Upham liked the challenging Native role and Hunt appreciated her actingĮxperience. Upham sent her a reel of her performances in “Skins” and “Edge of America.” They talked on the phone and got along. She didn’t look so Western that you think, ‘Is this Shania Twain or something?’” “She looked like a Mohawk to me,” said Hunt. She stopped when she saw the head shot of Misty Upham, Blackfeet.
She went online to and browsed through the profiles. Hunt found her Native actor by a novel method. One of the chiefs was like, ‘I’m offended by this.’ And the other two sort of had the idea of, ‘Yeah, but it’s awfully close to the truth.’” I’m in trouble now.’”įortunately, continued Hunt, “They voted 2-1 to let me stay. “She hadn’t talked to the tribal council on the American side, and they were like, ‘What are you doing?’ And I was like, ‘Oh boy. “But what she’d done is she talked to the people on the Canadian side,” said Hunt. When it came time to shoot, Hunt’s Mohawk friend assured her that everyone approved. They saw it as a nice little women’s film. Fortunately, they seemed open to the idea of the movie. Hunt modified her plot accordingly.Īs she worked on the story, she met a perplexing number of leaders in the Mohawks’ three-chiefs system of government. The smugglers switched to illegal immigrants, especially after 9/11 caused authorities to tighten the borders. At one point Canada lowered the tax on cigarettes, so smuggling them became less profitable. Originally conceived as a short also, “Frozen River” evolved over time. “I made friends with a woman who’s considered a medicine woman on Akwesasne,” said Hunt by telephone, “and I gave her a copy of my short film, which is a Civil War short, and told her I was interested in writing a story about smuggling.” She started visiting the reservations and doing research. She wanted to know what made them turn to crime - to risk their lives on a thin sheet of ice. She met two women who were smuggling cigarettes and began talking to them. She was intrigued - especially when she found out it involved crossing the frozen St.
Smugglers’ Alley was the nickname given to the Mohawk land that bridged the border.
#Misty and then there was you movie
But she persevered, and the result is an award-winning movie that’s earning praise from Natives and non-Natives alike.Ī decade ago, Hunt was visiting her husband’s home town near the New York-Canada border when she learned of the smuggling culture there.
When writer/director Courtney Hunt conceived “Frozen River,” she probably didn’t realize it would be the start of a 10-year journey.
#Misty and then there was you how to
‘Frozen River’: how to make a Native movie
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