Frank Kempster is a freelance writer living in Manhattan.
Frank Kempster: What’s Ghost Dance about?
Eric Stannard: It’s about a Native American who lives
in New York City, who has a gambling problem. His wife teaches at
a university and she helps him to revitalize his Native American heritage
and spirituality, which helps him to overcome his gambling addiction.
FK: But you’re not Indian, are you?
ES: No but I’ve had an interest in Native Americans since
I was a kid and I’ve been to about 15 reservations, read hundreds of books,
and a few good friends are Native Americans. But you do raise a good
point, which is why I was very careful to seek advice and script consultation
from Native Americans.
FK: Working on a low budget as you did, what problems did
you encounter?
ES: Every day, almost every hour, there was a problem.
That really defines the job of a director. You’re the one making
the decisions and on a low-budget production, the producer isn’t as involved
to give you financing to clear these hurdles. You’ve got to come
up with creative solutions.
FK: Like what? Can you give an example?
ES: Well, just to further define the role of the director
on an ultra low-budget film, you’re deciding everything from lighting to
make-up to an actor’s questions about dialog and movement. You may
need to make a decision on each of those items in a five-minute period.
Now you add a problem on top of that, for example, in one scene we needed
a prop, a coffin, and this guy who was a friend of a friend said he could
arrange for us to use one “no problem,” as long as no one got in it.
We said sure, it’s just a prop for the funeral scene. Okay, we confirmed
this, several times, as you must do with everything, and at four o’clock
the day before we’re going to shoot the scene, the guy tells us, “Ah, sorry,
we’ve got a problem. We can’t do it.” Furthermore, the guy
then left the state and we had no clue as to where to get a coffin for
the next day’s shoot.
FK: What did you do?
ES: Well, generally you get four or five people calling
every person they know, following every idea they might have, to solve
the problem. But you have to remember that we’re also filming that
day’s shoot, plus confirming all the actors and crew and locations for
the next day, then we can focus on the problem. We tried several
funeral homes until one suggested a theatrical prop house that was open
late and thankfully they had a couple to choose from.
FK: Don’t you think that’s quite a coincidence? I
mean the film’s called Ghost Dance and here you have a problem with a coffin?
ES: Yeah, but it’s not the first incident and I’m sure
it won’t be the last. The Ghost Dance is a very sacred ritual to
the Lakota and we’ve been very respectful to them.
Our purpose for the title involves the hero’s use of a phrase associated
with the dance, “We will live again, as we once did, in the old ways” as
a mantra of hope for the future. The hero has a crisis situation
in his life, with gambling at the core, but it affects his job, his marriage,
his whole way of life.
FK: Have there been other spooky, supernatural shenanigans?
ES: I wouldn’t call them shenanigans. As I said,
we’ve always taken a very respectful, honest approach to this story and
film. We’ve had Native American advisors and consultants help us
every step of the way, from the beginning smoke ceremony to bless the project,
and all along the way to ensure that whatever we portrayed of the Native
American culture that it was done accurately and respectfully. But
a lot of people don’t want to invoke or discuss the dead or spirits.
But as Chief Seattle said, “There are no dead… And the dead are not powerless.”
FK: So the dead influenced your work?
ES: You could say that. There’s a lot of power there.
Some people may call is wisdom. Some may call it caution. Some
may say it’s good will or bad vibes. But it’s all there and you’ve
got to deal with it. As I said, we’ve always been honest and respectful.
FK: So how did this affect people, problematically, that
is?
ES: Oh some people would just hear the title and say,
“I don’t want to be involved.” And that’s cool. You certainly
don’t want to work with anyone who doesn’t want to work with you.
FK: Did anything creepy happen? Anything supernatural?
ES: (Laughs.) You’re really fascinated with this.
Yeah, a few things. One interesting incident happened when we made
a two minute preview of the film to use as a tool to show people what our
film was about and to try to raise some cash. We shot all these different
scenes, a lot of interesting images, of gambling, marriage, New York City,
and Native American themes. Then when we digitized the images and
started to edit it together, all of the footage was there except the shots
of some kachina dolls. You can see the kachinas in the rushes, but
they disappeared in the editing machine.
FK: Wow. What happened?
ES: It’s a mystery. I took it as a sign not to use
them, so we didn’t, and I think it made the trailer stronger without them.
FK: That is spooky.
ES: It’s part of the Great Mystery. That’s part
of what our film is saying. Life is part of a Great Mystery.
Most people don’t even acknowledge that and I think you need to address
it and, obviously, respect it.
FK: So what’s you’re goal now?
ES: Our goal has always been very simple. We just
wanted to make a good film and I think we’ve done that. What happens
with it remains to be seen and as far as I’m concerned, it’s all icing
on the cake.
FK: Thanks.
ES: Thank you. It was my pleasure.