Melaw Nakehk'o,
originally from Fort Simpson, plays the character Powaqa in the Leonardo
DiCaprio vehicle The Revenant, which premiers Wednesday night in Hollywood.
(submitted/20th Century Fox)
Hours before her first
Hollywood premiere, the emotions are flying fast and furious for Melaw
Nakehk'o.
"Nervous, anxious,
excited," she told Lawrence Nayally, the host of CBC North's Trail's End.
"Just everything."
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It's been a whirlwind
year for Nakehk'o, who was cast in the Alejandro Iñárritu-directed film The
Revenant following an open casting call in Yellowknife last year.
The film, which stars
Leonardo DiCaprio as frontiersman Hugh Glass and is set in the northern United
States, is already generating Oscar buzz, something that Nakehk'o says is
"very exciting.
"The best part
about the whole experience for myself was being able to be on set and watching
so many talented people working together," she said. "How everyone
works together to pull something like this off.
"That felt really
good to play a small part of that, to be part of somebody's vision."
Nakehk'o, who is Dene
and originally from Fort Simpson, N.W.T., plays a character named Powaqa.
Nakehk'o said she wasn't allowed to discuss her character's role before the
film's release, but the casting call described her as an "Arikara warrior."
True portrayal of the
era
Although unable to
speak to her character specifically, Nakehk'o said that the film offers a
realistic portrayal of First Nations in the year 1823, when it was set, though
she cautioned she hadn't seen the completed version yet.
"I think it's
probably the truest portrayal of that era," she said.
Nakehk'o, who is a
co-founder of indigenous activist group Dene Nahjo, also complimented the
lengths that production staff went to in finding indigenous characters to play
the roles, unlike the recently-released — and universally derided — Ridiculous
6, which stars Adam Sandler as a First Nations character.
LISTEN | Adam Sandler's
Ridiculous 6 reviewed by indigenous women
"It's a huge
Hollywood film, and it was really amazing to see the lengths that they went on
this film to have indigenous actors and indigenous talent playing these
parts," she said. "They were looking for indigenous people to play
these parts, and they were able to be true to that."
Although tonight marks
The Revenant's world premiere, the work isn't done for Nakehk'o. Before getting
ready to hit the red carpet, she was in the sound studio re-recording lines for
the final cut.
"Pretty last
minute," she said, with a laugh. "Then, it's just hair and makeup and
princess stuff."
'Anything can happen'
Nakehk'o said she's
planning on representing indigenous artists and designers on the red carpet,
though she didn't want to give her plans away before the event. However, she
did admit she'll use the opportunity to brush shoulders with Hollywood royalty
to try and secure more work in the industry.
"I'm here in
Hollywood, and anything can happen," she said. "I'm doing a huge
event tonight, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna look bomb, and I'm hoping that'll get
me some more work in this industry."
But either way,
Nakehk'o is leaving this project satisfied.
"If I do get more
parts, or if I don't, this itself is an amazing experience, the whole
thing," she said. "And I'm really grateful for that. And if something
else comes out of this, that's amazing too.
"I'm going to do
my best to represent Denendeh, and the people of the Northwest Territories, and
to make everybody proud."
The Revenant opens to
North American audiences on December 25.
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