Brian Bull for National Native News spoke with Chris Eyre, director and executive producer of Dark Winds on April 11, 2025.
Bull: Chris, you broke ground in 1998 with the movie, Smoke Signals at a time when Native Americans in Hollywood were still pretty scarce, or played by non-Natives in movies. 27 years later we’ve seen Rutherford Falls, Reservation Dogs and now Dark Winds come into their own as more up-close, authentic depictions of Native people. Looking back to your earlier breakthrough with your 1998 movie, did you see all this on the horizon? Or were you worried that Smoke Signals was just going to be a temporary blip on the cultural radar?
Eyre: Well, before I think Reservation Dogs and Rutherford Falls, I was getting somewhat concerned that Smoke Signals was just going to be a blip on the radar of yesteryear. But I think Smoke Signals is part of that continuum of progress with Native people in front of the camera and behind the camera. You know, it was 27 years ago, but it certainly had a time and place where I think Native people were three-dimensional, were funny, were human and were told in story that was really incredible about family and family dynamic, and all sorts of stuff, like Thomas Builds-the-Fire and “Hey Victor!”, and all this good stuff. So I think Smoke Signals really had a time and a place, and I was getting concerned that the continuum of that was starting to be quite a distance aways until Rutherford Falls and Reservation Dogs and all these other projects that have in the past five years exploded.
And so now I think that the people in front of the camera and behind the camera are not only benefiting from all that work that people did. And I benefited from the work that people like Graham Greene did, and Wes Studi and Tantoo Cardinal and Sandy Osawa and Phil Lucas and George Burdeau, and you know, all these Native people in which stand on, on their shoulders. And Zahn has said the same thing, because people paved the way for Smoke Signals. And Smoke Signals in some part paved the way for what’s happening now.
You know, the interesting thing is that, you know, when I went to NYU grad film in the early 90s. Malcolm X was a big movie, and I was inspired by Spike Lee. And he was the African American filmmaker of the time. And I think people wanted a Native American filmmaker when Smoke Signals came out. And I really always felt it was more about the community. And I think that’s what we see now with all these movies and TV is that we are much more about a community of people that includes Canada and New Zealand and other countries that have indigenous people.
And we’re doing it as a collective, I mean, we’re doing it. You know, this explosion’s happening in all different places but it certainly hit, you know, in the last seven years or so, in a meaningful way that really put Native film and TV on the map.
And I don’t think it’s going to stop. I think now we’ve gotten to a place that the door is not going to close again. I think there’s too many people – Native and non-Native – but Native people that are leading the charge as writers, and directors and performers and musicians and artists and executives, that have pushed this door open, and I don’t think the door is gonna ever close again.
Bull: Now Dark Winds was renewed for a fourth season before the third season even dropped. Congratulations by the way. What makes Dark Winds so successful in your opinion?
Eyre: I think the thing that makes Dark Winds so successful is the nucleus, which is the relationship between Joe Leaphorn and Emma Leaphorn, and their relationship as they are challenged and are trying to get through the typical things in the home drama. You know, they’ve had loss in their relationship and in their life.
I think what I love about the series is that I’m tracking these characters that happen to be Native American, but they’re characters that I love. It’s Joe and Emma. It’s Bernadette and Chee. It’s Natalie. It’s the boy who goes to Vietnam in season three. I want to know what happens to these three-dimensional characters and that community, but I think the success of the show is that it’s all centered around the relationship between Leaphorn and Emma.
And I think one of the greater things about that is that Emma is such a strong character. You know, I’ll never forget, there was the scene where they sit inside the cab of the pickup, and they talk about how in season two, things are out of whack, and what they might do about it. And Emma looks at Joe and says, “We’re having a ceremony” (laughs). He doesn’t have any say in it! He just looks at her, knows that she’s serious, and she gets out of the car and goes in the house. And I said to myself, “Wow. That is so great of a matriarch that is anchoring the relationship and centering the household, and she is telling the head police guy, the Western, you know, cowboy-Indian, cowboy. ‘Hey, dude, this is what we’re doing.’ And he doesn’t have a choice in it!” And so I gotta laugh to myself when I see that, and I just think it’s so apropos of the relationship and the fact that she’s the anchor, like she is the anchor to the relationship. And I think it’s that relationship that makes “Dark Winds” go round.
Bull: Directors often have their own thumbprint or autograph of sorts in their movies. Alfred Hitchcock famously made himself an extra in a lot of his films. J.J. Abrams has those distinctive lens flares. Sam Raimi keeps bringing in this 1973 Delta Oldsmobile 88 in his films. Is there something that you put in, either physically or stylistically into your projects?
Eyre: I’ve been inspired by the Western and I think of the series as a type of Western. So a revisionist Western. I was saying to somebody that Monument Valley was some of the very first images that I remember in black and white on Sunday mornings or Saturday when I would flip on the TV, and there was three channels. And I remember John Wayne, and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and looking at what I know later as the Mittens of Monument Valley.
And in Season Two, you know, I stood there and finished the day of shooting Monument Valley. And I really had this moment of just self-epiphany where I felt like we had accomplished something as native filmmakers in that, you know, we were shooting Native performers in Monument Valley, reclaiming a story that took place in the beautiful Monument Valley, and it was performed by people like Deanna Allison and Zahn McClarnon.
And I just felt like there was some full circle to that. And so that’s kind of my signature which is, it’s about the heart and the soul of what the writers write of these characters, and what the performers perform with them. And I get to be part that and my signature is the beauty of the landscape, and then the heart of the characters, and I kind of let those things lead, and I’m blessed to be part of it. So I’m just glad people enjoy it.
Bull: There is definitely a lot of epic scenery and beauty in the landscapes that we see in Dark Winds, and also a lot of heart in the characters and storylines. So kudos to you and the rest of the cast and crew for doing so well with this. That takes care of my questions, Chris, I think I’m out of time. Is there anything else you’d like to say before I let you go?
I’m just want to say tune in for Season Four, I’m as excited as anybody to know what happens. And I’m an insider, so we’re all working really hard right now to make Season Four great like season three, and I’m excited to see what happens.
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