Doe Boy about the production
	The Doe Boy writer and director Randy Redroad is half Cherokee and therefore thought shooting his film in Tahlequah – which is the home of the Cherokee Nation – made perfect sense. Redroad, a 33 year old Dallas native, admits that the screenplay is partly autobiographical. „I’m not a hemophiliac, which the lead character is, but it is loosely based on my relationship with my father and a hunting trip gone bad in my youth, „ explained Redroad. „And I am asthamatic, so these sorts of environmentally vulnerable characters are something real personal.“ The Doe Boy was produced by Anthony Vozza and also produced by accomplished independent filmmaker Chris Eyre, who achieved mass acclaim for his 1998 Sundance film Smoke Signals, which received distribution from Miramax that same year. Eyre expresses excitement and pride at his involvement with the film explaining, „This film is a love story. It is unique not only because it is placed within Native America, but because never beforehave I seen two Indians as principal characters fall in love on the screen. And that’s what it’s about – universal themes – similar to Smoke Signals.“ To really capture the essence of his story, Redroad wanted a mixed-blood, mixed-tribal cast for the film. Even lead actor James Duval, who plays „Hunter,“ is of mixed ethnic backgrounds, his mother being Vietnamese-French, and his father being Irish-Native American Indian. Actress Jade Herrera, who plays Hunter’s love interest „Geri,“ grew up with her native story-teller grandma and found working on The Doe Boy to be „magical.“ She explains, Most of the things I have done, they are Hollywood projects, but this is the first all-native piece.“ The Doe Boy also starts American-Indian film veteran Gordon Tootoosis, who plays Hunter’s grandfather. Redroad feels blessed to have someone of Tootoosis capacity involved with his film, „Gordon is just so good,“ he comments. The Doe Boy premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2001, which has been what Redroad, Vozza and Eyre hoped for since the start of production. The script for the film won the coveted Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers award at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival, which included a $ 10,000 cash prize and a guarantee by NHK, a Japanese Television broadcast rights. Although the Sundance Film Festival has a specific category set aside for films with Native themes, „Native Forum,“ The Doe Boy did actually premiere in another category, „American Spectrum.“ previous - overview - next