This was a comment I got by @ziixing on this post about Native American actresses here, so this is one for actors. The post was specifically addressing how typically random aesthetic images that predominantly include white people are used in moodboards and edits for Native characters, so I provided a list of Native actresses to refer to when finding images for that type of fandom content.
Eddie Spears
Martin Sensmeier
Michael Hudson
Forrest Goodluck
Kiowa Gordon
Alex Meraz
Chaske Spencer
Adam Beach
That's all the pictures that it will allow me for this post, but some others include Tatanka Means, Solomon Trimble, Zahn McClarnon, David Midthunder, Michael Greyeyes, Michael Spears (Eddie's brother), Gil Birmingham, Tyson Houseman, Bronson Pelletier, Rick Mora, Graham Greene, Tokala Black Elk, Wes Studi, Eric Schweig, Russell Means, and I think Jason Momoa has possible Native ancestry (aside from being Hawaiian).
In the movie, you all have tattoos. Do you have real tattoos or would you like to have one?
Chaske Spencer: "We all have real tattoos."
Alex Meraz: "Which take about three hours getting covered up. One thing we have been talking about is maybe, depending on where this goes, by the end of the films, we're thinking about getting the wolfpack tattoo."
Chaske Spencer: "Yeah, it's been a real experience for all of us."
Alex Meraz: "It's a milestone."
Chaske Spencer: "It's a milestone. It's changed our lives."
Is Taylor going to have the tattoo, too?
Chaske Spencer: [Laughing] "Oh, I can't speak for him."
Alex Meraz: "Maybe if he's 18 by the time we do it!"
What was your first reaction whenever you first saw your wolf in the finished film?
Bronson Pelletier: "When Paul changed, I honestly…"
Alex Meraz: "He had to change his underwear!"
Bronson Pelletier: "I literally got goosebumps. I was like, 'Wow, that's awesome!' It looks amazing. Chris Weitz does an amazing, amazing job, and the special effects team."
Alex Meraz: "Yeah, Phil Tippett. He did an amazing job with the special effects. For me, I'd always wanted to be in a film where it's not so much driven with CG, but I could be something bigger than life, I could have some kind of superpower. So for me to be able to transform into a wolf and have a fight and all that, I was like a kid in a candy store. I couldn't ask for anything more."
Did the wolves all suit you?
Everybody: "Oh, yeah!"
Alex Meraz: "There were mannerisms that Phil Tippett and his team actually did to make them all stand as individuals. You can tell the difference between one wolf and the other, and also suited it to what our characters were and what we brought to the table."
Chaske Spencer: "And our eyes. Our eyes stay the same."
Bronson Pelletier: "Our real eyes are actually on our wolves, so it's pretty cool."
Taylor is not Native American, so can you talk about teaching what Native American means to you?
Chaske Spencer: "He was very open about that. He understands. We did the best we could with him, and he's the right guy for the part. He's the right guy for the part, and I'm very protective of him."
Kiowa Gordon: "He's like our brother."
Chaske Spencer: "He's like our brother. Nothing but mad love for him."
What did you talk about teaching him?
Chaske Spencer: "We asked a lot of stuff about the tribes and stuff like that, and we would talk to him and tell him. There are certain things that I do in my culture that I told him about, and he was really open to it."
Alex Meraz: "That's the thing. We're not even Quileute. The tribes we are is not Quileute. So for us to represent that tribe, it's as if we weren't even Native. It wouldn't really matter, because they have different customs than all of us do. It wasn't like we had to teach him how to be a Quileute Native, because we don't know how to be that either. All we had was our culture to bring into the filmmaking. We just knew how to respect the mythology of the tribe, and Taylor definitely is receptive to it."
Chaske Spencer: "He has his own culture, and he could draw from that."
How did you learn about the Quileutes and what do you know now about them?
Alex Meraz: "During the process of auditioning, I did as much research as I could about the Quileutes, knowing that they're whalers. They inspired the shape of their canoes to be pretty much clipper ships. They were really fast, and they were able to go from the Washington area all the way down to San Diego hunting whales. I learned about the mythology, really, the creation story. The Quileute came from wolves and transformed into people, but they don't go back. That's the thing, they don't go back. That's the aspect that Stephenie changed and took some things and put it in this fantasy realm."
Chaske Spencer: "I was amazed by the storytelling, which you were talking about. I was really attracted to that."
Was it awkward to spend so much time with your shirt off in the movie, or did you get comfortable with it?
Chaske Spencer: [Laughing] "Whatever puts the ladies in seats for the tickets!"
Alex Meraz: "That's what we've been telling guys. 'Guys, watch the film, because your girlfriends will be watching it.'"
Chaske Spencer: "The thing is though, there's action in New Moon. So bring the boyfriends, I think they'll really like it."
Alex Meraz: "They don't have a choice. Their girlfriends are going to be there."
Chaske Spencer: "They don't have a choice."
Alex Meraz: "But it wasn't awkward. By the time we got to start filming, we had already been working out shirtless. You know, it's like a costume. It really is. You wear it, you don it and you own it. You can't be intimidated about your body. That's not the time to be doing that, when that little red light's blinking and you're being filmed."
Chaske Spencer: "It also helps us get into character as well."
Bronson Pelletier: "Exactly. As soon as I got out there with my shorts and no shirt on, I felt the part, you know?"
Alex Meraz: "As soon as I got the bronzing on, I felt it."
Bronson Pelletier: "Good old bronzing. That always ended up on my socks."
Chaske Spencer: "That stuff is hard to wash off, too."
Alex Meraz: "I think they put motor oil on us."
Have any of you had any offers to be in magazine or on a cover shirtless?
Chaske Spencer: "Yeah. You know, this franchise, you're going to see us with our shirts off a lot. No more taking the shirts off. It's going to be up there, immortal, on film."
Alex Meraz: "It was in the contract. 'Beware, you're going to be objectified.'"
Chaske Spencer: "Oh yeah. We are the pieces of meat."
Alex Meraz: "But I did something for People magazine shirtless. But at this point, it's all in respect to the film. So it's fine for this particular franchise. If I was doing something else and I had a suit on, I'm sure they'd want me in a suit for publicity or for other things. So, it's for a project."
How cold did it get?
Alex Meraz: "About 30 degrees, raining. Pretty cold. Very cold."
Chaske Spencer: "Like he said, we could cut glass with our nipples."
Alex Meraz: "We had a glass-cutting company: Wolfpack & Friends."
