and only watch enriching works during screen time understands that, in reality, kids are drawn to what they like. They watch a lot of what discerning adult audiences might consider trash—like, for instance, Ice Age: Continental Drift, with its 37% score on Rotten Tomatoes. For whatever reason, kids' fare like this is often the thing that sticks with young viewers rather than so-called classics like Peter Pan. Wendy doesn't love Ice Age because the movie has some greater metaphor that she can use to enhance her persona: She loves it because it was something she watched with her brother. Alien: Earth acknowledges that kids watch kids entertainment, not metaphors. By having Wendy love Ice Age and Kavalier put so much of his identity into Peter Pan, Alien: Earth is reminding the audience who the real children are; no matter how adult Wendy looks or how childlish the boy wonder acts.
Los Angeles Times
7 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Lucha VaVoom de La Liz bids farewell to beloved DTLA venue the Mayan
Absurdity. Extravagance. Fashion. Mystique. Physique. These are the shared ingredients that make up the seemingly incongruous pairing of lucha libre and burlesque that local company Lucha VaVoom de La Liz has offered the public for over two decades at Downtown L.A.'s the Mayan theater. That run will come to an end at 8 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 22, with VaVoom's 'The Good, the Bad and the Fabulous' showcase. While the cadre of talent at VaVoom is here to stay, the Mayan is permanently closing its doors at the end of September after 35 years under its current management. The 98-year-old venue's shuttering was announced in a social media post in July. Its president, Sammy Chao, shared a statement with The Times about its closing. '[T]he past five years have delivered an unrelenting barrage of adversity,' wrote Chao. 'We've done everything possible to stay afloat, adapt and serve, but the path forward has been eroded beyond recognition. We have given this business everything we have — and more — and come this far, so the decision to close is not so much one of defeat, but of necessity and truth.' But worry not, lucha lovers: Lucha VaVoom is determined to send the DTLA staple out with a bang. 'Physically, I'm preparing more because I got pressure since I'm the one on the poster. I gotta look like the [cartoonishly muscular] guy that's on there,' said longtime VaVoom luchador Magno (real name Oscar Vasquez), who is one of the main performers at Friday's extravaganza. 'Mentally, it's hard though, because I've been [with VaVoom] for like 21 years now... I started with them when I was 19 and now I'm 41,' Magno said. 'It's gonna be a tough one, especially because all the feelings, all the times that I've been there. To me it's very special.' Having initially worked with WWE, Magno left the televised spectacle and was immediately contacted by VaVoom owner Liz Fairbairn, who got him back in the ring as soon as she could. 'It's bittersweet. We've had such a close relationship with the Mayan and the owner Sammy and everybody has become family,' Fairbairn said of her organization's partnership with the downtown theater. 'People change and come and go over 23 years, but Sammy has been a constant. I honestly couldn't see us still being here if it wasn't for Sammy. He's been very nurturing and supportive of us.' Fairbairn noted that there is a special video in the works for Friday's performance and that the roster of performers is larger than usual for this last go. She's also built in time for everyone to 'shed a tear and share a hug' by keeping the event running until 1:30 a.m. The show's 'The Good, the Bad and the Fabulous' theme was inspired by Beyonce's y'all-ed up album, 'Cowboy Carter.' It includes the western-themed tagline, 'Saddle up! Get your hat and boots ready to experience the best show ever.' Serendipitously, the Friday event works as a fitting last rodeo for VaVoom at the Mayan. The performance's bonus burlesque component adds a unique touch to the average wrestling event and provides for a different crowd experience for all involved. (Attendees must be over the age of 21.) Ruby Champagne (real name Laura Avina) first caught wind of the Mayan in the late '90s and early 2000s, as she enjoyed salsa dancing at the venue almost every week. It wasn't until 2010 that she joined VaVoom as a ring girl before ultimately stepping into the role of burlesque dancer — an art form that she's studied for 19 years. 'I like to think that I'm presenting not just classic burlesque, but also a little bit of a Latin flair,' says Champagne. 'I usually tend to include [that] in most of my performances, but more so for Lucha VaVoom since it's with Mexican wrestling, and my tagline is 'Mexican spitfire of burlesque,' so I like to portray that every chance.' Aside from her first burlesque performance with VaVoom, one of Champagne's most memorable moments at the Mayan came last year. 'In 2024, I got to be a go-go dancer for DJ Irene's birthday party at the Mayan,' Champagne recalled. 'I felt like that was full circle for me because I had gone to the Mayan for house music as well. I had been a fan of DJ Irene since the '90s. [I] was like, 'Oh my gosh!'' Reflecting on the gravity of one final sold-out show at the Mayan, Magno acknowledged there will be 'hard feelings there in a good way,' while Fairbairn said that VaVoom will never truly leave the Mayan. 'We will always have a part of the Mayan in us,' she said. 'Honestly, the Mayan is so integrated with Lucha VaVoom, there's no way we won't carry it around with us. So many memories. Twenty-three years of amazing memories.'
