How an Apache language teacher found herself on a Kevin Costner film set

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2 days ago

FORT THOMAS, Ariz. — Sixteen kids bent over worksheets, laboriously writing out words in Ndee biyátiʹ — Apache — as their teacher recited them in English.
"Scorpion," she said. Tsédag histasí.
"Tarantula," she said. Biganłané.
A group of bright purple posters displayed the numbers one through 10 in Apache with common items to spur memories.
Data'a — one San Carlos Apache Tribe flag. Naki — two moccasins. Tąągi — three cradleboards.
Colorful posters sporting other common Apache terms lined the classroom walls. There were even terms for television and TV table.
It was another day in Aurelia Bullis' fourth grade Apache language class.
Bullis has spent most of her life in the Fort Thomas school district. A native of Bylas, a nearby community, Bullis attended school in the district and now teaches the Apache language to pre-kindergarten through high school students. Lately, she's also been instructing actors to speak her native tongue and filmmakers how to avoid stereotypical syntax.
Bullis started working over the summer after graduating from Fort Thomas High School.
"There was a program where you could work during the summers or just to make a little bit of money," she said. Bullis worked at the local Head Start, where she moved up from volunteer to supervisor. After a short time as both a bus driver and teacher, Bullis saw a sign recruiting for an Apache language teacher.
"I said, 'Oh, I might as well try,'" said Bullis, whose first language is Apache.
Bullis beat out two older ladies for the job because she was willing to create lesson plans for kids from kindergarten through sixth grade.
But then she had second thoughts. "What did I get myself into? How am I gonna do this?" She had never taught older kids before and felt intimidated.
Hubby Buz came to the rescue. "He took us to the Twin Arrows Casino for the weekend, just to get away," Bullis said.
Soon she hit upon a method to do the job.
"I think I know what to do now," she said. "I'm going to do this lesson for this class, this lesson for the older ones, and then it all just came to me and I started putting it together."
Bullis sat up all night typing up lesson plans for her new job.
Eventually, Bullis' position grew to include junior and senior high classes. She also sponsored the school's culture club, which includes running school royalty pageants.
She's never looked back after nine years of teaching both spoken and written Apache in the dialect common to the eastern San Carlos and White Mountain Apache peoples.
Hollywood came calling for Bullis through one of Indian Country's time-honored methods: family.
Bullis' younger sister, Beverly, lives in the La Jolla Reservation in north San Diego County with her husband, a relative of famed designer and fellow La Jolla Band of Luiseño Indians tribal member Jamie Okuma.
Okuma's son, Bodhi Okuma Linton, is an actor who has appeared in film and television shows, including "Reservation Dogs" and "Dark Winds." Linton was also featured in the 2024 film "Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1." During the 2022 production, staff from Kevin Costner's production company were searching for a fluent Apache speaker to instruct the Native actors cast for the film, none of whom spoke Apache.
"So Jamie asked her nephew, Melvin Nelson to ask my sister." But Beverly can only understand Apache after being barred from speaking the language while attending a religious school.
Beverly gave her older sister, Aurelia, a call. "I was teaching a summer class in San Carlos," Bullis said. "She asked if I wanted a job for the summer? It's for a movie."
And not just any movie — "Horizon" was created by the Oscar-winning Costner.
"You're kidding right?" Bullis said.
It was no joke.
Bullis was hired to translate the actors' lines into Apache.
Next came the call to teach the cast their lines on location in Moab, Utah. "My husband was excited because I told him he's coming along."
Bullis said her most thrilling, yet scary day was when Costner himself came to the set.
"I couldn't say anything. I was just too scared and in shock." She started digging in her bag just so she wouldn't pass out.
"But then he came around, and we got to shake his hand."
After several weeks, though, Bullis had to return to Fort Thomas as the school year had started. They created a workaround for that, too.
"We used Zoom to teach each actor," she said.
Bullis has more movie work in progress. She's working with at least one other filmmaker on a new project. For this job, Bullis' work is more than just translating.
"The lines are kind of generic," she said. The writer didn't know how Apache people talked. "It was like, 'Oh spirit, you gave me the mountains' and this and that.
"My husband and I both thought it was cheesy."
Bullis is now busy rewriting lines to more accurately reflect how Apache people really talk. And she said that when she arrives on the set, the actors had best be dressed properly, "like the real deal that Costner had with their regalia, no generic feathers, that sort of thing."
Another film producer is already working to become familiar with Apache culture and the language that expresses that culture. "He's been wanting to come down and see Sunrise Dances and those sorts of things," Bullis said. "We've been talking on Zoom.'
Looking forward, Bullis is hard at work teaching younger generations about their culture and language.
It was difficult, however, to make Apache her kids' first language. Bullis' husband was also forbidden to speak Apache at school and thus can only understand it, as can her four kids.
"I speak to them in Apache and they understand. They'll say a little bit of this and that, but other than that, they just go back to speaking English," she said.
Bullis is working to bridge that gap with her four grandchildren. "I teach them here," she said. "It's like Apache is their second language." Her fellow Apache teacher is also teaching her third-grade granddaughter.
But her 11-month-old grandson is another matter. "We watch him when I'm not working, and really getting him to 'say this one, say this.' So he's slowly picking up that language."
Debra Krol reports on Indigenous communities at the confluence of climate, culture and commerce in Arizona and the Intermountain West. Reach Krol at [e-mail]. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @debkrol and on Bluesky at @debkrol.bsky.social‬.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: How an Apache language teacher found work on a Kevin Costner film