LOCAL SCENE: Michael Blake, John Carver
Oscar-winner is back
By Phil Villarreal
pvillarreal@azstarnet.com
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 11.20.2008
Michael Blake conquered the literary world, the silver screen and even cancer, and now he's aiming at your TV set.
The 16-year Vail resident, who won an Oscar for writing the screenplay "Dances With Wolves" — which was based on his novel — has filmed a pilot episode for a documentary TV series called "The American West: On the Road With Michael Blake." It will make its world premiere at the Fox Tucson Theatre Friday.
Blake, 63, says filming was often excruciating, requiring him to face cold weather and endure several hours a day on horseback.
He and director John Carver, a 42-year-old Tucsonan who has made educational documentaries for the past 22 years, traveled throughout Arizona from February to April.
The series catalogs conflicts between American Indians and settlers and the U.S. military. For the hourlong pilot, Blake and Carver traveled to places where crucial battles in the 19th-century Apache Wars took place, including Fort Bowie and Sulphur Springs.
They'd shoot from 8 a.m. until sundown, sometimes in freezing temperatures. Blake had to mount and dismount the horse between 25 and 30 times a day.
"It made me tired and cold. The weather was very difficult," Blake said. "It was almost like acting."
Blake has proven tough throughout his life, though. He wrote the manuscript for "Dances With Wolves" while living in his car, and fought Hodgkin's disease in the early 90s, forcing the illness into remission with chemotherapy and radiation. His cancer has been in remission since 1993.
Blake met Carver five years ago. Carver's filmmaking expertise, combined with Blake's historical knowledge, make what both Blake and Carver call an "unconventional documentary."
"What we've all grown up with are these documentaries . . . that are very driven by re-enactment, photos and interviews with scholars," he said. "Our documentary uses more modern music, and Michael is the host of it, talking about history rather than lining up experts from all around the country to talk about the events."
If it gets picked up by a network, Blake hopes to spend several months filming episodes throughout the Midwest and Western states, although not in Arizona. He says filming will take him to Montana, Nebraska, Kansas, Texas and other states.
But before Blake hits the dusty trail, he wants to show the pilot to fellow Southern Arizonans.
"I wanted to give Tucson the opportunity to see the documentary we've made in this region,"said Blake, who will be there and introduce the film but not take questions.
The evening starts with performances by musicians who contributed to the film's soundtrack, including Tucson's John Coinman — who is part of the band Modern West with Kevin Costner — John Doe and Tony Gilkyson. Each musician will play a set before the show starts.
Blake's next movie is a romantic tragedy called "The One." Costner, his collaborator on "Dances With Wolves," will direct and star, marking the duo's onscreen reunion after nearly two decades. Blake did not specify any firm plans to start production but said filming "should start soon."
Where did you get the idea for the series?
"It was inspired by my nonfiction book 'Indian Yell.' It was published in 2006 by Northland Publishing up in Flagstaff. It was a great book press for many, many years. The guy sold the whole thing, so now the book is out of print."
What do you want the show to accomplish?
"It's a traditional Indian belief that everything on the Earth is connected. The past and present. The basis, the theme of the whole story, is we can learn a lot from the past. We don't have to turn the clock back now. We can find knowledge and sometimes inspiration and hopefully affect some kind of change. What happened there was very similar to these wars like the Vietnam and Iraq wars, which were started over things that didn't actually happen."
How did the Apache Wars start?
"Because Cochise was accused of stealing some cattle and kidnapping a guy's Indian stepson, which in fact he did not do. It was the start of all this conflict in Arizona for many years."
The horseback riding sounded rough.
"When Viggo Mortensen, a very good, old friend of mine, made 'Eastern Promises,' with that fight scene, he woke up in bed that morning, and his back was so bad he could hardly get out of bed. He went ahead and shot the fight.
"I had gloves and a big jacket, and I'd take them off and pretend everything was fine."
Do you have any experience acting?
"When I lived in the Bay Area a long time ago, I did a lot of acting in plays and some films, stuff like that. I kind of had to decide whether I would attempt to be a writer or attempt to be an actor. I chose writing, and I guess I made the right choice. I love being able to appear and host things, especially something like this."
If you're involved in filmmaking and would like to be featured in a Q&A, write to pvillarreal@azstarnet.com.
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