Has the Twilight franchise created more work for Native American actors outside the Twilight films?
Chaske: Yes it has. What I like about it, it’s brought us to pop culture in a way that’s never been done before in film. We’ve been around for a while. I’ve been around for ten years acting and it’s brought us to a place where we’re not always playing with ‘leather and feather’. That’s how we paid our dues. It’s up to the media as well to accept us as being other than mystical figures and putting on the leather and feather and speaking in a res (reservation) accent. I’ve done that so many times. The kids are more accepting of us than anyone else. That’s what’s so cool. Julia: That’s also what excites me is we are being put in front of teens and children and people who are in the process of defining their ideas of what Native Americans are and I think that’s probably the most valuable aspect of the way Native Americans are portrayed in this film. I still feel that a lot of adults are trying to figure it out. I’m not an actress yet. I’m a Native American actress and it’s not quite normal
